Bye Bye Birdie (1995): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1995, Bye Bye Birdie is a comedy, drama, music and tv movie film directed by Gene Saks, running about 131 minutes. “Rock-and-roll icon Conrad Birdie is about to go into the Army, and plans are being made to arrange his final going-away concert.” — that tagline sets the tone.

What it’s about. In 1995, ABC presented a telemovie version of the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie produced by RHI Entertainment. It starred Seinfeld's Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams of Desperate Housewives. While this version remained mostly faithful to the original musical (Michael Stewart remains the only credited author of this version), several songs were added and re-arranged, and dialogue was slightly rewritten to smoothly facilitate the musical changes. The musical revolves around an Elvis Presley-type rocker who's about to join the Army. To mark the occasion, his manager's secretary arranges for him to kiss a random fan goodbye on The Ed Sullivan Show. Bye Bye Birdie earned four Tony awards in 1961, including Best Musical and Best Actor in a Musical for its original star, Dick Van Dyke. In addition to Alexander and Williams, ABC's production starred Tyne Daly, George Wendt, Chynna Phillips and Mark Kudisch.

Who’s in it. Bye Bye Birdie stars Jason Alexander as Albert J. Peterson, Vanessa Williams as Rose Alvarez, Chynna Phillips as Kim MacAfee and Tyne Daly as Mae Peterson, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 5.9/10, Bye Bye Birdie has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. In US you can stream it on Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, YouTube TV and UP Faith & Family Apple TV Channel and rent or buy it from Google Play Movies, YouTube and Fandango At Home. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Bye Bye Birdie page.

If you liked it. Fans of Bye Bye Birdie tend to enjoy Forrest Gump, Parasite, Life Is Beautiful and Fight Club.