---
name: "Alan Parker"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/alan-parker"
fi1m_id: "alan-parker"
imdb_id: "nm0000570"
tmdb_id: 9168
wikidata_id: "Q271284"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "14 February 1944"
died: "31 July 2020"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 71
average_as: "director"
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-10-04T17:59:24.428774+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Alan Parker

## Identity

Alan Parker

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/alan-parker
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** alan-parker
- **IMDb ID:** nm0000570
- **TMDB ID:** 9168
- **Wikidata ID:** Q271284
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Parker, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q271284, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000570/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9168

Director. Born 14 February 1944 in Islington, London, England, UK. Died 31 July 2020.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 14 February 1944, Islington, London, England, UK
- **Died:** 31 July 2020
- **Active:** 1978–1991
- **Also known as:** Алан Паркер, 앨런 파커, 알란 파커, Alan William Parker, Sir Alan William Parker
- **Frequently works with:** [Alan Marshall](https://film.one/person/alan-marshall.md)
- **BAFTA Film Awards:** 3 BAFTAs (3 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 71, as director, over 5 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1970s 61 (1), 1980s 70 (3), 1990s 82 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 71 to 69 across 4 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 4 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 5, Music 3, Crime 2, Comedy 1, Mystery 1, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 10 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $149m across 5 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Parker, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q271284, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000570/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9168

## Streaming the US now

- **Peacock:** [*The Commitments*](https://film.one/film/the-commitments.md) (82)
- **Apple TV:** [*Mississippi Burning*](https://film.one/film/mississippi-burning.md) (72)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Midnight Express*](https://film.one/film/midnight-express.md) (61)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Alan Parker

> Alan Parker directs unruly ensembles and musical performances with warmth and conviction. We rate him most when he lets people be awkward and funny; the polished pictures and forceful drama can be overbearing.

In *The Commitments* (1991), the conversation earns its place beside the songs. Alan Parker follows working-class Dublin youngsters putting together a soul band, and lets their exchanges stay untidy. We laughed because the actors could be funny without pausing to show us that they knew it. This is Parker at his most persuasive: taking people's ambitions seriously while allowing them to be difficult company.

Music was there in his first feature, the all-child gangster musical *Bugsy Malone* (1976). The prison drama *Midnight Express* (1978) brought his breakthrough; *Fame* (1980) returned him to young performers. His musical films would eventually include *Evita* (1996), but *The Commitments* feels particularly well suited to his strengths. He chose it after several films in America, wanting to work closer to his working-class roots.

Robert Arkins’s Jimmy Rabbitte and Andrew Strong’s Deco Cuffe benefit from that freedom, as do Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle Kennedy and Bronagh Gallagher. The conversational timing matters as much as the musical performances. Gale Tattersall’s cinematography and Brian Morris’s production design keep the music in ordinary surroundings, so singing never seems to transport the band somewhere richer. Rough edges in the acting help too. These people need not be accomplished at everything to deserve our attention.

The care over lighting, composition and music has roots in Parker’s work in commercials. It also helps explain our reservation about *The Commitments*: occasionally everyone looks a little too carefully presented. His heavier dramas raise a larger concern. *Midnight Express* and *Mississippi Burning* (1988) drew criticism for distorting real events and favouring sensationalism, and we distrust his urge to press so hard for a response.

Start with *The Commitments*, where the pleasure of the songs and the company outweighs the occasional excess of polish. It is warm without making the band easier to get along with, and funny without treating their hopes as foolish. Choose an evening when nobody needs to talk over the singing.

## Biography

Alan Parker was a British film director, screenwriter and producer. Born in Islington, London, on 14 February 1944, he began his career in advertising as a copywriter before moving into directing television commercials in the late 1960s. He directed his first feature film, *Bugsy Malone*, in 1976.

Parker is known for directing *Midnight Express* (1978), *Fame* (1980), *Pink Floyd – The Wall* (1982), *Birdy* (1984), *Angel Heart* (1987), *Mississippi Burning* (1988), *The Commitments* (1991), *Evita* (1996) and *Angela’s Ashes* (1999). His films received numerous awards, including nineteen BAFTAs, ten Golden Globes and ten Oscars in total. He served as chairman of the British Film Institute and as the founding chairman of the UK Film Council. Parker was appointed CBE in 1995 and knighted in 2002; he received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013. He died on 31 July 2020.

*Sources: bfi.org.uk, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, alanparker.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

- *The Commitments* (1991), Fi1m 82, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-commitments.md)
- *Mississippi Burning* (1988), Fi1m 72, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/mississippi-burning.md)
- *Pink Floyd: The Wall* (1982), Fi1m 69, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/pink-floyd-the-wall.md)
- *Fame* (1980), Fi1m 70, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/fame.md)
- *Midnight Express* (1978), Fi1m 61, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/midnight-express.md)

## Complete filmography (26)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Short Cuts: Mississipi Burning d'Alan Parker* (2026), Original Film Writer
- *All That You Love Will Be Carried Away* (2017), Associate Producer
- *Dad's Army* (2016), Executive Producer
- *Magi-Nation* (2007), series, Actor
- *The Life of David Gale* (2003), as Partygoer (uncredited) · Director, Producer
- *The Cry* (2002), series, Music
- *Angela's Ashes* (1999), as Dr. Campbell · Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *Evita* (1996), Tormented Film Director, Screenplay, Director, Producer
- *Typically British: A Personal History of British Cinema* (1995), Actor
- *The Road to Wellville* (1994), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *The Commitments* (1991), Eejit Record Producer, Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-commitments.md)
- *Come See the Paradise* (1990), Director, Writer
- *Mississippi Burning* (1988), Director — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/mississippi-burning.md)
- *Angel Heart* (1987), Screenplay, Director
- *A Turnip Head's Guide To The British Cinema* (1986), Director
- *Birdy* (1984), Director
- *Pink Floyd: The Wall* (1982), Director — Fi1m 69, [page](https://film.one/film/pink-floyd-the-wall.md)
- *Shoot the Moon* (1982), Director
- *Fame* (1980), Director — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/fame.md)
- *Midnight Express* (1978), Director — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/midnight-express.md)
- *Bugsy Malone* (1976), Director, Writer
- *No Hard Feelings* (1976), Director, Writer
- *The Evacuees* (1975), Director
- *Footsteps* (1974), Director, Writer
- *Our Cissy* (1974), Director, Writer
- *Melody* (1971), Original Story, Screenplay

## Gallery

- ![Alan Parker](https://film.one/media/person/78816/gallery-b91b3b9a352f.jpg) Alan Parker — Lisa Moran Parker, CC BY-SA 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Alan_Parker_%28Director%29%2C_London%2C_2012.jpg/1280px-Alan_Parker_%28Director%29%2C_London%2C_2012.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Alan Parker, Film Director, Writer and Producer, at his Soho Offices London, 2008.](https://film.one/media/person/78816/gallery-3e1438ef37cd.jpg) Alan Parker, Film Director, Writer and Producer, at his Soho Offices London, 2008. — Lisa Moran Parker, CC BY-SA 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Alan_Parker_%28Director%29%2C_London%2C_2012_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Does anyone recognise who is who in this shot? The director is Alan Parker, working for the advertising agency Collett Dickenson Pearce on Centre Court at Wimbl](https://film.one/media/person/78816/gallery-08be9c8506af.jpg) Does anyone recognise who is who in this shot? The director is Alan Parker, working for the advertising agency Collett Dickenson Pearce on Centre Court at Wimbl — Photos of the Past from Hanwell, London, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/Alan_Parker_filming_a_Hamlet_advert_at_Wimbledon%2C_April_1974_-_Flickr_-_whatsthatpicture.jpg/1280px-Alan_Parker_filming_a_Hamlet_advert_at_Wimbledon%2C_April_1974_-_Flickr_-_whatsthatpicture.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Directors Alan parker, Hugh Hudson and Léolo Victor-Pujebet. (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/78816/gallery-b83c720068ad.jpg) Directors Alan parker, Hugh Hudson and Léolo Victor-Pujebet. (2015) — Tctv, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Alan_parker%2C_Hugh_Hudson_and_L%C3%A9olo_Victor-Pujebet.JPG/1280px-Alan_parker%2C_Hugh_Hudson_and_L%C3%A9olo_Victor-Pujebet.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Alan Parker](https://film.one/media/person/78816/gallery-82138d22477f.jpg) Alan Parker — Image via TMDB
- ![Alan Parker](https://film.one/media/person/78816/gallery-f5186148646c.jpg) Alan Parker — Image via TMDB
- ![Alan Parker](https://film.one/media/person/78816/gallery-fbbd09ca0ed2.jpg) Alan Parker — Image via TMDB
- ![Alan Parker und Dieter Oßwald beim Interview in Cannes (2001)](https://film.one/media/person/78816/gallery-96a1873df56e.jpg) Alan Parker und Dieter Oßwald beim Interview in Cannes (2001) — HerrPelle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/CannesParker.jpg/1280px-CannesParker.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1989: Best Director (nominated), for *Mississippi Burning*
- 1979: Best Director (nominated), for *Midnight Express*

### BAFTA Film Awards — 3 won

- 2013: BAFTA Fellowship (won)
- 1992: Best Direction (won), for *The Commitments*
- 1979: Best Direction (won), for *Midnight Express*

### Other awards — 1 won

- National Board of Review Award for Best Film 1988: National Board of Review Award for Best Film (won), for *Mississippi Burning*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/alan-parker