Amazon.com: The Cotton Club is routinely eclipsed by the controversies that surrounded its tumultuous production, but the film itself offers abundant pleasures that should not be overlooked. If Apocalypse Now represents the triumph of director Francis Coppola's perilous ambition, then The Cotton Club represents the ungainly glory of uncontrolled genius, as brilliant as it is out of its depth. As an upscale homage to classic gangster films it's frequently astonishing, cramming a thick novel's worth of plot and characters into 129 minutes, gloriously serviced by impeccable production design, elegant cinematography, and stylistic flourishes that show Coppola at the top of his game.
What The Cotton Club lacks is cohesion. As written by Coppola and novelist William Kennedy (then enjoying the peak of his critical acclaim), the movie struggles to exceed the narrative scope of The Godfather, but its multiple early-'30s plot lines fail to form any strong connective tissue. It's three (or four) movies in one, with cornet player Dixie Dwyer (Richard Gere, playing his own jazzy solos) drifting from one story to the next--loving a young, ambitious vamp (Diane Lane, with whom Gere shares precious little chemistry), enjoying the success of a hotshot hoofer (Gregory Hines), and protecting his brazen bother (Coppola's then-newcomer nephew, Nicolas Cage) from the deadly temper of mob boss Dutch Schultz (James Remar). Bob Hoskins and Fred Gwynne also score big in grand supporting roles, but The Cotton Club is perhaps best appreciated for its meticulous re-creation of Harlem's Cotton Club heyday, and the brilliant music (Ellington, Calloway, etc.) that brought rhythm to gangland's rat-a-tat-tat. --Jeff Shannon
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Average Rating:
Rating: - The First Gere-Lane Movie
This movie made me feel like I was actually sitting in the Cotton Club. I developed an appreciation of the music from this era that has never gone away.
Part of the reason to watch this movie is the late, great Gregory Hines and his also-talented brother Maurice. Not many movies can legitimately incorporate tap-dancing into the plot. I am glad that Coppola took advantage of the opportunity to do so.
You also have to love Fred Gwynne. It was rather a shame that he was so type-cast via the Munsters. He had aspirations of being a more serious actor. He had a brief role as Michael Douglas' boss in Fatal Attraction.
Jennifer Grey played Nicholas Cage's wife in this film.
Ownie Madden had a hand in boxing back in the Cinderella Man days.
Dixie Dwyer was based on the actor George Raft, who had a role in Some Like it Hot.
Rating: - A good jazz film
The Cotton Club has a fine Duke Ellington atmosphere and the casting is excellent. The only drawback is that Richard Gere is a much better actor than a cornet player. There are still cornetists or trumpetists in USA capable to play the traditional tunes required for this film reaching the top quality.
Rating: - Ruined By Producer And Star
The Cotton Club was supposed to be a stage-door romance starring Gregory Hines. Robert Evans & Richard Gere ruined the movie by turning it into a cliche ridden mob story. I give this 3 stars for the look of the film, the music & the black performance pieces. A sad waste.
Rating: - 23 Years later I can give it one more star OR "What not to do in Film Making 101"
What is THE COTTON CLUB about?....well,since the first time I saw it in 1984 I have seen countless films on crime lords of the 1920's,PBS Specials on Prohibition,read numerous books on the subjects of Broadway Theatre and Vaudeville as well as The Great Depression; SO...THE COTTON CLUB is about ALL of that!!!!!One fact for sure; The Harlem New York "Cotton Club" DID exist as the premiere place for stars to appear and for stars to be made.
A class could be taught called "What not to do in film making" and this film could be a whole semester topic (and No term paper would be thoroughly correct!)
This film NEVER settles in to any one of these mammoth subjects that alone contains enough material for a 12-Part mini-series by Ken Burns.Instead, the Robert Evans produced (see his autobiographical documentary THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE) Francis Coppola written and directed "debacle" still is one of the most ... Read More
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- The First Gere-Lane Movie
- A good jazz film
- 23 Years later I can give it one more star OR "What not to do in Film Making 101"
