Set in 1960s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the film focuses on the friendship between two teenage boys, Birdy (Modine) and Al Columbato (Cage).

The film is notable for being the first to be partially shot with the Skycam, a computer-controlled camera system created by Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown.

In a 1960s working-class neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a teenage boy nicknamed "Birdy" befriends his next-door neighbor Al Columbato, and relates to his fascination with birds and their ability to fly.

The two begin pursuing Birdy's hobby of catching pigeons and caging them in a large, wooden aviary that he has built outside his parents' home.

It's also about the way in which all of us, trapped within the walls and predicaments that skirt our lives, endeavour to soar above them ... William Wharton wrote a remarkable, original book and we now have, I believe, a very special script."

Following publication of William Wharton's 1978 novel Birdy, Alan Parker received galley proofs of the book from his agent, who advised him that the novel was going to be optioned.

Upon reading the novel, Parker discussed it with his colleague, producer Alan Marshall, before turning down the opportunity to direct a film adaptation.

After the studio agreed to produce the film, Parker traveled to Los Angeles, where he met with Kroopf and Behr to work on the script.

[6][8] Matthew Modine originally auditioned for the role of Al Columbato,[9] but Parker decided to cast him as Birdy, believing that the actor possessed an "introverted honest quality" that best suited the character.

[6][8] Maude Winchester secured the role of Doris Robinson, a teenage girl who Birdy encounters, during auditions in San Francisco.

[6] Danny Glover secured the role of Mr. Lincoln, a bird owner who befriends Birdy, but Parker had his scene removed from the final film, explaining that it "was rather misplaced within the framework of [the] story".

[6][8] Animal trainer Gary Gero employed the use of 80 different canaries for various scenes in the film, as well as pigeons, a hornbill, a cat, eighteen dogs and a seagull.

[6] A women's prison wing located in the Philadelphia House of Correction doubled for a scene set in an Atlantic City jail.

[6] After four weeks of filming in Philadelphia, the cast and crew moved to Wildwood, New Jersey, which doubled for scenes set at the Atlantic City boardwalk.

The scene where Birdy and Al climb atop a refinery building was filmed on the rooftop of an abandoned gasworks in Hercules, California.

The filming of the scene was considered to be a health concern among the cast and crew, due to the exposed garbage and smell of methane gas.

The filmmakers originally planned to shoot Birdy landing in a reservoir thirty feet away from the landfill, but a test of the water had shown it to be hazardous.

"[6] The military hospital scenes were filmed at the Agnews Developmental Center, a psychiatric and medical care facility located in Santa Clara.

[8] The use of helicopters during filming was the subject of frequent discussions with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), following an accident during the production of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).

[3] The film was the first to be partially shot with the Skycam, a computer-controlled, cable-suspended camera system created by Garrett Brown, inventor of the Steadicam.

[6][8] The filmmakers intended to use the Skycam to fully depict Birdy's point of view during a fantasy sequence in which he imagines himself as a bird flying,[6] but they encountered difficulties, as the camera would often malfunction.

[6] The score was written, co-produced and composed by English singer and songwriter Peter Gabriel, and marked his first work on a feature film.

[6] He contacted the musician's manager David Geffen, who advised him that producing the soundtrack would be a slow process, as Gabriel was known for working at his own pace.

[11][14] Gabriel used tapes of previously recorded material from the past four years, which he and music producer Daniel Lanois remixed for select scenes in the film.

[6] The score "Close Up" originated from the song "Family Snapshot" (from Gabriel's third album), which was composed on a Yamaha CP-70 Electric Grand Piano.

[11] AllMusic's Tom Demalon awarded it four stars out of five, writing, "The fact that Birdy is comprised of all instrumentals means that listeners whose familiarity with Gabriel is limited to 'Sledgehammer' and 'In Your Eyes' will be largely disappointed.

[19] The film's failure to garner any award nominations during the limited run resulted in Tri-Star cancelling a wide release scheduled for late January 1985.

[20] Birdy underperformed at the North American box office, grossing only $1,455,045 in the United States and Canada,[4] against a budget of $12 million.

The consensus summarizes: "Aided by strong work from Matthew Modine and Nicolas Cage, Birdy finds director Alan Parker turning a supposedly unfilmable novel into a soaring -- and emotionally searing -- success.

[31] Variety wrote, "Belying the lightheartedness of its title, Birdy is a heavy adult drama about best friends and the after-effects of war, but it takes too long to live up to its ambitious premise.