Bird on a Wire

1990 Directed by John Badham

He’s every woman’s dream and one woman’s nightmare

A 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.

Mel Gibson Goldie Hawn Joan Severance David Carradine Stephen Tobolowsky Harry Caesar Alex Bruhanski Bill Duke Florence Paterson Lossen Chambers Jeff Corey Jackson Davies Wendy Van Riesen Lesley Ewen Kevin McNulty Ken Camroux-Taylor Clyde Kusatsu John Pyper-Ferguson Blu Mankuma Christopher Judge Oscar Goncalves Paul Jarrett James Kidnie Kim Kondrashoff Danny Wattley

Alternative Titles

Dos Pajaros a Tiro, Som fågeln på tråden, Kuin lintu langalla, Alta tensão, 逃脱死亡

action adventure comedy romance

110 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by BestVista ★★½

Judged by any Informed Film Criticism metric, 'Bird On A Wire' really isn't all that. But as a cultural artefact, it's modestly interesting, because it tells you everything about the Hollywood mainstream of the early 1990's that you could possibly ever need to know. What we have here is very probably the most early-90's movie that ever Ninetiesed.
It is 1990, then. It is a time of excess and largesse. Superagent Michael Ovitz, his cabal, and their ilk, held the power and the cards in Hollywood. This is the last great era of the Star system at its apogee, before the franchise and the IP itself became the star. Note the way that 'Bird On A Wire' was sold. It…
Review by maneleeo ★★½

Despite the clichés and flaws and moments when Goldie Hawn is just there existing (and doing what people expect her to do), it does have really funny sequences and the chemistry between the two leads is undeniable.
Review by Mondo Cinema ★★★½ 2

letterboxd.com/zombifan/list/action-packed-action-mondo-cinemas-action/
Want to see Mel Gibson in a very 80s action flick from the 90s? Bird On A Wire might just be the movie for you.
Witness protection man on the run Mel Gibson and former flame Goldie Hawn, are being chased by sadistic DEA agent turncoats David Carradine and Bill Duke, (Both are not in this near enough.) along with a assorted cast of nameless goons/cannon fodder.
There are motorcycle chases, car crashes, helicopter shootouts, and light hearted comedy.
Steven Tobolowsky has a small role as an FBI scumbag.
Hey, there is even a gun brandishing monkey. Life cant get better than this?
No sugar tits were harmed during the making of this film.
Mondo Cinema out.....
Review by bulletproofQpid ★★★★

"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Me? What the hell are you doing here?"
"Being shot in the butt."
I don't think I've seen this since 1990. I remember watching it as a family on VHS, but I don't think I saw it more than once until tonight. Goldie and Mel have pretty great chemistry in this, which makes sense to me because Mel and Kurt were great together in Tequila Sunrise as well. This is more of an action/rom/com, though, which is Goldie's strong suit and she shows here that she's game for damn near anything. It's also great seeing Bill Duke playing one of the heavies with David Carradine. Somehow, back then it never occurred to me how ubiquitous David Carradine was. He's in everything.
Review by Devon Ewalt ★★★

As cheesy as it is in places, this is one hell of a fun ride. And the chemistry between Hawn and Gibson is undeniable. Some fun stunts along the way, and the finale at the zoo is intense. Hadn’t seen this since I was a kid so it was an enjoyable rewatch.
Review by Blaze the Action Junkie ★★★

Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn are at the top of their games in this 110 minute bad cops chasing the informants flick. There are several good chase sequences, Gibson & Hawn are fantastic, David Carradine and Bill Duke make formidable foes, and there's even some solid stunt work in this one. It's an extremely enjoyable watch, one that I was completely unfamiliar with before this first viewing and one that I'd easily watch again.
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Review by Steve G 🐝 ★★★½

BOM - The 90s Action Month
A great deal of fun for the most part, aside from the appalling title song which made me really wish they had called this something else.
The chemistry between Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn is hardly surprising considering their respective strength as actors, and although Goldie is, for the most part, restricted to screeching duties, she also gets most of the best lines here so she does have the comedic lead.
John Badham was an expert at directing high quality 'fun first' movies and while this isn't on a level with the likes of the excellent WarGames or Stakeout, it's still got a lot going for it. An amusing car chase is topped by…
Review by DreamScape40 ★★★★

Love Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn in this.
They have the cutest chemistry together.
Goldie cracks me up with her frantic moments.
Great Action!
Spectacular score!
All Around Great Fun!
👕
Review by kynky ★★½

Rewatched
I watched this quite often as a kid because it was on TV a lot and having just 4 channels meant you watched what was on.
I let nostalgia get the best of me with this rewatch and I can't say the film really holds up to what I remembered. Sometimes going back is a bad idea.
Review by Wilson ★★★

Bird on a Wire is as close as American cinema ever got to making a 1980s Hong Kong movie. The whiplash changes in tone, the inexplicable flashbacks, the endless motorbike scenes (one through Victoria's Chinatown, surely knowing), everyone is pretending to be someone else. The never-now-possible Mel Gibson gay voice, is pure Hong Kong cinema of the 1980s. Everything about it; except the stunts would have been better in Hong Kong.
Bird on a Wire is a fun movie. If you like Goldie Hawn. If you like Mel Gibson. If you do, then you'll have fun with this. If you don't, I don't see why you'd watch it.
Directed by John Badham, the film basically works as a fast paced…
Review by Dawson Joyce ★★★½

Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn prove to be a surprisingly quite strong comedic and romantic pairing in Bird on a Wire, a rather underrated and overlooked early 90's gem with charismatic performances, witty dialogue, skilled direction from John Badham, and some really fun action sequences, as well as a typically top-notch score from Hans Zimmer.
Review by Andy Ferguson ★½

The sheer charm and star power of Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn that this absurd film possessed at the time of its release was just enough reason to distract me from its awfulness and help me pretend that I enjoyed it. John Badham has directed this type of film a lot, and it's okay to let loose with the action comedy and add a healthy level of the preposterous, but the characters have got to be worth taking the ride with. Better examples of this style throughout his career are the Stakeout movies, and The Hard Way, in which he got a gamer of a performance from the energetic Michael J. Fox.
Watching Bird on a Wire all these years…

Recent reviews

Review by Lord_Salmon361 ★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Bird on a Wire is a bizzare, occasionally hilarious and a mostly enjoyable Mel Gibson romp which takes a drastic side-step from the traditional connotations of its genre. Goldie Hawn joins the action as Gibson's estranged fiancé (of whom he ditched at the altar) and provides the film with its fair share of wails, screams and damsel-in-distress moments. As for this particular on-screen partnership - it does work pretty well, and there is a natural, flowing, if sometimes deliberately comical chemistry between the two throughout the course of the film.
The plot itself revolves around Gibson's character being located by the gang who he shopped to the authorities many years ago, and basically follows him as he attempts to outwit…
Review by KarhuAnderson ★★

Always did want to see Michael Monroe and Mel Gibson make out.
Review by glowypanda ★★½

Goldie Hawn & some animals. Otherwise 🙄
Review by Desmondo ★★

I like how confident they were back then that people wouldn't notice the stunt doubles. Guess what? They are noticeable.
Review by Connn ★★★½

Enjoyed the ending never seen a final sequence of a film end in a zoo before
Review by andregoncalves ★★★★

There's just something JUICY and badass from Badham pictures from this period, even when he is officially/unofficially remaking stuff, he injects lots of chems into the procedings to turn the ordinary into extraordinary (much like, yes, Hong Kong's films from the period).
Or maybe it's my childhood/pre-adolescent memories in play.
Review by RJMacReady ★★★

Watch in real time as the 80's became the 90's.
Review by Kieran ★½

A movie
Review by Sequin ★★★

Mad Max to Mad Maddie this is a harmless romcom adventure of its time. Mental health is the big issue with people's movements restricted during lock down but for zoo animals this is their life. No wonder they start to exhibit peculiar repetitive behaviour when they can't understand why they are locked up in a small environment and denied the basic need to explore. Although the way this zoo is designed I feel the animals would have eaten each other long ago.
Review by Tommy_cigars ★½ 1

I had very vague memories of this from the early nineties, where I would have first watched it as a pre-teen. Didn't recall any of the actual plot besides the location of a zoo featuring at some point the film.
Well, on a second viewing, as a world weary thirtysomething, I was very disappointed. The whole thing was just a cheesy, farce- (and this is coming from a guy who has a love of the Police Academy series.!) I like slapstick and enjoy many lighthearted comedies ...but this was just bollocks! The plot involves Rick Jarmin (Mel Gibson) - a man in the witness protection programme attempting to flee the clutches of corrupt FBI agents who have uncovered his identity…
Review by Colin Maginnis ★½

Successful lawyer has life ruined by an ex-convict boyfriend whose on the run from some drug lords he double crossed. They end up on a boat, that she bought I presume, that is named after the pet name for his willy. Not good is putting it mildly.
Review by BestVista ★★½

Judged by any Informed Film Criticism metric, 'Bird On A Wire' really isn't all that. But as a cultural artefact, it's modestly interesting, because it tells you everything about the Hollywood mainstream of the early 1990's that you could possibly ever need to know. What we have here is very probably the most early-90's movie that ever Ninetiesed.
It is 1990, then. It is a time of excess and largesse. Superagent Michael Ovitz, his cabal, and their ilk, held the power and the cards in Hollywood. This is the last great era of the Star system at its apogee, before the franchise and the IP itself became the star. Note the way that 'Bird On A Wire' was sold. It…