Bud Cort, Michael Murphy, Sally Kellerman

Brewster is an owlish, intellectual boy who lives in a fallout shelter of the Houston Astrodome. He has a dream: to take flight within the confines of the stadium. Brewster tells those he trusts of hi...( read more  read more... )s dream, but displays a unique way of treating others who do not fit within his plans. When the fateful day arrives, and he enters the dome with his fanciful construction of bird wings, Brewster is surrounded by the police. Will he be caught before he attempts to fly?

Flixster Users

79% liked it

930 ratings

Critics

90% liked it

10 critics

R, 1 hr. 45 min.

Directed by: Robert Altman

Release Date: June 1, 1971

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Flixster Reviews (79)


  • March 10, 2008
    "Brewster McCloud" is usually dismissed as a fairly disastrous follow-up to Altman's breakthrough success, "M*A*S*H", but it's actually a charming little movie, well worth a look. Bud Cort plays a latter-day Icarus, building a sophisticated winged apparatus which will enable him ...( read more)to fly under his own power. As well as being guided by a mysterious guardian angel (Sally Kellerman), whose scarred back evidences the surgical removal of her own set of wings(!), Brewster is also protected by a serial strangler, who promptly dispatches any obstructive meddlers in his path. In other hands, this could have been a nauseating slice of hippie whimsicality, but Altman's approach is refreshingly unsentimental and his comedy is often startlingly cruel. The loudspeaker announcements of "M*A*S*H" have been replaced with radio news bulletins, charting the progress of the police's strangler investigation, and a college professor's lecture on birds is cleverly intercut with the action, to illustrate the bird-like foibles of the human race. The standout performances are G. Wood's cynical police captain, Michael Murphy's narcissistic West-Coast super-cop, Stacy Keach's old shylock and Rene Auberjonois' lecturer. Fans of "The Wizard of Oz" will enjoy a reference featuring Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West.
  • February 20, 2007
    The most bizarre Robert Altman film, and therefore, one of my favourites. A great, almost, anti-film.
  • December 30, 2008
    One Of Robert Aldrich's best and funniest works.
  • March 30, 2008
    Robert Altman....another psychophantasmagoria of the early 70's I have seen this movie numerous times over the the last 38 yeaqrs and still haven't seen the last 20 minutes.
  • March 20, 2008
    Interesting and yet bizarre.
  • July 23, 2007
    Aww! Bud cort is such a sweetie in this movie. I really liked it.
  • May 22, 2007
    WORTH IT JUST TO SEE SHELLEY'S EYELASHES, AND MARGARET HAMILTON SINGING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.......
  • April 15, 2007
    One of my favorite Robert Altman films

Critic Reviews


October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

We get the sense of a live intelligence, rushing things ahead on the screen, not worrying whether we'll understand. full review

View more Brewster McCloud reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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