The Cotton Club (1984)

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

"The Cotton Club" remains a very stylish recreation of the thirties, balancing carefully on the thin line between parody and homage. The central story about a cornet player and a gangster's moll runs along nicely without being spectacular. Richard Gere is a cornet player who suddenly comes into money after he saves the life of gangster Dutch Schultz. The other actors such as Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins & Nicolas Cage do a great deal with such little parts. But a few things make The Cotton Club memorable. The singing and dancing is never less than sensational. Rather than go for a lavish Moulin Rouge-type approach, Coppola recreates what it must have been like in reality to play in a small club in Harlem. The production values (decors, costumes etc.) are lush.The music played is new recordings of - and very true to - Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway - og the jazz-music at the time! - Very well played and sometimes even better than the originals! The music on the trumpet - by the principal character, (Richard Gere) - is a very good and true applause to the legendary trumpet-player Bix Beiderbecke! - And some of the singing is applause to Ethel Waters! Singing, dancing, love, gangsters, guns and fighting. What more do you need out of a film?! Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club is every bit as dazzling, chaotic and decadent as one might imagine the roaring twenties would have been. it's set in and revolves around the titular jazz club, conducting a boisterous, kaleidoscope study of the various dames, dapper gents, hoodlums, harlots and musicians who called it home. Among them are would be gangster Dixie Dwyer (a slick Richard Gere), Sandman Williams (Gregory Hines), a young Bumpy Johnson (Laurence Fishburne) and renowned psychopathic mobster Dutch Schultz (a ferocious James Remar). Coppola wisely ducks a routine plot line in favor of a helter skelter, raucous cascade of delirious partying, violence and steamy romance, a stylistic choice almost reminiscent of Robert Altman. Characters come and go, fight and feud, drink and dance and generally keep up the kind of manic energy and pizazz that only the 20's could sustain. The cast is positively stacked, so watch for appearances from Nicolas Case, Bob Hoskins, Diane Lane, John P. Ryan, James Russo, Fred Gwynne, Allen Garfield, Ed O Ross, Diane Venora, Woody Strode, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Cobbs, Sofia Coppola and singer Tom Waits as Irving Stark, the club's owner. It's a messily woven tapestry of crime and excess held together by brief encounters, hot blooded conflict and that ever present jazz music which fuels the characters along with the perpetual haze of booze and cigarette smoke. Good times.

Shallow uninvolving story about a 1930s jazz club and the broad caricatures who frequent it. Looks good but didn't grip me at all. I was checking the clock constantly due to the slow pace and scattered story. Despite the film's stylish period look and some nice jazz music, it doesn't feel authentic. The characters often seem like parodies of characters from 1930s films rather than wholly formed characters of their own who actually lived in that time. I hesitate to blame this on the actors, who I know are good from other works. This is most likely something that should be blamed on Coppola, who wanted these performances for whatever reason. Sorry I know it has a legendary director attached to it but that by itself doesn't make it a good film. Even the greats have misfires and Coppola had his share. This is one of them.

I would have given this movie a 2 star review if it wasn't for Diane Lane, because back in the early 80's Dianne Lane was every young boys dream girl. I know, because I was a young boy back in the early 80's. And, if you want to see Diane Lane at her most enchanting hotness, then you might want to check out The Cotton Club? That is, if you don't mind sitting through a mess of a movie that's over 2hrs long, and you don't care what happens to any of the multitude of characters story lines. Except, maybe Diane Lane's character, because she was just that HOT.But, don't worry Cotton Club fans out there, I will include a few positive aspects in this review about the movie. That doesn't involve murder conspiracy's of drug dealing movie producers. Only because IMDb requires at least a 10 line minimum written review before it can be posted on their website. Which is about, 9 lines longer than I care to spend writing about The Cotton Club. But the rules are the rules.The best thing The Cotton Club has to offer an audience is its stellar ensemble cast of actors and actresses. Even the ones that aren't Diane Lane. Some were already well established TV and Movie stars like Richard Gere, Fred Gwynne, Gwen Verdon and Gregory Hines. While others weren't house hold names yet like Nicholas Cage, Laurance Fishburne, Diane Lane and Bob Hoskins. But, would go on later to become huge Stars despite their appearance in The Cotton Club. I guess someone up there likes them?However, despite the movies great ensemble cast, you just DO NOT care about any of the characters in the movie. It's really hard to say exactly why you don't care if Nicholas Cage's character is gun downed in a phone booth. Or if Gregory Hines, Richard Gere and Laurance Fishburn ever get the girl at the end of the movie. Maybe, it's because there were so many different characters, that you never cared about, who couldn't get the girl until the very end of the movie. The only time I ever cared about any of the characters who didn't get me aroused while watching them, like Diane Lane for example. Is when I felt Sad that the evil Mob boss Dutz Sholtz was eventually killed, because he was the only interesting character in the entire movie. The Cotton Clubs' writer/director Francis Ford Coppola has made some great movies and some stinkers. The Cotton Club is definitely at the top of Coppola's 'Stinker List'. I hope I finally have the required IMDb 10 line minimum to post a review this time? I really don't want to spend any more time writing about The Cotton Club. The movie gets a D- from me, but I will change my review to a C+ if someone knows if Diane Lane does any texting.