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"Cadillac Records" is really two movies. The first hour and 10 minutes is about the start
of Chess records by a white man named Leonard Chess who turns what is known as
'race music' into a big business withrhythmm and blues eventually becoming rock
and roll. The second movie is the last 38 minutes and tells the story of Etta
James.
I thought I was familiar with 'blues' but a lot of these names were
unfamiliar to me such as Howlin Wolf, Willie Dixon and little Walter to name a
few.
Two performers really stand out in this movie the first being Jeffrey Wright
who plays the great Muddy Waters. He has been in "Angels In America",
"Dreamgirls" and, recently, "W" as Colin Powell. He is a versatile, excellent
actor and keeps the first half of the movie going.
The second performer really surprised me. I am not that familiar with Beyonce
Knowles having only seen her in "Dreamgirls" where she basically played Diana
Ross and didn't create a character and catching her on an award show singing and
dancing with Tina Turner. She is a revelation in this movie which comes alive as
soon as she comes on screen. She is Etta James but she brings her own strength
to the role and her interpretations of Etta's songs, especially "At Last" hold
up very favorably to the original.
Not being as familiar as I thought I was with the music and musicians of that
period I am not really sure what is truth and what the writer, who also is the
director, took liberties with. Was Minnesota Fats really the father of Etta
James or is that hype??
I am not particularly a 'fan' of Adrien Brody nor do I know of Leonard Chess
though it says he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. In the film
he seems to care for his recording artists but he certainly made money off of
them. Was his personal passion for Etta true or just part of the movie??
I'm glad I saw the movie as I learned a lot about a style and time in music I
thought I knew a lot about but, obviously, didn't. The first part of the story
is interesting but seems to be like other music films like "Dreamgirls", the Ray
Charles story, "Lady Sings The Blues", etc. and then Beyonce comes on the screen
and takes it to another, higher, level.
A major plus for the film is the musical soundtrack.
