Rating: 
Summary: Moving, Jazzy, Great Film
Review: Sensitive Tavernier crafted a picture which only a fan could have made. Based on pianist Bud Powell real life story. Oscar winner musician Dexter Gordon acts and plays smartly. A beautifully real and sad story for all jazz and non-jazz fans. Music by Herbie Hancock with Dexter Gordon. Great!
Rating:
Summary: the best jazz movie ever made
Review: beung a fellow saxophonist myself,and music lover this movie will make you laugh, cry and atleast leave you with some understanding of what it is to be a jazz musician and definitely one of color . also i wanted to find out what it was like overseas before i left for europe that year the movie was released and found it to be very similiar to reality. i've watched this film over 200 times and still love it .enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Movie on Jazz
Review: I state unequivocally that this is the greatest movie on Jazz ever made. It has the depth of that music and illustrates the internal drama of an artist, and thus succeeds far better than other attempts (such as "Bird" by Clint Eastwood, even "Mo' Better Blues" by Spike Lee). Perhaps that's because Tavernier, instead of applying pre-conceived (if not racist) ideas on the music and the musicians, just let Dexter Gordon talk freely about what he knows, jazz music. Perhaps it's because, at least in respect to jazz, Europeans have been in the past more respectful and have consistently applied the highest musicological criteria and critical metholodology.The plot is patterned on a true story, the friendshpid between the French jazz lover Francis Paudras and Bud Powell - perhaps the greatest pianist of the 40's - who suffered from artistic and personal lapses and was living in Paris. There are also some aspects of saxophonist Dale Turner (Dexter Gordon) borrowed from the tragic destiny of Lester Young, who died in New York at the age of 49. The recreation of the "Blue Note", a jazz club in Paris, is great, and some of the ancient ones (Pierre Michelot, a bass player who was member of the rhythm section with Bud Powell and Kenny Clarke) can be seen and heard. Also the scenes in New York, e.g. the hotel on Times Square (Lester for instance spent years at a window of a room like that drinking gin) are above criticism. The only criticism is with some scenes that have little relevance: Francis' invitation of the jazzman to his parents' place in Lyon (Tavernier's home town), and their excursion on a beach in Northern France. This is perhaps a fantasy of the movie director, some interjection of his own life in something that has to do with jazz, a weakness that ought to be forgiven. Therefore this is a great movie for jazz lovers, as well as an accurate rendition that music for the general public, especially that which does not suspect its depth. As Dexter says, Monet, etc., it's all be bop. Yes, I have been with a woman, he answers the shrink, and he caresses his woman, his tenor sax. Touchy moments in the development of that friendship. A movie which, in spite of its focus on jazz, should appeal to everybody.
Rating:
Summary: Straight Enough to Play His Ax... and Sweetly...
Review: This is one of those masterpieces that is not for everyone. It's not for any given night, either, even for those who regularly enjoy masterpieces. Speed-of-MTV Hollywood addicts will have difficulty relating to or enjoying the sublimely atmospheric pacing of a film like this, just as, on a musical level, Kenny G fans aren't going to get it either. Conventional narrative and plot are subsumed in the heartbreaking bop ballads that literally saturate the film with its energy and emotion. Are the "actors" acting? Not when they play their instruments. Few films efface the distance between actor and nonactor as well as this. Has Dale come to Paris to die, or to live a little longer? Perhaps even he cannot answer that question, but the music he creates there stands as his own epitaph. It is the bluest film that's ever been made.
Rating:
Summary: This movie was intelligent and entertaining.
Review: A very well done movie. The writer showed a great understanding of what it means to be a jazz musician and a jazz fan. That relationship inspired me to realize the differance between the way America treats jazz musicians and the way Europe treats jazz musicians. It also showed how terrifying and valient it is to live your dream. I honestly think that the music in this film was some of the finest music found anywhere. Another reason to go pick it up. Sorry I can't tell you more, but, this movie is great. I strongly recommend you go pick it up. Peace and Love to all music fans.
Rating: 
Summary: This film is boring and insipid!
Review: Maybe I'm not as articulate as the usual film critic, or self-indulgent for that matter, but after viewing 'Round Midnight I thought it proper to tell the persons in the jazz populace not watch the film! That is,unless you want to over-serenaded with ballads and blues oriented chord progressions! Francis' obsession with Dale Turner is what one might call "icky". Dale Turner himself, is a garbling fool whose speech patterns simply annoy the viewer. The friendship that the Parisian and the ailing be-bop musician form is anything but inspiring. It is riddled with montages and various rescue missions. That is, Francis coming to the aid of Dale, drunk in the alley, thrown in the police wagon, captured at the hospital. Francis, get a life. Oh well, jazzers send me your hate mail, tell me how I don't understand the deep deep beauty and ambience of the film-please, I'm waiting!
Rating:
Summary: A magicial marriage of music and dialog
Review: A wonderful blend of mood and music. The shadows cast in this black and white film are as strong as the people and places that make them. An all star cast of some of the worlds greatest (jazz) musicians makeing music live to tape. This makes it one of the stongest conversational films of all time. There are the words that are spoken by the actors/musicians, and also the music that is spoken by the musicians as musicians. The music becomes dialog. All the live music scenes are recorded live to tape. This is very, very rare in cinema and only done on talk shows on TV. And in Round Midnight this magicial marriage merges successfully.
Rating:
Summary: The sincere portrayal of an archtypical bebop player
Review: Strong lyricism found in this movie makes it extremely unique. The director is able to make lasting impression by some seemingly unimportant nuiances. Audiences are able to have glimpses of the emotions of the characters without knowing too much. This deliberate distancing from inner worlds of characters compel audiences to imagine and interpret. The vaqueness is so enchanting that audiences are left to wanting more. The life of Dale Turner, the main character, is the archetypical life of an American bebop player, so archetypical it eerily echoes the life of Dexter Gordon (the actor) himself- though this similarity is merely a coincidance. For jazz lovers, it is a film that certainly captures a part of American jazz history- the bebop and post-bop era. Jazz lovers should be amazed to see almost all psycological and musical aspects of the era they have learned from textbooks or casual readings reflected in this film. END
Rating:
Summary: One of the best films ever made about jazz.
Review: "Round Midnight" is a film that tells the story of a Black American jazz musician in Paris. Dexter Gordon plays the lead role, based partly on the life of the pianist Bud Powell. The atmosphere of Paris in the 1950's is beautifully captured in this moving and perceptive portrayal of an artist increasingly isolated from a society that turns its back on his genius. The French director, Bernard Tavernier, has made his mark with this wonderfully reflective and engrossing film. Jazz movies are rarely this good, and this one is a classic. It's definitely a must for the collection of all jazz lovers. END
Rating:
Summary: Real emotions from real characters
Review: This touching and realistic movie is quietly dedicated to jazz pianist Bud Powell and saxophonnist Lester Young (both expatiriates who lived in Paris) on whose life the character of "Dale Turner," the saxophonist, is based. The character of Dale Turner, a jazzman in his last days, is played by Dexter Gordon, a jazzman soon to die of throat cancer. Dexter Gordon, a real-life expatriot jazzman who spent much of his playing years in Denmark, deservedly received an academy award nomination for his moving portrayal based on not only a real life story but people and settings with which he was personally familiar. In many ways it is the story of all three musicians, Gordon, Powell and Young. But even more it is based on a fine book on the life of Bud Powell by the young Frenchman who befriended him (which I cannot put my hands on right now). It's as close to truth as you can come. By the way, Dexter played Montreux the next year and while he sounds fragile in the film, he play with great strength.
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