Leadbelly

source: Leadbelly

Moviecut—Leadbelly

In this biodrama, director Gordon Parks certainly evokes where Lead Belly came from, and the difficult life that fueled his folk/blues music. The poverty, whorehouses, brawls that would lead to murder, and multiple prison sentences are all shown, and this is not a glamorized account by any means. While there are some moments that were fictionalized, most of what's shown is accurate to his life, at least up until 1934. The performances are sometimes uneven but the feeling of the rural south comes through, with occasionally very nice cinematography. However, there were a few things that held me back from loving this film, much as I wanted to. For one thing, I wish the songs in the film were Lead Belly's own recordings, no offense to Hitide Harris, and that there had been more of them. Secondly, despite a runtime of over two hours, it feels oddly truncated at the end. I wish it had focused less on the prison time ala Cool Hand Luke and given us more of his touring and how his career evolved. Lastly, I'm not sure this film truly transported me to the 1930's as between uneven performances and the way the various characters talk and dress didn't seem quite right to me. Lead Belly was highly influential to such a wide range of artists, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan, of course, but also Johnny Cash, Van Morrison, Nirvana, etc etc so it's great to see that this film exists, and I was happy to learn about his life. The music incorporated into the soundtrack fit the events well, adding meaning to lyrics I've long been familiar with, and so seeing the film had me appreciating Lead Belly's music in new ways, which was pretty cool.

I love Leadbelly's music; however, this movie not only tries to portray his life but also gives us a glimpse into life for the black community in early 1900,s Deep South I don't think I've seen a movie that captures or evokes so much of the feeling of this particular time. It's breathtaking at times. Also, if you like movies like Oh Brother and Cool Hand Luke - you're in for a treat. This is the best portrayal of chain gang life I've seen on any film. It's extremely authentic. Overall the music is superb and the performances are good, maybe sometimes a bit frigid - but that adds to the authenticity somehow. Highly recommended.

I can't in good conscience give this a higher rating. This film was very emotional, and a journey in multiple senses. It is framed as a story within a story, with Leadbelly recounting his life through his songs and stories to renowned anthropologist and musicologist Alan Lomax, who visits him in prison to record his music. In the movie the songs have mostly quite literal ties to what is happening on screen. A lot of the story seems to be somewhat fictionalized and is not a strictly factual account of Huddie Ledbetter's life. And though I'm unsure of how much was embellished for storytelling purposes, this doesn't bother me, and ultimately it feels like it was done effectively. There are a few particular scenes that were especially heart-wrenching, some scenes that were funny, and some were about showcasing music, and that was all extremely well done. Where the movie really really lost me is in the last 10 minutes of the movie, when completely out of left field, the writers decide to viciously attack music historian Alan Lomax as a monstrous art thief who is completely uncaring about Leadbelly or his talent, and sees songs as "dead butterflies to be stabbed with a pin and put in a museum" (to paraphrase). Leadbelly protests his songs being inducted into the Library of Congress and says he won't let Alan Lomax "kill" his songs, which he repeats several times. And then the writers have Leadbelly climb on a figurative soap box and rant and rave against Lomax about how his songs will live and he won't let him kill them. And then it ends. I have a serious problem with this. Why did they feel the need to portray Alan Lomax as such a bad person? He was probably the single biggest champion of Leadbelly's music and countless other folk and blues musicians who otherwise would have been swept under the rug of history. That's why he was THERE. He never had a lucrative career, and he often traveled and worked on his own dime- not for money or fame, but because he thought it was important for humanity. He saw the brilliance in music that was often overlooked and understood why it was so important to preserve it, which is why he meticulously went around recording people like Leadbelly, so that we can still be talking about him today. So this ending left a bitter taste in my mouth and absolutely ruined an otherwise fine film.

Prior to the movie I think I probably heard his music as played by others, but never him himself. The music in the movie is very good. My one concern is that it has a studio sound. As a period piece it should have had more of a live sound to it...otherwise I did learn a lot about him in this movie. My one complaint was there was no Epilogue at the end to let you know how some things turned out

As a music video this film works well with generous amounts of the title character's songs and a guitar picking contest that is the equal of "Deliverance", in my humble. However as a serious biopic of a musician of genius it falls considerably short mostly due to Ernest Kinoy's rather superficial script, which is long on knife fighting and tomcatting around in bordellos and "Cool Hand Luke" wannabe chain gang stuff but alarmingly thin on why Leadbelly became a blues singer instead of, say, a farmer or a pimp or why many of his most famous songs, like 'Goodnight Irene" and "Midnight Special", seem to have as much folk influence as blues. So enjoy the concert but if you want to know more about this important figure in American culture you'll have to do some reading. C plus.

If all you knew of Roger E. Mosley was as Tom Selleck's chopper pilot sidekick, T. C., on '80s TV's "Magnum, P. I.," then it may come as a surprise how good he is playing the title role in this fictionalized story of the legendary bluesman Huddie Ledbetter, a.k.a. Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks. Covering a span of more than 20 years, from his 20s to 40s, the master songwriter and guitarist hones his craft while serving prison sentences slaving away on Southern chain gangs. He's even pardoned by an outgoing Governor, largely because of his popular musicianship, but as he tries to make his way back to his ancestral home, he is still not able to be completely free of the painful chains that have bound him. Some fine acting by several of the leads, and Mosley adds much of his own vocals (with the only slightly less legendary Brownie McGhee, who had played with Leadbelly in the 1940s, adding guitar), but it's equally worth noting that most Southern whites are depicted as racist, one-dimensional morons (not that that's unfair, necessarily; it's not *their* story, and therefore they are only notable for their incessant and relentless cruelty). I couldn't decide between 7 or 8 stars out of 10, and the lower number reflects the failings of the studio more than the film. (Hollywood still could barely conceive of a serious dramatic movie cast populated predominantly with people of color, but equally appealing to mostly a Caucasian moviegoing audience, despite it having witnessed the success of "Sounder" just 2-3 years earlier.) Oh well; at least, in a post Marvel's "Black Panther" world, that thinking no longer predominates.

Not only have I never seen this movie, I never knew this film even existed. This movie deserves better than a forgotten title in a pile of celluloid. It is an important movie and should be seen. Roger Moseby gives a great performance. Gordon Park's direction is flawless, weaving the music of Leadbelly to introduce and exit scenes. The pictures Parks created are stunning. I cannot believe it took me 45 years to discover this film. .

I have been a fan of Rodger E Mosley after spending many years with him on Magnum PI, but generally I have been disappointed that in the movies, his true charismatic personality does not show up, such as Unlawful Entry. But in Leadbelly Roger is beautiful. I have been trying to find this movie for over one year, and was tired of being burned and disappointed, but yesterday I did find it on a free on demand channel, not on a premium channel. I did find it one eBay for about $20 which I will pay for blue rays, and $10 to $15 for standard DVD, but for a ten star..... I asked for a $16 dollar offer. All of Rock n Roll or dance music came from African Americans like Leadbelly.. The Beatles and many UK acts of The British Invasion were also interested in this older style of music, as well as our Rock N Roll White performers that developed into Rock Pop, and later Progressive Rock.