Parker, Alan 1944-
English film director

He was born in London and worked as a scriptwriter and on television before making his feature-film debut with the musical gangster pastiche Bugsy Malone (1976). This was followed by Midnight Express (1978), a brutal account of a young American incarcerated in a Turkish jail, which with its controversially handled subject matter, glossy visuals and overwrought emotions, indicated the type of film Parker favoured and reflected his opposition to social realist traditions. He worked on Birdy (1985), Angel Heart (1987) and Mississippi Burning (1988) before moving into a lighter, more lyrical vein with the sentimental romance Come See The Paradise (1990) and the youth musical The Commitments (1991). Also a cartoonist and an irreverent critic of the British film establishment, he made the documentary, A Turnip Head's Guide to the British Cinema, in 1984. In 1996 he directed Evita, starring Madonna in the role of Eva Per�n.