Product: Cadillac Records [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 4.0
Spinning Blues Into Gold!
CADILLAC RECORDS(2008)---Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Gabrielle Union, Cedric The Entertainer, Beyonce Knowles, Columbus Short, Emmanuel Chriqui, Eamonn Walker.A film that tells the story of the legendary blues record label, Chess/Checker Records. As with most films of this kind, there is some blending of "artistic license" and the historical facts. However, as a devoted "blues freak", whose first album purchase was by a Chess/Checker artist, I found that, for the most part, the story is told with a great deal of factual accuracy and a minimum of "dramatic enhancement". The label was started by Leonard Chess(nee,Czyz) and his brother Phil, two immigrant Polish Jews. The unifying theme of the film is the relationship that developed between Leonard and Muddy Waters(aka, McKinley Morganfield). Leonard owned a bar called the Macomba Lounge on Chicago's South Side that catered predominantly to blacks and featured black musicians. As a result of owning the nightclub, Leonard began to realize that the real money was to be made by recording the artists who played the blues music that his customers came to hear. From the insurance money he got as a result of an "unfortunate" fire that burned down the Macomba, Chess started his record label. Chess became the home of a virtual, "Who's Who", of Chicago blues artists, many of whom had migrated north from the cotton fields of their native south. By "plugging in" and amplifying the blues music they had brought with them, they effected a revolution in the genre. In addition to Muddy Waters, who was perhaps the single most important figure in that revolution, artists who recorded for Chess included: Etta James; Howlin' Wolf(aka, Chester Burnett); Little Walter Jacobs, who was one of the first to amplify his blues harmonica playing, and is generally regarded as the greatest blues harpist ever; Bo Diddley(aka, Ellas McDaniel); and, the Father of Rock & Roll Guitar, Chuck Berry. In addition to these performers, Chess was blessed by having on board a gentleman by the name of Willie Dixon, who was the "house bass player" and, much more importantly, wrote the bulk of the songs recorded by Waters, Wolf, Jacobs, et. al.---his list of writing credits is simply stunning---and far too lengthy to list here. Suffice it to say that the bulk of what became the basic "blues canon" was written by two men: Willie Dixon and Robert Johnson. The time frame of the story is compressed, but the story is told accurately and it doesn't gloss over some of the uglier aspects of the story. It is well-known that Chess took a "paternalistic" approach to his artists---he "took care of them", doling out money whenever they needed to pay the rent or buy a home or needed bail money to get out of jail. He also was in the habit of buying his artists a new Cadillac when they had a #1 record, hence the title of the film. But, he also cheated many of them when it came to paying the artist's royalties they were entitled to, and the film depicts that aspect of the "Chess story" candidly. With the rise of rock & roll, and the so-called "British Invasion" of the 60's, Chess was eventually forced to sell the label and died of a heart attack shortly thereafter, which is where the film ends. Some of the Chess artists experienced "career revivals" when the British blues musicians who worshiped them, and grew up listening to their records, brought them to Europe to tour and hired them to open their shows in the U.S. The various actors portraying the principals all give effective, convincing portrayals. Adrien Brody is quite good as Chess, and Jeffrey Wright and Beyonce Knowles are particularly good as Muddy Waters and Etta James, respectively. The only real criticisms I have of the film are: 1)Instead of using the actual recordings of the various artists, the actors portraying them do the singing and, while they all do a credible job, given their historical importance, I think it would have been better to have them "lip-synch" the original recordings; and 2)no mention whatsoever is made of Bo Diddley, who was one of the seminal figures of early rock&roll---he; also wrote many songs that became "blues standards", e.g., "Who Do You Love"; "Mona"; "I'm a Man"; etc. This seemed to me an incredible omission. But, those cavils aside, this is a "must-see" film for any fan of the blues or for anyone who might like to know more about the genre and the performers who put "the blues" on the musical map.