Starring Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Clifton Powell, and Regina King
Directed by Taylor Hackford
Music and Lyrics by Ray Charles and others
We move to a later jazz and R&B musician for our next review. Apparently, this film had been in the works for at least 15 years while the producer tried to secure financing, and then find a studio willing to release it. Kids who grew up in the 80's and 90's like I do probably know him best for his series of Pepsi commercials with his female backup singers and his duets with Willie Nelson, Billy Joel, and Van Morrison. I didn't know until recently that his career spanned the latter half of the 20th century, covering everything from R&B ballads to country. Is it worthy of this big-screen treatment, or should it be left on the road? Let's begin in 1946 as Charles (Foxx) grapples with a cop in Northern Florida as he tries to take a bus to St. Louis for a job and find out...
The Story: Charles learned how to play piano at a young age while growing up in rural Northern Florida with his mother Aretha (Sharon Warren). He's still haunted by the accidental drowning of his younger brother in his mother's washtub as a child and his going blind by age 7. Even after he gets a job with a night club band in Seattle, the club's owner exploits him. He finally signs a solo record deal and tours the "Chitlin' Circuit" - a string of nightclubs owned by and designated for African-Americans. While the tour is successful, it's also where he becomes addicted to heroin.
Ray's life starts to look up when he lands a deal with Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong) of Atlantic Records, which releases his first hit, "Mess Around." He also falls in love with and marries pretty preachers' daughter Della Mae (Washington). Ray adds a female back-up group, which may not be a wise decision when he first has an affair with Mary Ann (Aunjanue Ellis), then a more serious one with Margie (King). He comes up with his first million-selling album after he comes up with "What'll I Say" when a show runs long.
Even as he hits the big time with "Hit the Road, Jack" and "Georgia On My Mind," he tells Margie to hit the road when she admits to being pregnant with his child. Margie leaves for a solo career, and Ray gets into trouble with the state of Georgia when he refuses to play a segregated venue. After encouraging black and white dancers to mingle during a concert, his room is raided, and he's arrested for drug possession. Della's not happy when he moves her to LA, then to a huge house in Beverly Hills, and his band isn't happy when he moves to ABC Records and hires smarmy Joe Adams (Harry Lennix) as his manager. A second drug arrest lands him in rehab, where he finally finds the strength to conquer his addictions and make amends with his past.
The Song and Dance: There's a reason Foxx earned one of the movie's two Oscars. He nails Charles, from his mannerisms to his voice and even his way of playing the piano. And yes, that is Foxx playing the piano. He apparently went to college on a classical piano scholarship and more than knew his way around the ivories. He's especially effective in the second half, as Charles battles his addictions and comes to terms with his brother's death and his dissolving relationships. The movie pulls no punches as it looks into what makes this man tick, showing us his deep addictions and how he was used and abused, and his multiple relationships with his singers, even as he remained married.
Favorite Number: Charles performs two hits usually associated with Nat King Cole, "Straighten Up and Fly Right" and "Route 66," early in his career before finding his own style. "We Will Walk Through the Streets of the City" is the ensemble hymn performed at the church during the funeral for Ray's brother, when his mother breaks down crying over her son's coffin. "The Midnight Hour" is another early Charles performance. He finally finds what he does best with Ertegun's jaunty "Mess Around."
He's heard recording his next hits "I Got a Woman" and "Hallelujah, I Love Her So." When his concert runs short, he's stopped from leaving, which results in a quick performance of what becomes one of his biggest hits, "What Did I Say?" "Georgia On My Mind" becomes ironic considering his difficulties in that state later in the film. Margie reluctantly joins him for his other iconic song "Hit the Road, Jack," which she jumps into with a fierce relish at a performance.
Later in the film, we get three of his best-known ballads, "Unchain My Heart," "You Don't Know Me," and the country number "I Can't Stop Loving You." The last-named is the performance in St. Louis that so impresses Joe Adams, he becomes his manager. "Born to Lose" and "Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)" are heard towards the end, when he's battling his addictions.
Trivia: Charles did get to see a work-in-progress print of the film before his death in June 2004.
The movie also won Best Sound Recording.
Foxx and Regina King are dubbed by the actual recordings by Charles and Hendricks for most of the movie, with the exception of a few early numbers in the clubs.
What I Don't Like: First of all, the movie plays fast and loose with a lot of facts about Charles' life. Yes, he was addicted to heroin from the 50's through the 70's, and while he did kick that, he continued to drink and use marijuana throughout his life. The entire incident that led him to be barred from playing in Georgia was fabricated. He did refuse to play in a segregated venue, but after a telegram from civil rights activists convinced him to do so, and he was never banned in Georgia. Margie was fired in 1964, not '61, and he would never have asked her to have an abortion. She died in 1973, but the cause was never stated. By the time "Georgia On My Mind" became Georgia's state song, Della and Charles had divorced, and she would not have been there for the announcement.
Second, good as Foxx's performance is, the movie itself is cliches of the highest order. This is nothing you haven't seen in musical biographies going back to the 1930's, including the somewhat similar Walk the Line on Johnny Cash that came out a year later. Also, it's way too long at 2 1/2 hours. Some of the slower middle section that gets bogged down in Charles' relationship problems could have been trimmed a bit.
The Big Finale: See this one for the terrific numbers and Foxx's amazing Oscar-winning performance if you're a fan of Foxx, Charles, or soul and R&B music.
Home Media: Easily found on all formats, often for under $10.
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