'Round Midnight

Rating:
Summary: Kind of BLUE...Kind of Great...CLASSIC
Review: Dexter Gordon's virtuoso performance as archetypal saxman Dale Turner is a wonder to hear and see.The blood is on the tracks(and reeds)in this inspired Jazz tableau by director Bertrand Tavernier. ROUND MIDNIGHT sounds few false notes coda-fying the last hurrah for jazz legends of the ilk of Lester Young,Bud Powell and Charlie Parker.Often times,Clint Eastwood's,BIRD evokes"Hollywood" wearing its soul on its sleeve. Not so,RM.
If it's "kind of blue" ambience occasionally "sticks" in the craw/groove...like an old 33/3rd with too many trips to the EM "outhouse";jail;or vin rouge bench cafe...c'est tout! There's no Barbara Streisand(PEOPLE who need PEOPLE!)or Michael Moore pseudo-ette to bail it out. The film declares wounded soul like a Jazz Angelus: human warts;dreg boredom-ennui;and musical ephiphany-lightning comprised.

Herbie Hancock's score is unostentatiously superb. The battle-array of "side men" is peerless and legendary in its own right. Technical ambience of the film is startling menage of art film; home movie; bums'travelogue; existential sermon and spectacular jazz ensemble,cafe-house concert footage. Sax solos by Dexter Gordon are sad;sharp;hip and utterly convincing as art and spirit-renewing "entertainment". The film will move you and reward you if you let it.It does not"lip-synch"suck-up,or gloss what is cheap,rank or pathetic about a world that usually honors and pays the wrong people and breaks the best while doing so. ROUND MIDNIGHT celebrates hard-won glory of genius creators.This film is jazz'ROAD NOT TAKEN. It's a classic that allows viewers brief,safe,sojourn-amble down the usually very rutted;lonely; uncertain-or-appreciated,sometimes dangerous,path of the artist hero who is "human all too human"...

Rating:
Summary: Great Jazz Movie!!
Review: Let's face it, I'm a fan of jazz music. This film just re-enforces my love for the genre. The movie is an enbodiement of the life that jazz musicians in the 40's and 50's struggled with. Shunned in their homeland, reviered in France and other areas of Europe who appreciated the music. Dexter Gordon really was the title character. His acting was real. He spent time in Europe where he was appreciated and loved. Many people in the United States never heard of him until this movie was released. To me, Gordon should have won the Academy Award (Unfortunately, Paul Newman won it for a role that should have been given to him in 1961 for "The Hustler".). The characters in the movie were also real. Herbie Hancock, Oscar winner for the movie's soundtrack acts in the film as well as musicians that included Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard and Ron Carter. Director Martin Scorsese also gives a good performance. This film makes me appreciate how wonderful jazz music is and how fortunate I lived in a time that the music was discovered.

Rating:
Summary: One of the great jazz movies
Review: Set in 1959 Paris and based on the life of the great jazz pianist Bud Powell this outstanding labour of love tells the story of the relationship between a great but self -destructive jazz musician , Dale Turner ,and a young French devotee who tries in vain to save him from his own worst excesses .
The brilliant saxophonist Dexter Gordon plays Turner and while obviously not a trained actor turns this to his ,and the movie's advantage ,with a performance which sees him inhabit the role rather than merely playing it .A shambling bear like man Turner come as across as one for whom music is his life and his mistress ,and as a man prepared to pay the ultimate price for his devotion to his muse
This is Tavernier's tribute to jazz and its geniuses .Over half the movie is given over to the music which is always at the very least good , at at times positively Olympian .It is also a wonderful evocation of the life of a bye-gone era and a moving human drama

In all conscience I am unable to recommend this movie to non jazz fans as they will probably find it too slow and self -indulgent for their tastes .To jazz lovers -and those willing to give the slighly left-field movie a go ,prepare to be intrigued ,moved and absorbed .
Simply wonderful but maybe a tad specialised for some tastes

Rating:
Summary: 'Round Midnight
Review: It's been more than 18 years since I watched this film and I've not come across a better jazz singer than Lonette McKee ever since! Her performance of Gershwin's 'How Long Has This Been Going On' alone is worth everything and more. It is hauntingly beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: Important Work!
Review: This film is important. The time in history where Black artists, not just Jazz Musicians, evoked a self-exiled existance in Europe where they could have some resemblance of appreciation in their life, can never be forgotten. In some ways its still going on today. James Baldwin is another example of an artist who chose to live in Europe where he was treated like what his passport stated "American".

Another important happening that this movie brought about was a deep seated regret in Film-Maker/Actor/Jazz afficianado Clint Eastwood. Who admits that this film should have been produced by Americans first. Mr. Eastwood lost no time in producing "Bird" shortly afterwards. Which is also a fabulous film that celebrated the music and appropriately chronicled the demons (Alcohol,Drugs)that drove these musicians. As an American Black I am very thankful to Clint Eastwood and my respect for him instantly mulitiplied upon hearing this. As Clint and so many others remind us all the time, "Jazz is an original American art form" Yes its sad that Europe beat us to the punch, but on the other hand, there are so many more beautiful "Jazz" stories out there yet to be written.

If you love Jazz and are interested in witnessing some of the true life stories surrounding it, make this a part of your collection.



Rating:
Summary: I'd actually give this more than 5 stars
Review: This is an amazing movie. Great jazz, great story, great acting by Gordon. There are also so many great jazz musicians in this movie, not to mention the score written by Herbie Hancock. The guy above who is saying this is just a rip off of Bud Powell's life is a moron. If you look at the beginning of the movie it says this is based on true encounters or Powell and the movie is dedicated to him. So, YEAH...it's gonna seem like a familiar story...what an idiot.
Anyway, if you love jazz you'll love this. This is also a movie that you have to sit and watch interrupted or you'll miss some funny, inspiring, thoughful, beautiful moments.