The Cotton Club

source: The Cotton Club

Trailer—The Cotton Club

The Cotton Club

Shallow uninvolving story about a 1930s jazz club and the broad caricatures who frequent it. Looks good but didn't grip me at all. I was checking the clock constantly due to the slow pace and scattered story. Despite the film's stylish period look and some nice jazz music, it doesn't feel authentic. The characters often seem like parodies of characters from 1930s films rather than wholly formed characters of their own who actually lived in that time. I hesitate to blame this on the actors, who I know are good from other works. This is most likely something that should be blamed on Coppola, who wanted these performances for whatever reason. Sorry I know it has a legendary director attached to it but that by itself doesn't make it a good film. Even the greats have misfires and Coppola had his share. This is one of them.

Coppola is more a visionary than a storyteller. Many of his movies are great to look at and listen to, but the narrative often falls flat. The Cotton Club exemplifies this point - lots of atmosphere, an abundance of acting and musical talent, and a little history for those too young to appreciate the Harlem Renaissance or prohibition-era segregation in the big city. But what little story there is, lacks coherency and is hard to follow. We get to see some dead-on re-enactments of young Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, and the Duke Ellington Band at their primes in pristine high fidelity, and fine performances from the late Gregory Hines and Fred Gwynne, but there just isn't enough story to connect the dots. If you're going to watch The Cotton Club, watch it for the musical numbers and don't set your expectations too high for anything more. Or, better yet, just skip the DVD and just get the STUNNING soundtrack on CD.

This is a great movie. I personally don't think the beautiful Diane Lane could be in a bad flick, she would make the worst one good. I was impressed with Richard Geres musical ability as he played his own coronet and sounded as good as anyone I've ever heard. The dancing was superb, the costumes beautiful and the plot authentic. It took me back to the great musicals of the forties and fifties. I was raised in the waning days of the era of this movie, the thirties, and I could almost hear my Dad talking about the evils of the big cities while we listened to the radio news of gangsters and shootouts. I would recommend this movie to anyone. I rate it 10/10.

A very stylish but rough and profane account of gangsters ("Dutch" Schultz and the like) and music during the 1920s. The scene is Harlem (NYC) at the Cotton Club, which is still run by whites who are pictured as big bigots. Schultz, played by James Remar, is extremely coarse and profane. There are tons of Lord's name in vain abuses in this movie, many by Remar and Richard Gere. There is very hard edge to this film, sometimes a little too hard, I think. The positives are the cinematography, music, dancing and a good romance angle featuring the white leads, Gere and Diane Lane, and the black leads Gregory Hines and Lonette McKee. Gere and Hines are buddies, with Gere playing coronet and Hines tap dancing. Hines is a tremendous dancer and great to watch. You also have other "name" actors in here, such as Nicholas Cage, Bob Hoskins, Fred Gwynne, Laurence Fishburne and Allen Garfield. If the language I mentioned earlier doesn't offend you, this is a great movie.

Forget all the behind the scene's politics; Francis Ford Coppola's dazzlingly stylish, THE COTTON CLUB is certainly one of his best efforts. A movie that deserves it's place alongside other Coppola masterpieces such as, THE GODFATHER and APOCALYPSE NOW. But the legacy of this film is very strange: The behind the scenes shenanigans is legendary, it was unjustly panned when it was first released, and box-office was slight; however, watching this film you can't help but wonder why? Everything from the performances to the look of the film is first-rate; with James Remar particularly good as Dutch Schultz, and the ending of this film is nicely reminiscent of THE GODFATHER. So if your looking for what might be considered a buried Coppola classic, check out THE COTTON CLUB.