The Cotton Club (1984)

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writers:

William Kennedy (story) &
Francis Ford Coppola (story) ...

Release Date:

14 December 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Music

Tagline:

It was the jazz age. It was an era of elegance and violence. The action was gambling. The stakes were life and death.

Plot:

The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem. The story follows the people that visited the club...

Plot Keywords:

Jazz | Cultural Assimilation | Dead Boy | Harlem New York City | Controversy

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Richard Gere	...	Dixie Dwyer
Gregory Hines	...	Sandman Williams
Diane Lane	...	Vera Cicero
Lonette McKee	...	Lila Rose Oliver
Bob Hoskins	...	Owney Madden
James Remar	...	Dutch Schultz
Nicolas Cage	...	Vincent Dwyer
Allen Garfield	...	Abbadabba Berman
Fred Gwynne	...	Frenchy Demange
Gwen Verdon	...	Tish Dwyer
Lisa Jane Persky	...	Frances Flegenheimer
Maurice Hines	...	Clay Williams
Julian Beck	...	Sol Weinstein
Novella Nelson	...	Madame St. Clair
Laurence Fishburne	...	Bumpy Rhodes (as Larry Fishburne)

Runtime:

127 min | Germany:123 min (video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Hungary:16 | Australia:M | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:16 (1985) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Zoetrope Studios

Trivia:

Although the film features several fictional murders, it is associated with one real-life murder. When Robert Evans was raising money for the film, he became associated with a promoter named Roy Radin. Radin was reportedly murdered on May 13, 1983 but his body was not found for several weeks. Evans was not accused of murder but was implicated in the investigation because he was dealing with Radin and Karen Jacobs-Greenberger who introduced Radin to Evans. She was convicted of ordering the murder of Radin and is now serving a life sentence for this crime.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Dixie goes to ransom Frenchy there is a different amount of shaving cream on Mad Dog's face in every shot.

Quotes:

[a boy runs up to Dixie in the street]
Boy in Street: Vincent's been telling everyone around here that you saved the Dutchman's ass!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Dream Studio (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Am I Blue?

Lots Of Adjectives To Describe This Movie

A very stylish but rough and profane account of gangsters ("Dutch" Schultz and the like) and music during the 1920s. The scene is Harlem (NYC) at the Cotton Club, which is still run by whites who are pictured as big bigots.

Schultz, played by James Remar, is extremely coarse and profane. There are tons of Lord's name in vain abuses in this movie, many by Remar and Richard Gere. There is very hard edge to this film, sometimes a little too hard, I think.

The positives are the cinematography, music, dancing and a good romance angle featuring the white leads, Gere and Diane Lane, and the black leads Gregory Hines and Lonette McKee. Gere and Hines are buddies, with Gere playing coronet and Hines tap dancing. Hines is a tremendous dancer and great to watch.

You also have other "name" actors in here, such as Nicholas Cage, Bob Hoskins, Fred Gwynne, Laurence Fishburne and Allen Garfield. If the language I mentioned earlier doesn't offend you, this is a great movie.