Lady Sings the Blues
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Movie Reviews of Lady Sings the Blues
Movie Review: Just review the film and leave the predjudices aside..
Summary: 5 Stars
To the reviewers Azuzu, is it? and Tony Oscar, would that be? Why don't you step aside from your disguised attempt to bash the leading lady and just stick to the review of the movie. It's so very funny that during both of your thrashing of this film, neither of you mentioned the 5 Academy Award nominations this little film garnered in '72. Yeah...if a movie sucks that bad, and the actors (or ACTRESS in this case since you went there) are/is so awful, yeah the highest authority on cinematic achievemnt tried to award it in 5 different categories, so yeah..you guys must be so totally right.
You don't have to be a "die hard" Diana Ross fan to appreciate this film. (and it's so very clear that you two aren't in your histrionic and distasteful comments). When is the last biopic that you know of to not stray from the truth for the sake of filmaking? For example: in the closing segment of "Ray" when he gets his recognition from the GA State Assembly with his wife, Bee, by his side. Guess what, Ray and Bee were divorced when that happened in real life..though REEL life didn't show that. And speaking of "I'll Cry Tomorrow", Tony Oscar...yeah that was Susan Hayward's voice doing the singing, wasn't it? Gimme a break. Ever see "I Want to Live"?..yeah every piece of 90 minutes was fact-to fact true, wasn't it? Wrong. The point is Hollywood tells stories, it's entertainment and in the case of LSTB...it was based on Holiday's book, which had a ghostwriter itself. You should go read it. So instead of giving the impression that this film is oh-my-God the first not to be 100% chronologically accurate.....oh-me-oh-my....and instead of attacking Miss Ross' interpretation of Billie Holiday songs, becuase the fact is she did a damn good job and breathing life into songs that had been forgotten about back in 1972 (and I was there thank you very much) stick to the point of this forum, REVIEW THE DAMN PICTURE. And for your further information, I am a filmmaker/director myself and not one of the "rabid Diana Ross fans" that you unscrupulously insulted, Azuzu..is it? And how dare you imply that a woman who was inducted into the Guiness Book of World Records as the most successful female singer of the 20th century has not achieved status and respect. If that were the case, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. Leaving the Ross-bashing alone, the film is a remarkable achievement by a majority of first-timers, who just happen to be African-Americans, which makes me even more proud of the 5 Oscar nods.
Good day, gentlemen..or..whatever.
Movie Review: ELECTRIFYING PERFORMANCE~BRAVO DIANA!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
By the early 70's jazz legend Billie Holiday had been gone for over a decade and her harrowing life was truly an incredible story that was bound to hit the big screen...my first choice to play Lady Day was another magnificent Jazz/Soul/Pop legend Nancy Wilson who had just turned in a passionate and impressive "guest star" performance of a singer all strung out on one of the popular television dramatic series...looked like she was a shoo-in for that plum role but it was Diana who had Berry Gordy and at that moment that was the ticket! Being a huge fan of Motown music I was less than thrilled though when I heard that Diana Ross was going to portray the troubled and brilliant jazz legend but out of curiosity ran to see "Lady Sings The Blues" the week of its release and was totally impressed with the drama and pathos created by the great performances contained in this ground-breaking motion picture that also made a romantic leading man out of Billy Dee Williams plus Richard Pryor gives a winning performance as well. Diana Ross is simply tremendous and amazing to watch in this moody atmospheric motion picture classic that still holds up today as an engrossing drama of a singer who had brilliant and uniquely original talent but made all the wrong choices in life...Bravo to everyone involved with this earthy and deeply moving and yes somewhat troubling and disturbing classic!!! Diana Ross and Liza Minnelli both gave magnificent career defining performances the same year and these grand and legendary performers should have gone on to greater heights in motion pictures but a burned-out Hollywood no longer knew how to put together great projects for great female talent and this sadly still holds true today! Since the 70's a legendary screen career such as a Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, etc. would not or could not have happened and this is a sad loss to the audience and those many artists whose career's have floundered with their wonderful talent left untapped...Hollywood in many ways has really lost the way and movies today for the most part look and feel completely fake and manufactured..."Lady Sings The Blues" is from another era where talent reined supreme and this era is sadly gone and it would take nothing short of a miracle for it to return.Movie Review: TRAILBLAZING FILM GETS IT'S DUE
Summary: 5 Stars
I won't quibble with the delay in releasing the DVD of Lady Sings The Blues for one reason; the remastered work is so clean I no longer care that it took so long. LSTB is a historically significant work that is only lately receiving it's full due as a film that opened doors and predicted viability for projects such as What's Love Got To Do With It, Ali, and Ray.
Critics who take umbrage with the storyline as being less than truthful about Billie Holiday's life are accurate, but that criticism is not germaine to the product we see on the screen. (And ironically, those same critics don't acknowledge that the book, Lady Sings The Blues, which was ghosted by Bill Dufty after interviews with Billie Holiday, was also mostly fictionalized and largely innacurate.)The movie itself is best viewed as a sprawling love story...enormous, colorful, poignant, and indeed that was the intention of director Sidney Furie and producer Berry Gordy. At a time when the only "black" movies were aimed strcitly at black audiences and were, in the main, "blaxpoitation" flicks, Gordy aimed higher and, as he did with Motown records, proved that quality has no skin color. LSTB was the first black love story that was an unabashed hit (Carmen Jones, shot during the 5o's, was indeed an opera and did not enjoy the success LSTB did) throughout the entire world.
The entire success or failure of the picture hinged, of course, on the performance of Diana Ross, and against the odds, Miss Ross triumphed. Simply stated, she should have won the Oscar for her gut wrenching performance, her amazing vocal interpretations, all in her first big screen performance. This is one of film's truly great performances. One of the most interesting and least-acknowledged side affects of this film was the discovery of Lady Day by the masses. Her albums sold exponentially more AFTER the film than before, and a spate of biographies followed the popularity of the film.
This DVD belongs in the collection of everyone serious about film history. It has not aged, and if it had been released today, like it was 33 years ago, it would be garnering magnificent reviews and Oscar predictions.
Movie Review: Finally. It's about time...
Summary: 5 Stars
To the reviewer below from Jackson Heights, NY: you're an idiot. Far be it for Lady Sings the Blues to be the 1st film to ever be "based on facts" without being 100% factual. FACTS: Holiday was a tremendous innovator, a former prostitute, an addict and a legend. All of that is covered in LSTB. The other insult to this movie is regarding Diana Ross, the scapegoat for countless of unsatisfied-with-their-lives-so-they-hate on-those-who-achieve. Diana Ross, Sidney Furie and Motown/Berry Gordy knew well that the one thing Ross could do wrongly was to try and imitate Holiday's sound. It's too unique. What Ross did on her own was to immerse herself in Holiday's works and adopted Holiday's phrasing..which was always behind the beat. Frank Sinatra has even been quoted as saying he learned his own phrasing by listening to his contemporary, Billie Holiday. In fact, Ross studied the phrasing too much that reportedly she lost her own sound/technique and had to be reeled back in when recording the soundtrack, which debuted at #1 and sold 3 miilion copies in 2 weeks time. Everyone knows that jazz historians hit the roof when it was announced that a RocknRoll/Pop singer was gonna play Holiday. Big deal. The film needed to be made and if Ross didn't play her another BLACK SINGER/ACTRESS would have too and the only ones bankable during that time were: Nancy Wilson, who was still a Pop singer at that time or Barbara McNair, who had no major name recognition. Maybe you think they should have used Streisand or Minelli in blackface, right? Get over it. The film was a remarkable achievement earning 5 Oscar nominations which you failed to mention and was Paramounts 2nd highest grossing film that year behind The Godfather, which wasn't totally faithful to the "material" it was based on, now was it.Movie Review: TOP TEN ALL TIME MOVIE DEBUT
Summary: 5 Stars
In her first major motion picture Diana Ross delivers a no holds barred performance as Billie Holiday not only capturing the Holiday persona but delivering mightily on the Holiday sound. the soundtrack did shoot straight to #1.
It`s hard to imagine that this skinny little girl not long out of the Supremes had the chutzpa to tackle the heavy hand that was Holiday`s life.
From a pig-tailed child playing hopscotch to her satined gowned debut at Carngeie Hall Ross`s performance is flawless worthy of an oscar and indeed was nominated.
Others in the supporting cast include Billy Dee Williams( pre Star Wars ) as Louis McKay the chemistry between them heats up the screen. The exchange between these two at the Cafe Manhattan is brilliant.Richard Pryor ( Silver Streak,Harlem Nights) as Piano Man lends his comedic touch in just the right places.Isabel Sanford ( TV`s The Jeffersons ) as the madam and Scatman Cruthers ( The Shining,One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest) as Big Ben The brothel scene with Ross and Cruthers is classic.
The ease displayed by Ross with these seasoned professionals its hard to think of her as a new comer yet she stands her ground and delivers.
And then there is the Ross tackles the Holiday catalog with a hunger unsurpassed her renditions of God Bless The Child,Strange Fruit and Good Morning Heartache rival that of Holiday herself.
Ross shines through out the film and that alone is worth the price of the ticket