The Cotton Club (1984 film)
Posted by ChrisLovesShows 2003-09-12 15:13:52.0

The "guilty pleasures" thread got me thinking about....The Cotton Club.

Does anyone else LOVE this movie? Richard Gere and Nicholas Cage as brothers, Diane Lane, Gregory Hines, Maurice Hines, Lonette McKee (Julie in SHOW BOAT Broadway revival). Bob Hoskins and Fred Gwynne as gangster pals with a hilariously dysfunctional relationship. The "Hoofers Club." Gwen Verdon!! It's just the great big, messy gangster soap opera with great performance recreations.

I rarely find anyone else who has ever even seen it! Cotton Club fans, let yourself be heard! WE'RE HEAR, WE'RE COTTON CLUB FANS, GET USED TO IT!

There are things about it that work very well…mind you I have not seen it in years…. the montage sequences, that anchor the film if I remember correctly, were pretty freaking spectacular…and the musical numbers were also well done…

But all the bad vibes in and around the film (if you have not rented “The Kid stays in the Picture” about Cotton Club Producer, Robert Evans, do so ASAP…great documentary) I think affected not just the reviews and the audience’s reaction to the film but I think the final editing and marketing of the film itself.. In the end, its very existence became a nightmare for all concerned…...everyone just wanted out...

It's a shame, there could have been a great film there!

loved the tap dance/machine gun montage, just a decade or so after SUGAR; and McKee's Lena Horne take on her "Stormy Weather" number, "Ill Wind." Was surpised that more of this movie was not made when Gere's musical background was "spun" for hype on CHICAGO THE MOVIE. They would mention his trumpet-playing, but not this film. Go figure. i think it deserves a DVD-with-extras release.