All Night Long (1962)

J. Arthur Rank, 1962

Starring Patrick McGoohan, Paul Harris, Marti Stevens, and Keith Mitchell

Directed by Basil Dearden

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we head across the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea for two vintage movies exploring the black experience in England and Jamaica. We begin with this low-budget English take on the Shakespearean drama Othello. Dearden had been specializing in tight little dramas and comedies like this one for over a decade. He had no fear in delving into tough topics like racism, juvenile delinquency, and homophobia, or realistically depicting violence and sexuality onscreen. How well do his sensibilities work with the story of an ambitious drummer who almost comes between a black bandleader and his white singer wife? Let's begin with wealthy jazz lover Rod Hamilton (Richard Attenborough) as he heads to the warehouse-turned-performance space where the anniversary party for Aurelius Rex (Harris) and his wife Delia Lane (Stevens) is taking place and find out...

The Story: Johnny Cousin (McGoohan) is Rex's ambitious drummer who hopes to start his own band. Rod and booking agent Lou Berger (Bernard Braden) will back his new venture, but only if he can get Delia to be his singer. Delia is perfectly content the way she is and fears joining a band will cause strain in her marriage. 

Johnny desperately tries to break up her and Rex by reediting a tape of her conversation with Rex's saxophone player and Delia's friend Cass (Mitchell) to make it sound like they're in love. The truth is, they were discussing his relationship with Rex's current singer Benny (Maria Velasco). Johnny's manipulation leads to a web of lies, deceit, and betrayal, until his faithful wife Emily (Betsy Blair) reveals the truth.

The Song and Dance: This is worth checking out for some terrific performances, both from the cast and the jazz men making rare film appearances. David Brubeck and Charles Mingus were at the height of their popularity when this movie was released. We even get an improvised number from them, "Non-Sectarian Blues." Though Stevens and Mitchell also do well as the close friends who look like more, McGoohan walks off with the movie as the talented drummer who is so determined to have his own band, he's willing to turn his boss and his wife on each other. We also get not one, but two happy interracial couples who manage to stay together even after all the trouble Johnny caused. That would be rare in the US nowadays, let alone in a low-budget melodrama from 1962.

The Numbers: Most of the numbers are jazz instrumentals, including the afore-mentioned Mingus and Bruebeck jam "Non-Sectarian Blues." Bruebeck plays his own "Blue Shadows On the Street," and we also get "It's a Raggy Waltz" from him. There's also "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" and Mingus' "Peggy's Blue Skylight." Rex plays "Mood Indigo" and "In a Sentimental Mood," two pieces usually associated with another bandleader, Duke Ellington. Stevens is finally coerced into singing the title song and "I Never Knew I Could Love Anybody Like I'm Loving You" for her husband near the end of the movie.

Trivia: Patrick McGoohan did learn to play the drums for the film, though he was ultimately dubbed. He kept the drum set he used after filming.

What I Don't Like: First of all, this isn't for Shakespeare purists. There's a lot of changes to the original Othello, including a happier ending where all three couples survive. Second, this is a black and white melodrama performed largely in one set, with no huge dance numbers or lavish costumes or chorus. It's not for those who prefer their musicals on the happier, fluffier, more extravagant side. Third, those who aren't jazz aficionados like me may find the hepcat lingo and slightly arrogant attitudes on many of the musicians to be rather grating after a while. 

The Big Finale: Worth a night on the town to check out if you're a fan of vintage jazz, are looking for a unique Shakespeare adaptation, or love anyone in the cast or smaller black-and-white dramas from the 60's.

Home Media: Alas, the Criterion Collection set featuring this and three other well-regarded Dearden dramas from this time period is out of print and incredibly expensive at this writing. Streaming is far and away your best bet. It can currently be found for free with ads on Tubi.

DVD - Eclipse Series 25: Basil Dearden's London Underground

Tubi

Family Fun Saturday - Elle: A Modern Cinderella Tale

Frame of Mind Entertainment, 2010

Starring Ashlee Hewitt, Sterling Knight, Thomas Calabo, and Juliette Hing-Lee

Directed by Sean and John Dunston

Music and Lyrics by various

The Cinderella Story films and their popularity with young girls inspired similar projects. One of them was this small indie film featuring two then-up-and-coming stars Knight and Hewitt. Knight was a hit in Disney Channel shows and films from the early 2010's, particularly the sitcoms Sonny With a Chance and So Random! and came with his own fans. Disney Channel hits like High School Musical series made fluffy musicals all the rage among younger kids, but does this modern fairy tale about a girl who is afraid to follow her dreams after tragedy work the way the Disney movies continue to? Let's begin with Elle (Hewitt) as she imagines our animated opening credits and find out...

The Story: Elle is an intern at her Uncle Allen's (Calabo) Spunn Records. She's mainly a go-fer for their biggest musical act, obnoxious pop stars Sensation. She's talented in her own right, but after her parents died on their way to her audition for a music school, she's too afraid to sing anymore. At least, until her favorite music star Ty Parker (Knight) turns up at Spunn, insisting on creating a record that's different from the usual shallow pop music.  Allen thinks he has the right girl to sing besides him in British internet star Kandi Kane (Kiely Williams). Elle accidentally poses as her when she dresses up and records a number of her own. 

Ty's smitten with this sincere newcomer, but it turns out that Elle is in major trouble. First of all, she recorded over Sensation's newest single. Second, Kandi and lead Sensation singer Stephanie (Katherine Bailess) have something to hide, and they're not about to be upstaged by an intern. Ty is still interested in Elle even when he learns the truth, but Kandi is not above using blackmail and petty humiliation to keep her place at the top. Elle is ready to give up her dreams, but her best friend Kit (Hing-Lee) and Andy (Shawn-Caulin Young), the goofy barista she has a crush on, dig up the dirt on Kandi and the Sensations that reveal they're anything but the high-and-mighty divas they claim to be.

The Song and Dance: Some ok performances are pretty much all to recommend for this one. Knight is one of the more charming pop princes to turn up in one of these movies, witty and supportive after Kandi and the Sensation trio cruelly make fun of Elle's crush on Ty. Hing-Lee and Young have a few cute moments in the second half when they manage to dig up the real dirt on Kandi Kane and her sudden ascent to fame. There's also a lovely scene where Adam admits that he'd admired Elle's parents and didn't just start Spunn Records for the money. And admittedly, I do give the cast a lot of credit for writing their own songs, including Hewlitt. 

The Song and Dance: We open during the animated credits as Elle explains what "My World" is like. Sensation's silly music video "Something About a Saturday" belies their popularity with cheap background graphics and out-of-step dancing. No wonder they don't end up finishing it. "Hollywood" provides the backdrop for the montage of Elle trying on Sensation's costumes. Elle is first seen "Love Is With Me Now" as a child at her birthday. She reprises the song in her white gown and a simple setting of flickering candles and acoustic guitars in the studio. "Kandi Sweet" is the song that supposedly made Kandi an online smash, but with its cheap background and obnoxious lyrics, one wonders how it became such a hit. 

Elle once again reprises "Love Is With Me Now" at Adam's party that ends with Kandi and Sensation mocking her fondness for Ty. She finally sings the number she wrote with Ty, "Fairy Tale," at the music school audition. The movie ends with "Happy Ever After" as we find out what happened to the main cast.

What I Don't Like: The movie looks and acts as cheap as those fake blue screen backgrounds in Sensation and Kandi Kane's music videos. For one thing, most of the leads either can't act, or like Hewitt and Knight, are stifled by the cliched material. It randomly throws together elements from better teen pop movies like Save the Last Dance and the Cinderella Story films in the hope that kids won't notice how annoyingly bland it all is. I'm really tired of the prince claiming he wants to find this huge new sound...only to end up performing songs that aren't all that far removed from the frothy pop stuff he was doing before. The dull music and costumes scream "bad indie movie from fifteen years ago trying desperately to be hip." 

The Big Finale: Unless your 8 to 12-aged girl is a huge fan of anyone in the cast or is looking for background noise at a slumber party, this is one Cinderella who can be easily left at the ball.

Home Media: Easily found anywhere and on every format. It can currently be found for free with ads at Tubi. 

DVD

Tubi

My Tragic Valentine - Porgy and Bess (1959)

The Samuel Goldwyn Company/Columbia, 1959

Starring Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., and Pearl Bailey

Directed by Otto Preminger

Music by George Gershwin; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Our next star-crossed couple weren't the only ones who had a hard time staying together. This film version of the 1935 Gershwin opera was plagued with production problems from the start. For one thing, Ira Gershwin wasn't crazy about there being a film based on his brother's life work to begin with. Second, Goldwyn made two popular musicals earlier in the decade, but Porgy and Bess was a lot darker than the fluffy comedian-driven extravaganzas he usually preferred. Rouben Mamoulien was originally going to direct as he did in 1935, but fought with Goldwyn and was replaced by Preminger. Arson destroyed the sets and costumes before shooting started, and Dandridge had just ended a relationship with Preminger and wasn't comfortable working with him. With all these problems, how did the film finally come out? Let's begin with the arrival of fishermen returning to Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina in 1912 and find out...

The Story: Crown (Brock Peters), the town bully, gets a little too rowdy with Robbins (Joe Fluellen) after a craps game and ends up killing him. He flees, abandoning his drug-addicted girlfriend Bess (Dandridge). Porgy (Poitier), a crippled beggar who travels by a goat-drawn cart, takes her in. They fall in love with each other, but when Crown turns up at a town picnic, he does a lot more harm to Bess than stuffing her drugs bought from Sporting Life (Sammy Davis Jr). Bess turns up back at Catfish Row two days later ranting and near-unconscious. Porgy nurses her, with the help of pious Serena (Ruth Attaway) and sensible Maria (Bailey). 

During a massive hurricane, most of the residents of Catfish Row take shelter in the largest house. Not only does Crown return and vow he'll make Bess his again, but Clara (Diahann Carroll) is killed waiting for her fisherman husband who was lost in the storm. Bess and Porgy are happy to take in Clara's baby, but Crown is still determined that Bess should be his alone. Porgy finally stabs and strangles him, but when he's called by the police to identify the body, Sporting Life sees his chance to try to get Bess to come to New York with him one last time...

The Song and Dance: Terrific all-black cast knows how to handle the melodramatic story. At the least, Preminger is on more accustomed turf with a dark opera than he was with the lighter material in That Lady In Ermine ten years before. Poitier makes a wonderful Porgy, especially near the end when he realizes Bess has walked out, and Sammy Davis Jr. is relishing his turn as the deceptively charming drug peddler Sportin' Life. For all the trouble Dandridge had on the set (she ended a stormy relationship with Preminger not long before the movie began), she does well by flighty Bess. The scene with her and Crown on the island is nearly terrifying.

The Numbers: We open with the arrival of the fishermen and Clara and her baby during "Summertime." Sportin' Life and Robbins remind the crap players why "A Woman Is a Sometimes Thing." "Here Comes De Honey Man" introduces the kindly old peddler who sells honey to the locals. Porgy explains his lot with "They Pass By Singin." "The Crap Game" becomes a chorus number when Robbins and Crown end up in a choreographed fight. "Gone, Gone, Gone," Serena wails after her husband's death, because "My Man's Gone Now." The others wonder why Porgy doesn't try for something better. "I Got Plenty O' Nuthin," and that's fine by him.

The duo admit that "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" when she finally agrees to stay with him. "Oh, I Can't Sit Down" sings Maria excitedly with the chorus before the picnic. Serena may scold everyone for having fun, but the chorus points out "I Ain't Got No Shame." After all, Sportin' Life reminds them, "It Ain't Necessarily So." Bess wants to know "What You Want With Bess," but she really already has a good idea of what Crown's after. Porgy begs for Serena to pray to "Oh Doctor Jesus" when Bess is sick. Bess assures her boyfriend "I Loves You, Porgy," while Crown claims "God and Me" will get by when he finds his "Red-Headed Woman." 

"Clara, Clara" is the brief lament for the young mother lost in the storm waiting for her fisherman husband. Bess reprises "Summertime" in her memory. Sportin' Life reminds Bess "There's a Boat Dat's Leaving for New York," and this time, she might be willing to join him on it. After we hear the "Morning Sounds" of the street vendors, Porgy comes home...and wails "O Bess, Where's My Bess?" when he realizes she's gone. We end with him taking off in  his goat-drawn cart as he sings "O Lawd, I'm On My Way."

Trivia: Robert McFerrin (father of singer Bobby McFerrin) dubbed Poitier. Adele Addison dubbed Dandridge. Inez Matthews dubbed Ruth Attaway. 

The original Broadway show debuted in 1935, with Mamoulien directing. It wasn't a success, but the music was popular enough for it be revived in New York in 1942, 1953, 1976, and 2012. 

What I Don't Like: For all the success of its music, there's a reason so many black performers turned this down, and many theater critics and historians have problems with it to this day. First of all, many of the characters here can come off as stereotypical, especially some of the nastier men like Crown and Sportin' Life. Second, this is heavy going. We're not talking about one of the Gershwin's lighthearted romps from the 30's here. Four people die (admittedly two of them in the hurricane), a woman is insinuated to have been raped, and they all but shout what that "happy dust" Sportin' Life keeps giving Bess is. 

Truth be told, no matter how much Goldwyn admired the original Broadway production, he was in over his head with this one. Preminger had a point that the lavish sets and costumes are maybe a bit too lavish for a run-down fishing neighborhood in South Carolina. No wonder someone burned them. For all the size, they're also too cramped. This is more like the filmed opera it is than an actual movie. Except for the location shooting on the island, you may as well be watching this at the Met. 

The Big Finale: Problematic but fascinating, with terrific music and performances that make it worth checking out despite the dated and dark story and treatment of black culture. 

Home Media: The Gershwin estate was so disappointed with how this came out, they won't allow it to be released on legitimate home media. The only places you can find it are in washed-out, blurry copies on YouTube and the Internet Archive.

YouTube

Internet Archive

New Orleans (1947)

United Artists, 1947

Starring Arturo de Cordova, Dorothy Patrick, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holliday

Directed by Arthur Lubin

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we celebrate Valentine's Day with historical movies that have tales of star-crossed or tragic lovers at their core. New Orleans has been one of the centers of the American musical scene for over a century, going back to the beginnings of ragtime, jazz, and the blues in its Storyville red-light district. Storyville was begun to give the prostitutes a place to stay, but by the early 20th century, it was a tourist hot-spot and one of the best places in the city to catch a live band playing that new, modern ragtime and blues sound. How does this historical drama about two radically different couples coming together at Storyville look nowadays? Let's begin with a look at the sights and sounds of Storyville as the camera moves to one specific group practicing in a bar and find out...

The Story: Armstrong (himself) and his Original Dixieland Band play for Nick Duquese (de Cordova) at his club and casino in Storyville. Nick falls for Miralee Smith (Patrick), the daughter of one his casino customers Mrs. Rutledge Smith (Irene Ryan). Mrs. Smith is pushing her talented daughter into an operatic career, but she falls for Nick and the Dixieland sound. Horrified at losing her daughter to a casino owner who pushes a type of music she doesn't approve of, Mrs. Smith tries to buy Nick off. Nick's first girlfriend Grace (Marjorie Lord) is even less thrilled. 

Nick has to leave under any circumstances. It's World War I, and the government is shutting Storyville down to avoid it being a distraction for the troops. He takes the band to Chicago, but his attempts to reopen his casino are blocked by a rival. He does better as a talent scout and music producer, eventually helping Armstrong to reunite with Mrs. Smith's former maid Endie (Holliday). Mrs. Smith took Miralee overseas to sing for the concert halls in Europe. After Nick and his band returns from a similar tour, he's determined to get Woody Herman and His Orchestra (themselves) into New York's Manhattan Symphony Hall. The owner is aghast at the idea, but Miralee's the one who finally proves that jazz, blues, and other "popular" forms of music are here to stay.

The Song and Dance: Interesting look at music and romance in the Deep South is better than it has any right to be from the low-budget pedigree. Lubin felt passionately about jazz, and it shows in his affection towards the characters. Even the snobs are more misguided and out of date than bad. Patrick's not bad as the spoiled debutante who falls for the music and Nick in that order. Armstrong is funny and charming more-or-less playing an adult version of  himself in this time period, and he does have surprising chemistry with Holliday. This would be Holliday's only shot at a feature-length picture, making this movie fascinating for that alone. She's no actress, but her voice throbs with heartache, and hers and Armstrong's numbers are definitely the highlights here. 

The Numbers: The standard "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" came from this movie. It's played no less than four times, including by Armstrong and his band, by Patrick at a concert hall with a less-than-appreciative audience, and in the enormous finale with Patrick and Herman in New York. Armstrong and the Original Dixieland Band open things at the club with "Name Your Poison Blues (aka West End Blues)." They play "Maryland, My Maryland" for the arrival of Miralee's steam ship. "When the Blues Were Born In New Orleans" is another new number for Armstrong and his band. They get the Jelly Roll Morton song "Buddy Bolden's Blues" when Mirilee visits the club the first time. 

"Farewell to Storyville" is an affecting blues ballad performed by Holliday as the residents of Storyville sadly pack their bags and belongings and leave the homes and businesses they love so much. "Honky Tonk Train Blues" takes us to Chicago, where it's played by its author Meade "Lux" Lewis. "The Blues are Brewin'" with Armstrong's band in Chicago. By the time he's playing "Endie," Holliday has joined up and joined in. 

Trivia: This would indeed be Holliday's only feature-length film appearance. Keep a sharp eye out for a young Shelley Winters in an uncredited role as Nick's secretary in New York near the end of the film. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, there isn't a drop of historical flavor in this. For one thing, Armstrong was a teenager when this movie was set. Most of the songs, including "West End Blues," were written well after 1917 and sound like it. Herman's band didn't debut until the 30's, either. There's no indication other than on a card at the beginning and several news headlines seen throughout the film that time has even passed. It looks and sounds like 1947 for the entire film. 

Second, though they get some credit for showing blacks and white interacting at all, most of the black characters still kow-tow to the whites (and to Hispanic de Cordova). They're the ones who are most effected by the closing of Storyville, but the movie is more interested in the rather cliche romance between Mirliee and Nick. Even Armstrong courting Endie (and how he eventually finds her) is more interesting. Not to mention, all those wonderful blues songs are seldom allowed to finish...and as much as I like "Do You Know What It Means," it turns up at least two or three times too many. 

The Big Finale: For all its difficult and dated aspects, jazz and blues lovers and fans of Armstrong and Holliday may find this exploration of Big Easy history to be a fascinating glimpse into not one, but two lost eras in music. 

Home Media: Streaming is your best bet here. The Kino DVD has been out of print and expensive for a while now. Can be found for free just about anywhere right now, including Tubi and The Roku Channel with commercials.

DVD

Tubi

The Roku Channel

Animation Celebration Saturday - Beauty and the Beast (1992)

Golden Films, 1992

Voices of John Rafter Lee, Charles Martinet, Michael Gough, and Darran Norris

Directed by Diane Paloma Eskanzi

Music by Merrill Farnsworth; Lyrics by Chris Davis, Bonnie Keen, and Scott Brasher

Golden Films had been making Disney imitations since they began as American Film Investment Corporation in 1990. Admittedly, unlike UAV, they did sometimes branch into original content like The Legend of Su-Ling that wasn't based on frequently-adapted material. Nowadays, though, they're likely remembered for the specials that got far closer to Disney and other 90's animated franchises. This is one of their earliest ventures into flat-out Disney imitations. How does their version compare to Disney's and other retellings of this familiar tale? Let's begin over the title sequence with three rather annoying voices introducing what we're about to see and find out...

The Story: Beauty, her father (Gough), and her three spoiled sisters live in a lovely old house in the country. The sisters do nothing but complain and whine for more, but Beauty is content to take care of her father and her garden. After a storm damages their house and destroys Beauty's garden, their father goes into town to find out if his ships weren't harmed as well. The sisters all want food and fine gifts, but Beauty only asks for a single rose to replace the ones ruined in the storm. 

The gentleman is waylaid in an old castle, where he's tended to by three overeager ghosts. He's delighted with their antics and elaborate show. On the way out, he takes a rose for Beauty...which attracts the attention of The Beast, an enormous bear-like creature. Beauty goes to rescue her father when the carriage turns up without him. The Beast will release her father, if Beauty stays. She gradually begins to have feelings for the creature, who is much kinder than he appears. Her sisters are jealous, and when she returns dressed like a princess, they first try to keep her there, then turn the townspeople on the Beast.

The Animation: Same deal as The Legend of Su-Ling. The colors here are softer pastels, and actually, some of the costumes are quite nice, especially on the sisters. The backgrounds still have no detail to them, though, and it still more closely resembles a TV series from this time period than anything from Disney. (Beauty, in fact, looks more like Aurora from Sleeping Beauty than the Disney Belle.) 

The Song and Dance: I give them credit for using details from the original story that Disney couldn't figure out how to work into their version. The three spoiled sisters, the father getting into trouble for stealing a rose from the garden, the sisters trying to keep her at home, Beauty dreaming of the prince, and the Beast asking Beauty to marry him are all from the original French fairy tales. Not to mention, the Prince's and the ghosts' backstory is actually darker here than in the French stories or Disney's movie. He didn't just treat a fairy badly. He refused to help his failing kingdom, until everyone abandoned it...and as the ghosts point out, some didn't survive.

The Numbers: We open with "Beauty's Dream," a surreal mish-mash of fantasy elements in which Beauty dances with her Prince in their own fairy tale world. (Apparently, some of the effects would later be used in Golden's 1997 Camelot.) Her sisters want "More" as they shrilly whine for all the fancy desserts, jewels, and fine dresses they think they deserve. "Get Into the Spirit" is a genuinely catchy "Be My Guest" imitation with a tinge of gospel as the ghosts bring out dinner for Beauty's father and put on a show. "Beauty's Dream" turns up again when the Beast plays it on the piano, making one wonder if Beauty wasn't the only one having fairy-tale fantasies...

Trivia: If the ghost Charles Marinet plays sounds familiar to Super Mario games fans, he's the long-time voice of Mario in English-speaking countries. 

What I Don't Like: On one hand, the ghosts have a surprisingly interesting backstory and may be takes on the invisible servants from the French stories...but that doesn't make them any less annoying or unnecessary. Even Martinet's Mario voice grates on your nerves in this setting. The cat Beauty drags around is even more so. There's a lot that's not explained, like how Beauty dreamed about the prince before she met the Beast (in the French stories, the dreams happened after she already arrived at the castle) or why the ghosts haunt the Beast and stay with him even after he's transformed.

The Big Finale: Not a bad short retelling of this story for those wanting to introduce the original story to children or only have enough time for an hour special. 

Home Media: Like most Golden Films, this is easily found anywhere, including on streaming for free with commercials.

DVD

Tubi

Get On Up: The James Brown Story

Universal, 2014

Starring Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis, Dan Ackroyd, and Viola Davis

Directed by Tate Taylor

Music and Lyrics by James Brown and others

Our next biography is of a real-life R&B legend. James Brown's tumultuous life story was one of the inspirations for The Five Heartbeats. Unlike them, his career spanned genres and generations, from passionate ballads in the early 60's to being one of the most sampled musicians in rap songs by the early 2000's. Brown was known as "Mr. Dynamite" for a reason. 

Universal had been trying to get this off the ground since 2000, but were prevented by financial and music rights difficulties. They tried again when Brown died of pneumonia in 2006,  but finally got it going in 2012 when Mick Jagger agreed to be one of the producers and they brought on director Taylor. How well did they do with the story of the man whose dynamic performances hid a lot more heartbreak backstage? Let's begin at the ending, with Brown (Boseman) attacking his own business while stoned, and find out...

The Story: Brown (Jamarion and Jordan Scott) grew up in a shack near Augusta, Georgia with his mother Susie (Davis) and his abusive father Joe (Lennie James). His mother walked out to become a prostitute and his father joined the Army, leaving him in the care of his Aunt Honey (Octavia Spencer). His aunt runs a brothel, and he becomes fascinated with the flamboyant people who come there, and even more with the "shout" gospel music lauded to the heavens in the church she attends. He boxes briefly later, but proves to be unsuited to it.

At 17, he steals a suit and ends up in jail. He meets Bobby Byrd (Ellis) when he brings his gospel group to sing at the church. Impressed by Brown's voice, Byrd's family gets him parole, and he joins the band and moves their sound from gospel to R&B and soul. Even Little Richard (Brandon Mychal Smith) is impressed when Brown jumps onstage with his newly christened Famous Flames during one of his shows. Little Richard admonishes  him to avoid "the white devil," but Brown joins a white R&B record company and hires one of their people, Ben Brandt (Ackroyd), to be his manager. 

Brandt at first shunts the band off to the sidelines, leading them to quit. They return in 1962 when James puts in his own money to record the hugely successful Live at the Apollo album. Two years later, he upstages the Rolling Stones at the T.A.M.I Show and pays young DJs to promote his albums and avoid paying promoters. He even manages to keep the audience from rioting in Boston after Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in 1968 and, despite almost being shot down, joins the USO and plays for Vietnam troops later that year. 

His home life isn't doing so well. He divorces his first wife Velma (Jacinte Blankenship) and abuses the second Deirdre (Jill Scott). He's not thrilled when his mother tries to get back into his life, and first  his band, and then Bobby quit over his tendency to expect perfection, insist they work on days off, and hog the spotlight. It's not until he gets out of prison in 1993 that he finally mends fences with Bobby, reminding them that, no matter what life throws at them, they still need each other.

The Song and Dance: Boseman and Ellis lead a parade of powerhouse performances in this story of a searing performer driven to sing at all costs, including the cost of his relationships. Boseman may be more attractive than the young Brown, but he still nails his mannerisms and his unending energy and charisma. Ellis more than matches him as his best friend through (almost) thick and thin, who is generally happy to be off to the sidelines and let James bask in the spotlight. Ackroyd and Davis also do well as the "white devil" who proves to be more of an angel in disguise and the mother who left him behind. Love the gorgeous cinematography in many of the real locations this was set, including Paris and rural Georgia. The non-linear story that jumps between incidents from Brown's life makes this a little more creative than most standard Hollywood biographies.

The Numbers: We don't get our first number until nearly fifteen minutes in, but it's Brown's searing "Out of Sight" that steals T.A.M.I from the Rolling Stones. He dances to his signature "I Feel Good" with the band in red ski sweaters on the set of the winter Beach Party imitation Ski Party ...at least until he realizes he'd much rather be taking things up a notch over a decade later. That "shout" preacher almost literally throws himself into "No More, My Lawd" at an all-white church, inspiring Brown's signature funky style. He's one of the inmates joining Bobby's gospel band for "O Mary, Don't You Weep, Don't Your Mourn," until he's attacked by another prisoner and starts a fight.

Smith is equally magnetic in his one number as Little Richard. "Tutti Frutti" shows Richard's flamboyant style even better than "Caldonia" showed off Brown and the Flames. James' one boxing match even turns into an instrumental jazz number as he imagines a jazz combo playing as he's beaten black and blue. "This Thing Called Love" gives us a brief routine at a club showing Brown's early success with black audiences. Syd Nathan (Fred Melamed) doesn't understand "Please, Please, Please" the way Ben Brandt does, considering it repetitive and protesting Brown recording it despite Brandt pushing it.

No wonder Live at the Apollo was such a smash, with a short but really funky rendition of "Night Train" that the audience adores. "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World" shows how he fell for Deidre and how dramatic his shows could get, which takes us back into a brief reprise of "Please, Please, Please." "Cold Sweat" is performed in the recording studio, showing how hard he could be on his band, his wife, and his best friend. His band mate Pee Wee imitates him singing "Mother Popcorn" in the studio...before the assassination of Martin Luther King. He convinces the mayor of Boston to let the concert go on, despite the riots in the summer of 1968...and keeps the audience from tearing the town apart with his rendition of "Mother Popcorn," even letting one kid dance onstage. 

He records the Civil Rights anthem "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" with a chorus of kids in the studio. A lean, mean James comments on his current situation right before a dynamic "Soul Power" in Paris. His truly heartfelt "Try Me" in 1993 is what finally convinces Bobby and his wife Vicki that all is forgiven. 

What I Don't Like: Though the non-linear story makes this unique among biopics, it also makes it hard to follow. The erratic quick-change editing that rarely lets anyone finish a number doesn't help here. While the costumes are nice and remain true to the time, the makeup on everyone later in the film is anything but convincing, particularly on Ells. They could have gone even further into certain aspects of his life, like his heavy involvement with the Civil Rights Moment and writing his own material. Like Five Heartbeats, this also goes on for way too long. 

The Big Finale: Worth seeing for Boseman and Ellis' performances if you're a fan of Brown or vintage R&B and soul music with time on your hands. 

Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Amazon Prime

Cult Flops - The Five Heartbeats

20th Century Fox, 1991

Starring Robert Townsend, Leon Robinson, Michael Wright, and Tico Wells

Directed by Robert Townsend

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we dive into Black History Month with reviews of biographies of fictional and real R&B stars. We begin with the fictional group. Doo wop and early R&B groups were at the height of their success in the early 1960's, as the Civil Rights Movement gathered steam. If young men weren't creating groups in garages and on street corners, they were starting record companies to showcase those garage bands. Townsend was coming off a success with the 1987 stand-up comedy film Eddie Murphy Raw. Keenan Ivory Waynas produced Raw and wrote Townsend's first movie Hollywood Shuffle and In Living Color, the satirical variety show that was in it's second year when this debuted. Is this as much fun as In Living Color, or should it be thrown off a balcony? Let's begin backstage at a band contest in Columbus, Ohio and find out...

The Story: Brothers Donald "Duck" (Townsend) and J.T (Robinson) Matthews and their friends Eddie King Jr. (Wright), Anthony "Choirboy" Stone (Wells), and Terrence "Dresser" Williams (Harry J. Lennox) are members of the doo-wop group the Heartbeats. They don't win the contest, but they do manage to impress manager Jimmy Potter (Chuck Patterson). He takes them on when they fail to win another contest and introduces them to Ernest "Sarge" Johnson (Harold Nicholas), who redoes their choreography. Potter's not crazy about them signing with corrupt Big Red Davis (Hawthorne James) and his record company after his independently published single is a hit and they finally win a contest, but no one else will take them.

They become an instant success, despite a difficult tour with bad conditions and racism in the south. Eddie, who was never the most stable to begin with, handles it the worst. He takes to drugs and heavy drinking, to the point where his girlfriend Baby Doll (Troy Beyer) breaks up with him. Jimmy and the other Heartbeats are more concerned about his deteriorating performances. Eddie's worried that Jimmy intends to replace him and has Big Red cut him out. Jimmy retaliates by threatening to go to the cops with all of Red's shady activities, which promptly ends with Big Red's men running him down in front of his wife Eleanor (Diahann Carroll).

Eddie is horrified and guilt-ridden by his part in everything and does end up quitting the band. They replace him with Michael "Flash" Turner (John Canada Terrell), a far more flamboyant singer. Their success comes to an abrupt end when Flash decides to go solo and Duck and J.T have a falling out over Duck's fiancee (Carla Brothers). They don't speak to each other again until 1991, when they all finally admit that, even with all the trouble, they've never forgotten the one thing that always meant the most to all of them...singing and dancing together.

The Song and Dance: There's some terrific performances in this look at the darker side of the 60's music scene. Some of it may hit harder in today's racial climate, like the Heartbeats being furious over four white performers appearing on the cover of their album and their treatment during that tour. Carroll and Patterson come off best as the manager hoping that these guys won't leave him in the dust if they make it and his supportive wife. Wright's performance can be overwrought at times, especially in the second half, but his over-the-top delivery especially works. When the guys see him again as a poor drug addict, he's so desperate, you can practically feel it coming off him. The colorful costumes and sets do well representing the mid-60's through the early 70's, especially those sharp primary-colored suits and narrow-brimmed fedoras most of the men seem to favor.

The Numbers: We open at that contest with one girl band doing "I Never Felt This Good" and Baby Doll singing "I Love Joey." The next number gives us a glimpse of Flash's intense style that'll later take over the group with "Are You Ready for Me?" The Heartbeats finally debut with "Nothing But Love." Bird and the Midnight Falcons sing "Baby Stop Running Around" to their adoring fans who have been instructed to cheer them and boo the Heartbeats...until they hear the Heartbeats' "9:20 Special" and "A Heart Is a House for Love," and one girl literally faints into Eddie's arms. 

Duck spends all night writing a new song, but it's his little sister (Tressa Thomas) who helps him put "We Haven't Finished Yet" together. (Thomas is such a scene stealer here, I wish her brothers could have found a way to get her into the group.) Duck and J.T hear "Nothing but Love" on the radio even before they wake up, ending with dancing joyously with their many siblings. Weeks on the road playing terrible venues and staying in dirty hotels takes its toll on "Nights Like This," which ends with the guys tearing their clothes apart in a free-for-all....but the tearing goes over so well, it's incorporated into the act. 

The Four Tops' hit "Same Old Song" gives us a montage of the Heartbeats' success, from the covers of Time and Esquire to appearances on American Bandstand. We hear Flash performing "Down for the Count" with his original band, right as Eddie's life starts to go seriously south. After Eddie leaves, Flash finds himself "In the Middle" of the band's other drama. Jennifer Holliday (who starred in the original 1984 Dreamgirls on Broadway) performs a searing "Amazing Grace" at Jimmy's funeral. "Just In Case" proves to be the swan song for Flash and the Heartbeats before they finally disband. Eddie and Baby Doll finally get a number together in the 90's as part of Anthony's choir, "I Feel Like Going On." "We Haven't Finished Yet" is reprised in the finale by Patti LaBelle with Billy Valentine and Thomas.

What I Don't Like: This movie is cliched to high heck. It's basically the male flip side of Dreamgirls, with a lot of the same done-to-death complications. No wonder this wasn't a hit in 1991. We've seen it all before, and will again many times. Things get a lot less interesting after Jimmy's death and Eddie's involvement. The last half-hour with the brothers fighting over the same woman comes off as dull soap opera claptrap and makes the movie a lot longer than it needs to be. 

The music that everyone makes such a fuss about is derivative and boring, especially compared to the real vintage R&B from the groups who inspired this that plays throughout the film. (And why use "Same Old Song" for the rise to success montage? Wouldn't it have made more sense to have a song by the Heartbeats, let them actually show why they became so popular so fast?) 

The Big Finale: This seems to be one of those things people either love for the decent performances and numbers, or hate for the overwrought melodrama and inconsistent tone. It's still worth checking out at least once this Black History Month, if only to see where you stand.  

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

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