Review: ‘Cadillac Records’

Jeremy:

Good, bad, or somewhere in between, ‘Cadillac Records’ would be an enjoyable experience for someone not even watching the screen. A film about the rise of Chess Records, which recorded albums for Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Etta James, and a whole lot more, would be expected to have one of the coolest soundtracks of the year. The soundtrack for ‘Cadillac Records’ doesn’t disappoint one bit.

But the film’s positive attributes don’t stop just at the ear level. Darnell Martin, who also wrote the screenplay, moves the story along at a roadrunner’s pace. Waters, played by the phenomenal Jeffrey Wrights, goes from working in the fields of Mississippi to playing his guitar in the streets of Chicago to blasting out hit records in the Chess Records studios in a matter of minutes. Chess Records founder Leonard Chess, played by Adrien Brody, goes from owning a scrap metal dump to owning a bar to owning Chess Records at the same rate of speed. It’s these two characters, Beyonce Knowles’ James comes in later, who make up the backbone of the film’s early storyline.

As Chess Records grows and its artists make more and more number one hit records, Chess and Waters learn the hard way that fame and fortune without responsibility begets ruin. With every hit record, Chess buys that particular artist a brand new Cadillac. He divvies up royalties like Monopoly money. At one point, Howlin’ Wolf (Eammon Walker), who has a knack for flaunting his talent not his riches, explains to Waters that he owns his vehicle. His vehicle doesn’t own him. A rivalry is pretty much conceived immediately.

This idea of rising to fortune too quickly and not learning how to handle it isn’t anything new, but Martin shows this with a brutal eye. This is all the more evident in Little Walter, played by Columbus Short, an extremely talented harmonica player who went from bad to worse to even worse in the way he treated himself and those around him. He quickly becomes an alcoholic and a heroin abuser, and these scenes are the only time that ‘Cadillac Records’ seems to fall into the typical, musical biopic.

At one point early in the film, Waters offers Walter a drink from his flask. At first Walter refuses, but Waters insists he takes one drink just to numb the pain he is feeling about his mother dying. Walter comments that he’s just going to take one drink, he does, and you know where it’s going from the start. Before you can blink an eye, the hotheaded, juice harp player is a raging alcoholic driving around in a Cadillac without doors and even going to the extremes of shooting a man in cold blood with little intention.

It’s pretty late in the game before Mos Def’s Berry duck walks or Knowles’ Etta James belts out “At Last†, but seeing these two actors in these performances are a real treat. In fact, most everyone in the film does a great job of mimicking their respective characters and showing off their individual acting prowess with Wright and Def leading the pack. As good as he is, Adrien Brody always seems to be playing Adrien Brody, and he doesn’t offer much of anything else here. Cedric the Entertainer, who plays songwriter Willie Dixon, also has a habit of playing himself time and time again. He does so here, too, and it’s unfortunate that he also offers voiceover narration throughout the film.

That aspect of the film is probably the worst thing about it. The narration cuts in at the most inopportune times and offers nothing relevant that isn’t already apparent by what is happening on screen. You never buy Mr. The Entertainer as Dixon, either. It’s always Cedric the Entertainer’s voice you hear in the narration, and it’s distracting.

‘Cadillac Records’ is a film that is disjointed at times and at other times oppressive in the message it is trying to convey. On top of all that, the film offers some great performances and has some of the coolest music ever to be recorded. If the Academy Awards gave an Oscar for Best Soundtrack, ‘Cadillac Records’ would be a shoe-in for a nomination. It comes as no surprise when it is explained at the beginning of the end credits that every character involved in Chess Records went on to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. ‘Cadillac Records’ is a commendable depiction of the highs and lows that came from creating a brand new genre of music.

[Overall: 3.5 stars out of 5]

Ram Man:

In a time when everyone just saw black and white, Lenny Chess and Chess Records used innovative music to integrate the industry. ‘Cadillac Records’ tells the story of Lenny’s recording company, the sound he mastered  and the  legends of Rock and R&B he discovered.

It is 1956 and a polish immigration on the south side of Chicago starts up a recording company, Chess Records. Leonard Chess (Adrienne Brody) discovers a Mississippi sharecropper with genius skills with a guitar. His name…Muddy Waters. Muddy (Jeffery Wright) and his band changed the sound of the blues and soon topped the charts. Leonard bestowed to Muddy, what soon became the trademark of Chess records, a brand new Cadillac. Chess also brought new sounds to the radio.   Leonard was the first to amplify a harmonica on one of Muddy’s songs. Chess brought in a songwriter Chuck Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer) who assisted Muddy and assist with the careers of Little Wayne and Howlin Wolf.   You get to hear some classic Muddy Waters blues including “I’m a Man” and the classic “Hoochie Coochie Man”.

Chess Records was soaring. Muddy Waters was the sound of the black community. That was Leonard’s problem. Leonard knew what the people wanted and he was going to find the music to unite a nation. Enter St. Louis’ own Chuck Berry (Mos Def). Berry brought Rock ‘n’ Roll to Chess records. Prior to this all black music were considered “race records” and only played on a few radio stations mainly in the south. Then “Maybalene” and “No Particular Place To Go” crossed over, shot up the billboard charts and unified the public at all Berry’s shows.   One of the best scenes in the film has   Leonard and Berry sitting down with DJ Alan Freed (Eric Bogosian) and the music legend Freed telling them he is going to make Chess rich and Chuck famous. This brings a smile to Berry’s face only he switches seats with Leonard, Chuck wants the money.

Chess was on top again. Muddy’s sales were down, but Chuck berry was fueling the chess record engine. That is until his vice brings him back to Earth. Chuck is arrested for transporting a minor across state lines and is sent to jail. Leonard is forced again to find a new artist to keep the money flowing in.   In walks Etta James (Beyonce).   Leonard found the voice to make the whole world fall in love and it was hidden in the body of a beautiful black woman with blonde hair. Beyonce is an established singer but shines as an actress in the role she was made for. You will get goose bumps when you hear her belt out “At Last” and “I’d Rather Go Blind” and the classic “Once In A Lifetime”.

No matter what kind of music you are into, ‘Cadillac Records’ will have you tapping your toes. more than a mere movie, it is piece of American history. Chess Records changed the face of music and contributed to some major recording artist we listen to today. A cameo of one such group appears in the film when, in 1964, The Rolling Stones stopped by to record their “2120 S. Michigan” at Chess Records. The Stones took their name from the great Muddy Waters. Go check out ‘Cadillac Records’ and enjoy a fabulous film jam packed with loads of music straight out of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

[Overall: 4 stars out of 5]

Quin:

It seems like a lot of movies are being produced by unknown companies and there starting to give the big players like Paramount and Warner Bros. a run for their money. Such company is Sony Music Pictures the company behind Cadillac Records. Cadillac Records was a great depiction were music was a form life and you had to bring something new because the music scene was ever changing. The movie encompasses the times with the characters that were introduced in a manner that tied the movie together well.

All the actors involved in this movie did a great job in being some of the biggest names of a very well known era. Going along with the characters all of them had very memorable entrances that gave the audience an idea of who these people were beyond the music they performed. Now in that same light this was not a movie that gave you true accounts of the relationships that developed even some of the characters lives. However it really didn’t matter because the movie flowed effortlessly with the help of the cast. It was one of those pictures that when the movie was over you would say “Well that was something†.

I was truly stunned by Beyonce’s performance as Etta James. Honestly I wasn’t sure the singer / actress could pull off such a character like Etta James. Also the fact that  Beyonce’s first call to the silver screen was playing Carmen a MTV feature, honestly that doesn’t really say a lot in acting department. Watching the movie she was the one that I felt accomplished the role with the kind of emotion needed for such a dynamic woman.

This was a movie that was set in a time were race was prevalent but the way the movie was filmed race did not seem so important except for Chuck Berry, played by Mos Def. Overall I liked the realism of this movie and how anyone could relate to having hard times, not feel part of something special, and even not knowing who you are. Adding to that is the diverse culture of music in this move like the introductions of The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, and the Rolling Stones who all had a connection to one of the main players of the movie, which made the picture go full circle in how music travels beyond the world we live in. I have to say this was one of the best music movie pictures I have seen in a long time, musicals aside.

I give Cadillac Records a 4 out of 5 stars, and a definite spot in The Hall of Fame like the rest of these great musicians that rocked this movie.