Synopsis
An FBI informant has kept his new identity secret for 15 years. Now an old flame has recognised him, and the bad guys are back for revenge.
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Cast
- Mel GibsonRichard "Rick" Jarmin
- Goldie HawnMarianne Graves
- David CarradineEugene Sorensen
- Bill DukeAlbert Diggs
- Stephen TobolowskyJoe Weyburn
- Joan SeveranceRachel Varney
- Harry CaesarMarvin Larson
- Jeff CoreyLou Baird
- Alex BruhanskiRaun
- John Pyper-FergusonJamie
Recommendations
- 63
Chicago Sun-Times
In Bird on a Wire, director John Badham doesn't pay the dues before he brings in the exotic locations. We don't believe the characters, and so the elaborate chases and escapes and stunts and special effects are all affectations. - 63
Boston Globe
Bird on a Wire is pedal-to-the-metal moviemaking by the numbers. What it's got going for it is that Goldie Hawn is cute and Mel Gibson is cuter as they struggle to mate screwball comedy to a chase thriller. The pleasant surprise is that Gibson has a flair for light comedy and the timing to bring off double-takes. It's a relief, too, because little else in Bird on a Wire is fresh. [18 May 1990, p.77p] - 60
Empire
Despite the extended running time jam packed with action scene after after scene it still feels a little short on content. - 50
Washington Post
Screwball romance, action picture. Summer movie. - 40
Washington Post
Bird on a Wire lords its star power over us; it thinks the sheer cumulative adorableness of the principals will win us over and make up for its multitude of sins. It should think again. There is nothing to this John Badham movie except the spectacle of determined stars turning the brilliance of their personalities on us. That and chases -- car chases, motorcycle chases, airplane and helicopter chases. - 40
Time Out
Within the first half-hour, we've met the baddies (led by a taciturn Carradine), heard Rick and Marianne's teasing banter, and experienced the thrills of a shootout and car chase. As for what follows, this drearily repetitious film offers more of the same with variations in backdrop, all directed in perfunctory fashion by Badham. It does have a nice '60s soundtrack; shame about the rest. - 40
Los Angeles Times
Both frenetic and witless--a bad combination. It's the sort of action-comedy vehicle that stands a chance of succeeding only if the star chemistry is strong enough to compensate for all the uninspired calisthenic derring-do. - 25
TV Guide Magazine
Big, dull, and noisy, this comedy-romance has chases galore, but its comedy is flat and its romance is grating and graceless.
