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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.
grantss
Good prohibition-era gangster movie. Not great though - many flaws. The set up and main plot were good. It gave the movie a grittiness mixed with romance that could have gone somewhere. However, many of the secondary plots were uninteresting and/or badly done. The Gregory Hines sub-plot was probably the worst of the lot: drifts throughout, hammy acting and a lame attempt at exposing racial inequality in the 1920s.On that note, the movie does take a tilt at racial issues, but pulls its punches. An opportunity wasted.Writer-director Francis Ford Coppola and writer Mario Puzo, who also collaborated on The Godfather series, would have done better if they just took that Godfather formula and stuck to it. Make a gritty, hard- edged gangster movie, and that alone. Instead we have pointless sub- plots that add nothing and subtract a lot.Performances are varied, but mostly let the movie down. Richard Gere overacts in the lead role. His performance just feels so overdone at times it was hard to find convincing. Gregory Hines is even worse - hammy. James Remar also overdoes it as Dutch Schultz.Nicholas Cage (Francis Ford Coppola's nephew, by the way), is pretty bad in his role. Way over the top delivery, and just seems silly. Surprised his career lasted much longer, though am glad it did.Best performances come from Diane Lane (then only 18) and Bob Hoskins (though he isn't capable of a bad performance).The supporting cast also includes some big names, though some weren't famous at the time: Tom Waits, Laurence Fishburn, Jennifer Grey (in her third movie). Sofia Coppola and Mario van Peebles have very minor roles.A bit more focus and better performances and this could have been a great movie.
utgard14
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.
Petri Pelkonen
Dixie Dwyer is a jazz musician who begins working with mobsters to advance his career.Then he goes and falls for Vera Cicero, the girlfriend of the famous Jewish gangster, Dutch Schultz.He eventually becomes a Hollywood film star.His younger brother Vincent becomes a gangster in Schultz' mob.The Cotton Club (1984) is directed by Francis Ford Coppola.It's produced by the 80-year old producer Robert Evans.In the writing team there were Coppola and Mario Puzo, writer of The Godfather novel.The movie was a flop, even though everybody had great expectations for it.Richard Gere does very good job in the lead.The part was originally offered for Sylvester Stallone, who turned it down.Coppola's nephew Nicholas Cage is great as Vincent Dwyer.Diane Lane is fantastic as Vera.The great late Gregory Hines is terrific as the dancer Sandman Williams.Lonette McKee is wonderful as his girl Lila Rose Oliver.Gregory's brother Maurice Hines is great as his film brother Clay.Her character is loosely based on Lena Horne.Bob Hoskins is brilliant as the mobster and club owner Owney Madden.Fred Gwynne is one of the kind as his right-hand man Frenchy Demange.James Remar plays Dutch Schultz and he does it with style.Great job by Allen Garfield, who plays Abbadabba Berman.Laurence Fishburne is very good as Bumpy Rhodes.Musician Tom Waits plays Irving Starck.Jennifer Grey portrays Patsy Dwyer.Diane Venora is Gloria Swanson.Bill Cobbs is Big Joe Ison.Woody Strode portrays Holmes.Robert Earl Jones is Stage Door Joe.The young Sofia Coppola is seen as Child in Street.Mario Van Peebles is Dancer.This movie is better than its reputation.It does give a good portrayal of the 1930's.The movie has got some good scenes.The drive-by shooting, where Vincent and his men accidentally kill the kid, is one of them.And so is where Vincent is shot by Schultz' men in a drugstore telephone booth.Coppola did a fine job.The result may not be a masterpiece, but a good movie anyway.
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