Cadillac Records
by Darnell Martin
List Price:
Our Price: $7.90
You Save: $7.09 (47%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.45 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Adrien Brody, Beyoncé Knowles, Columbus Short, Jeffrey Wright, Mos DefDirector: Darnell Martin
Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
Producer: Beyoncé Knowles
Writer: Darnell Martin
Producer: Andrew Lack
Producer: Marc Levin
Producer: Petra Hoebel
Producer: Scott Cameron
Producer: Sofia Sondervan
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-03-10
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Cadillac Records
Movie Review: Cadillac Records
Summary: 5 Stars
An outstanding new book, Ted Gioia's "Delta Blues" (2008) tells the story of "The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters who Revolutionized American Music." Much of Gioia's book is devoted to the blues singers who left the Delta in the late 1940s and relocated to other American cities, including Chicago. With Gioia's book fresh in my mind, I was eager to see "Cadillac Records", a new movie which tells of transplanted blues, early rock and roll, and Chicago -- and of the association of many great blues artists with Chess Records and Leonard Chess. The movie offers compelling portraits of Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf, of the Mississippi Delta, together with Little Walter, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry, guitarist Hubert Sumlin, and Etta James together with its portrait of Leonard Chess. The movie is directed by Darnell Martin.
Gioia writes: "Like Muddy Waters, the Chess brothers were outsiders trying to establish themselves in Chicago." ("Delta Blues, p. 216). Leonard and Philip Chess (born Lijzor and Fiszel Czyz) arrived in the United States in 1928. Leonard progressed from working in his father's junk shop, to opening a liquor store and nightclub, the Macomba Lounge on Chicago's South Side, to establishing the Chess record label to record black artists in the areas of blues, gospel, doo-wop, and rock. Philip Chess does not appear in the movie. But Leonard receives a tough and accurate portrait from Adrien Brody in "Cadillac Records" as a new American determined to make a success of himself.
Muddy Waters was born McKinley Morganfield as a sharecropper in the Mississippi Delta. In 1943, Alan Lomax visited Waters, as he was already known, and made a celebrated series of blues recordings with Waters singing and playing acoustic bottleneck guitar. The movie opens with an excellent scene between Lomax and Waters in Mississippi (filmed in Louisiana). Shortly thereafter, Waters moved to Chicago and changed Delta Blues and music when he electrified his instrument. Waters would make several efforts to adapt during the course of a long career. Much of "Cadillac Records" is told in his voice and through his eyes, portrayed by Jeffery Wright.
Howling Wolf, born Chester Burnet, also was a musician from the Mississippi Delta. A physically large and formidable man who resembled a linebacker more than a musician, Wolf was already middle-aged when he came to Chicago. He was old enough to have known early Delta blues singers Charlie Patton and Son House. Wolf, portrayed by Eamonn Walker in "Cadillac Records", arrived in Chicago from Memphis, with a surly sharp temper and more of a head for business than some other rural singers. Wolf and Waters, and the sometimes jealous relationship that developed between them, is well portrayed in this movie.
The movie also offers excellent portrayals of Little Walter, (played by Columbus Short) with his drinking and fighting and unmatchable artistry on the harmonica. His own tendencies to attract and to give violence are graphically portrayed. Chuck Barry (Mos Def) is portrayed as the founder of rock and roll, a style that would for a time displace Chess's bluesmen. We see him "crossing over" to white audiences in this movie, in the face of a heavily segregated Chicago, and serving jail time for contributing to the delinquency of minors at the height of his career. The movie shows other white rock groups plagiarizing from Berry. Songwriter and bassist Willie Dixon (Cedrick the Entertainer), like Wolf a large man, wrote and helped produce much of Wolf's and Water's material. The vulnerable, troubled, foul-mouthed and greatly talented Etta James was added to Chess's artists when the label thought it needed a woman performer. James is portrayed by Beyonce. She makes a stunning presence in this movie with her passionate performance of James's classic "At Last". (The violinists in the studio raise their heads from their instruments in disbelief as James/Beyonce wails in recording "At Last", creating an unforgettable image of what needs to be said about this song.)
The movie suggests that James and Leonard Chess became romantically involved. This is likely incorrect. Many of the details of the story are also probably historically inaccurate. But the film is a story rather than a documentary and should be judged for its own effectiveness and for the way it portrays its characters and its times. And here I thought it succeeded admirably. The movie captures the blues as it moved from the Delta to Chicago. These musicians have only recently received some of the recognition that their artistry deserves. Leonard Chess, with his mixture of paternalism, insight, ambition, and probable exploitation of his talented musicians, is aptly portrayed. The difficult transition from their rural roots that Waters, Little Walter, and the other musicians experienced in Chicago, and their struggles with alcohol, violence, promiscuity and racism, are properly emphasized in the movie. And the soundtrack brings "Cadillac Records" to life. The songs are not performed by the original artists, but the performances especially Beyonce's as Etta James, are captivating.
"Cadillac Records" is a gritty portrayal of blues, rock, Leonard Chess, and the record company he founded. The movie tells of a unique American art form, developed by outsiders and immigrants, which continues to make large contributions to American culture.
Running time: 107 minutes
Robin Friedman
Summary of Cadillac Records
CHRONICLES THE RISE OF CHESS RECORDS AND ITS RECORDING ARTISTS. IN 1950S CHICAGO,CADILLAC RECORDSFOLLOWS THE EXCITING BUT TURBULENT LIVES OF SOME OF AMERICA'S MUSICAL LEGENDS, INCLUDING MUDDY WATERS, LEONARD CHESS, LITTLE WALTER, HOWLIN' WOLF, ETTA JAMES AND CHUCK BERRY.Similar DVD Movies
Poetic JusticeSony; Release date: 1999-03-30; DVD
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
ObsessedELBA,IDRIS; Release date: 2009-08-04; DVD
Best price: $2.24
Price in other shops:
The Howlin' Wolf Story - The Secret History of Rock & RollSony; Release date: 2003-11-04; DVD
Best price: $8.78
Price in other shops:
Ray (Widescreen Edition)FOXX,JAMIE; Release date: 2005-02-01; Published: 2005-02-01; DVD
Best price: $4.94
Price in other shops:
What's Love Got To Do With It?Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 1999-08-24; DVD
Best price: $3.11
Price in other shops:
The Five Heartbeats - 15th Anniversary Special Edition (Full Screen)Fox; Release date: 2006-01-10; DVD
Best price: $4.18
Price in other shops:
TemptationsVIS; Release date: 2011-01-11; DVD
Best price: $7.49
Price in other shops:
Rage To Survive: The Etta James Storyby David Ritz, Etta James
Da Capo Press; Published: 2003-06-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.22
Price in other shops:
Dreamgirls (Widescreen Edition)PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2007-05-01; DVD
Best price: $2.97
Price in other shops:
Various - Cadillac Records (Music From the Motion Picture)Release date: 2008-12-02; Music CD
Best price: $8.84
Price in other shops: