The Birdcage [Blu-ray]

Director: Mike Nichols Mike Nichols

Overview

Director Mike Nichols teams up with his former partner/screenwriter Elaine May for the first time in many years and for the first time together in films to create this sophisticated, remake of the phenomenally popular French musical farce La Cage aux Folles that stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman and Diane Wiest as two dramatically disparate couples who manage to reconcile their vast differences for the sake of their children who are getting married. Williams plays Armand Goldman, the owner of a popular South Beach drag club known for putting on elaborate showcases starring his long-time lover/wife Albert (Lane) who appears as "Starina." Lately poor flamboyant, flighty Albert has been in crisis over the inexorable onset of middle age. He has been moody, paranoid and unbearably. When he gets too inconsolably distraught, handsome but clumsy houseboy Agador quietly slips Albert "Pirin" tablets (which he explains to Armand are simply Aspirin tablets with the "as" scraped off). Still though Albert can be a royal pain, Armand dearly loves him and the two live happily in their splendiferous apartment above the club. One day Armand's son Val (the result of Armand's single foray into straight sex) comes visiting with joyous news: he has found his dreamgirl and is getting married. The only trouble is, Barbara Keeley's father is the blustery ultra-religious right-wing Senator Keeley (Hackman), the founder of the Coalition for Moral Order. Senator Keeley and his colleagues are not as upright as they seem and when his closest associate is found dead beside a black, underage prostitute, Keeley finds his house surrounded by ravenous newshounds, hungry for dirt. Knowing that they are poised to ruin him, Keeley and his proper but slightly addled-wife (Wiest) decide that a big, elaborate, church wedding will be just the ticket to save his reputation. Barbara has neglected to tell them that Val's parents are gay, preferring to claim that they are members of the South Beach social elite. In a panic, she panics and calls Val who breaks the bad news to Armand and begs him to make the apartment less flamboyant and worst of all to hide Albert (who functioned as Val's mother while the youth grew up) during the visit. Armand is angry, but loving his son, finally, reluctantly agrees, knowing that he will deeply wound his companion. Unfortunately, Albert finds out and as a compromise tries to learn how to be macho so he can pretend to be Val's uncle, he is too much the Great Dame to ever pass as one of the guys and so is banned from the party. Armand then locates Catherine and asks her to masquerade as his wife. She agrees to show up later that evening. Meanwhile their friends busily redecorate the apartment until it looks as if it were done in "Early Inquisition." During the fateful dinner party, Catherine is late and Albert gets uproarious revenge. Achingly comic chaos ensues as Armand tries to hold the increasingly tenuous evening together while outside the newshounds bay and threaten to make even more trouble for Senator Keely.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/03/2014
UPC:	0883904301677
Original Release:	1996
Rating:	R
Source:	Mgm (Video & Dvd)
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:59:00
Sales rank:	3,828

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robin Williams	Armand Goldman
Nathan Lane	Albert/Starina
Gene Hackman	Sen. Keeley
Dianne Wiest	Louise Keeley
Dan Futterman	Val Goldman
Calista Flockhart	Barbara Keeley
Hank Azaria	Agador
Christine Baranski	Katharine
Tom McGowan	Harry Radman
Grant Heslov	Photographer
Kirby Mitchell	Chauffeur
James Lally	Cyril
Luca Tommassini	Celsius
Luis Camacho	Goldman Girl
Andre Fuentes	Goldman Girl,Goldman Girls
Anthony Richard Gonzalez	Goldman Girl
Dante Lamar Henderson	Goldman Girl,Goldman Girl
Scott Kaske	Goldman Girl
Kevin Alexander Stea	Goldman Girl,Goldman Girls
Tim Kelleher	Waiter in Club
Ann Cusack	TV Woman in Van
Stanley DeSantis	TV Man in Van
J. Roy Helland	Club Hostess
Anthony Giaimo	Fishmonger
Lee Delano	Bakery Man
David Sage	Senator Eli Jackson
Mike Kinsley	TV Host,TV Host
Tony Snow	TV Host
Dorothy Constantine	Keeley's Maid
Trina McGee-Davis	Black Girl on TV
Barry Nolan	TV Reporter
Amy Powell	TV Reporter
Ron Pitts	TV Reporter
James Hill	TV Reporter
Mary Major	TV Reporter
Steven Porfido	State Trooper
John D. Pontrelli	Waiter in Cafe,Rodrigo, Cafe Waiter
Herschel Sparber	Big Guy in Park
Francesca Cruz	Katharine's Secretary
Brian Reddy	TV Editor
Jim Jansen	TV Editor
Al Rodrigo	Latino Man in Club
Marjorie Lovett	Matron
Sylvia Short	Matron
James H. Morrison	Pastor
Robert K. Baruch	Rabbi
Jordan Werner	Actor
Joel Tuber	Actor
Kenneth Stephens	Actor
Trina McGee	Chocolate
Rabbi Robert K. Baruch	Rabbi
Ronald Pitts	TV Reporter
Madeleine Gilford	Actor
Jonathan Tunick	Composer
Mark Mothersbaugh	Composer

Technical Credits

Elaine May

Mike Nichols	Director,Producer
Elaine May	Screenwriter
Marcello Danon	Executive Producer,Producer
Syd Dutton	Special Effects
Jery Hewitt	Stunts
Ellen Lewis	Casting
Neil Machlis	Executive Producer,Producer,Executive Producer,Producer
Stan Parks	Special Effects
Juliet Taylor	Casting,Special Effects
Ron Bochar	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Mike Nichols' The Birdcage is a funny, slapstick, but ultimately slight farce, notable as a forerunner in the movement to make gay characters mainstream and profitable at the box office. It succeeded bigtime, winning a broad audience and raking in close to $125 million. It's rare that another actor gets to upstage Robin Williams, but Nathan Lane does so wonderfully, playing an ungracefully aging drag queen who performs at the Miami nightclub owned by Williams, his subdued life partner. It's the role that catapulted Lane into the American popular consciousness, if also typecasting him in the process. His swishy hysterics never get tiresome, but it's even funnier watching him try to learn machismo from Williams, who can "pass" for heterosexual. Williams' treacly scenes connecting with his son are the weakest parts of the movie, which hits a more comfortable stride during its brilliantly staged, elaborate cover-ups aimed at hoodwinking Gene Hackman's right-wing politician. Almost as funny as Lane, in a supporting role, is the scantily clad Hank Azaria, as the couple's flamboyant housekeeper who loves dancing to Gloria Estefan. The Birdcage is also notable for a pre-Ally McBeal appearance by Calista Flockhart, who plays the son's fiancée.

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