Cadillac Records

 Cadillac Records 2008

• Director: Darnell Martin
• Seen by the director: episodes of Grimm, Homicide Life on the Streets
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Adrien Brody, Cedric the Entertainer, Beyoncé Knowles, Mos Def, Columbus Short, Gabrielle Union, Eamonn Walker, Jeffrey Wright (you notice they’re in alphabetical order, not in order of the importance of their roles, which would be difficult to determine.)
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Adrien Brody – Detachment, Darjeeling Limited, King Kong, The Pianist, Bread and Roses, Liberty Heights, The Thin Red Line
• Cedric the Entertainer – Be Cool, Intolerable Cruelty
• Beyoncé Knowles – Dream Girls
• Mos Def (Yasiin Bey) – Be Kind Rewind, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Monster’s Ball
• Columbus Short – War of the Worlds
• Gabrielle Union – 10 Things I Hate about You, She’s All That
• Eamonn Walker – Rose and Maloney
• Jeffrey Wright – The Hunger Games, Only Lovers Left Alive, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Quantum of Solace, Broken Flowers, Hamlet, Homicide Life on the Street, Presumed Innocent
• Why? The music. The cast.
• Seen: Once before. Now 24 April 2021      

       In the 40s a poor white man Leonard Chess (Brody) starts a record company that changes music history together with musicians like Muddy Waters (Wright), Little Walter (Short), Chuck Berry (Mos Def), Willie Dixon (Cedric the E), Etta James (Knowles), Howlin’ Wolf (Walker).

       It’s the history of how black blues became rock’n’roll. It’s the story of racism in the 50s and 60s.

       And mainly it’s the story of these legendary musicians, their music and the music business, their loves and rivalries, their substance abuse, the male chauvinism, the violence.

       It’s a grim picture. But the music, oh, the music. And those actors – and singers! They do their own singing! – are terrific.      

4 ½ * of 5