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The Cotton Club [1984] [DVD]
 
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The Cotton Club [1984] [DVD]

DVD ~ Richard Gere
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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The Cotton Club [DVD] [1984]
44% buy
The Cotton Club [DVD] [1984] 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
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Product details

  • Actors: Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Lonette McKee, Bob Hoskins
  • Directors: Francis Ford Coppola
  • Writers: Francis Ford Coppola, Jim Haskins, Mario Puzo, William Kennedy
  • Producers: Barrie M. Osborne, Dyson Lovell, Fred Roos
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Momentum Pictures
  • DVD Release Date: 8 Sep 2003
  • Run Time: 123 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0000AZVEP
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 27,149 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

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. Written by Coppola and novelist William Kennedy (then enjoying the peak of his critical acclaim), the film struggles to exceed the narrative scope of The Godfather, but its multiple early-'30s plotlines 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 hot-shot hoofer (Gregory Hines), and protecting his brazen brother (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 recreation 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, Amazon.com



Synopsis

Beautiful music and striking dance performances are the highlight of Francis Ford Coppola's musical/mobster flick centered around the legendary Harlem nightclub. The club's black dancers and musicians entertain the exclusively white audience made up of gangsters and Hollywood stars. Local boy Dixie Dwyer (Richard Gere) saves the life of crime boss Dutch Schultz (James Remar) and reluctantly enters the world of racketeering. Talented tap dancer Sandman Williams (Gregory Hines) struggles to get ahead in the segregated world of 1920s nightlife. Authentic costuming and sets help make THE COTTON CLUB a stylistic homage to the Jazz Age and gangster films of old.

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Jazz, Gangsters, and Prohibition . . ., 31 Aug 2003
By Mr. S. Colfer "scottcolfer" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I have seen snippets of this film on television at regular intervals over the last 10 years, and it is now finally coming out on DVD!

There are several narratives woven together in this film which follow the boom and bust of American fortunes around the time of the Wall Street Crash in 1929. In the Cotton Club we see the explosion of the entertainment industry, the influx of black performers (who have become fasionable due to their use in Paris), prohibition (and the attempts to side step this), corruption, murder, love, . . . and jazz! The whole film is set to a fantastic score, and has some wonderful tap routines.

The main character is a trumpet player (Richard Gere), who inadvertently becomes involved in the lives of the gangsters who rule the town he lives in. It is interesting to compare Gere's role in 'The Cotton Club' with the one in 'Chicago' - in the former he plays a relative innocent who has his strings pulled, in the latter he is doing the string pulling. This is a fine performance from his early career in a role that suits him to a tee. Aside from Gere, there are many other famous names - Nicholas Cage plays Gere's trigger happy brother, Bob Hoskins plays the top Mob Boss, and there are roles for Diane Lane, Julian Beck, and Laurence Fishburne. You can also look for an early performance by James Remar, aka the man who tames 'Samanth' from 'Sex and the City.'

I don't want to gush about the fil, or to spoil any of the major plot points as many people will not have seen this film before - don't form any opinion on the film, just watch it and see. The only 'heads-up' that I'll give is for the end of the film, as a tap routine has never been used to better effect in a film; watch out for this bit, and be impressed.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Tribute to Duke Ellington, 30 May 2007
By Jay "The Amazon Reviewer" (Mauritius) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
A chain of sketches that portray a popular image of The Jazz Age in New York. Phenomenal cinematography, casting, choreography and a soundtrack that is a tribute to Ellington. Not a linear story but a series of steps (reproduced metaphorically in the explosive tap dancing of the Nicholas Brothers as portrayed by the Hines bros.) that build a staircase to nostalgia. Gets better with each viewing.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A good gangster movie., 29 April 2001
This review is from: The Cotton Club [VHS] [1984] (VHS Tape)
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. Another fantastic movie from LEGENDARY directer Francis Ford Coppola.
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