The Cotton Club (film)

Last updated

The Cotton Club
Cotton club.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Screenplay by William Kennedy
Francis Ford Coppola
Story byWilliam Kennedy
Francis Ford Coppola
Mario Puzo
Based onThe Cotton Club
by James Haskins
Produced by Robert Evans
Starring
Cinematography Stephen Goldblatt
Edited by Barry Malkin
Robert Q. Lovett
Music by John Barry
Production
companies
Totally Independent Productions
American Zoetrope
Producers Sales Organization
Distributed by Orion Pictures
Release date
  • December 14, 1984 (1984-12-14)(United States)
Running time
  • 128 minutes
  • 139 minutes (directors cut)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$58 million
Box office$25.9 million [1]

The Cotton Club is a 1984 American musical crime drama film co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and based on James Haskins' 1977 book of the same name. The story centers on the Cotton Club, a Harlem jazz club in the 1930s. The film stars Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, and Lonette McKee, with Bob Hoskins, James Remar, Nicolas Cage, Allen Garfield, Gwen Verdon, Fred Gwynne and Laurence Fishburne in supporting roles.

Contents

The film was noted for going over budget on its production costs and taking a total of five years to complete. Despite being a disappointment at the box-office, the film received generally positive reviews and was nominated for several awards, including Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Picture (Drama) and Oscars for Best Art Direction (Richard Sylbert, George Gaines) and Best Film Editing. [2]

Plot

A musician named Dixie Dwyer begins working with mobsters to advance his career but falls in love with Vera Cicero, the girlfriend of gangland kingpin Dutch Schultz.

Sandman Williams, a dancer from Dixie's neighborhood, and his brother Clay are hired by The Cotton Club, a jazz club where most of the performers are black and the customers are white. Owney Madden, a mobster, owns the club and runs it with his right-hand man, Frenchy.

Dixie becomes a Hollywood film star, thanks to the help of Madden and the mob but angering Schultz. He also continues to see Schultz's gun moll, Vera Cicero, whose new nightclub has been financed by the jealous gangster.

In the meantime, Dixie's ambitious younger brother Vincent becomes a gangster in Schultz's mob and eventually a public enemy, holding Frenchy as a hostage.

Sandman alienates his brother Clay at The Cotton Club by agreeing to perform a solo number there. While the club's management interferes with Sandman's romantic interest in Lila, a singer, its cruel treatment of the performers leads to an intervention by Harlem criminal 'Bumpy' Rhodes on their behalf.

Dutch Schultz is violently dealt with by Madden's men while Dixie and Sandman perform on The Cotton Club's stage.

Cast

Production

Inspired to make The Cotton Club by a picture-book history of the nightclub by James Haskins, Robert Evans was the film's original producer. [3] Evans hoped the film would bring public attention to African-American history in a similar way that Gone with the Wind did for the American Civil War and the Reconstruction era. On December 12, 1980, it was announced that Evans and Paramount Pictures would serve as co-producers of the film while Robert Altman would direct and Mario Puzo would write. However, Evans and Altman's film Popeye premiering that day became a box-office flop. Although Evans secured $12 million worth of financing from Saudi Business Tycoon Adnan Khashoggi, Paramount Pictures withdrew from the film in 1981. Evans worked to secure sole ownership of the film negative to recoup his losses from recent poor stock-market investments and a cocaine trafficking arrest. However, this action alienated potential investors who would be unable to profit from television and home video distribution rights. The production was finally delayed when Evans reached a plea bargain to produce an advertising campaign of anti-drug public service announcements in exchange for an expungement of his record. [4]

In 1984, Evans, who intended to direct the film himself after Altman departed, hired William Kennedy and Francis Ford Coppola to re-write Mario Puzo's story and screenplay. Evans eventually decided that he did not want to direct the film and asked Coppola at the last minute. [5] Evans and Coppola had an adversarial relationship from the production of the Godfather films but Coppola accepted the jobs as screenwriter and then director because he needed the money – he was deeply in debt from making One from the Heart with his own money and his studio Zoetrope Studios went bankrupt. [4] [6] Richard Sylbert said that he told Evans not to hire Coppola because "he resents being in the commercial, narrative, Hollywood movie business". [7] Coppola said that he had letters from Sylbert asking him to work on the film because Evans was crazy. Coppola also said that "Evans set the tone for the level of extravagance long before I got there". [7]

By the time Evans decided not to direct and brought in Coppola, at least $13 million had already been committed. [7] Las Vegas casino owners Edward and Fred Doumani, along with businessman Victor L. Sayyah, put $30 million into the film in exchange for a fifty-percent ownership stake in the film. Evans received further loans by mortgaging his mansion in Beverly Hills and stock in Gulf + Western as collateral. [4] Other financial backers included Arab arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, and vaudeville promoter Roy Radin, who was murdered in May 1983. The killers later alleged that they had been hired by Evans and Radin's girlfriend Karen Greenberger, a drug dealer who felt she was cut out of profits from the film. [8] In the 1989 "Cotton Club Trial", Evans invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to testify. [4]

According to William Kennedy in an interview with Vanity Fair , the budget of the film was $47 million. However, Coppola told the head of Gaumont Film Company, Europe's largest distribution and production company, that he thought the film might cost $65 million. [3]

Evans cast Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone, and Harrison Ford to portray Dixie Dwyer before Gere was hired. [4] Richard Pryor was considered for the role of Sandman Williams. [9] Robert Evans wanted to cast his friend Alain Delon in a two-scene role as Lucky Luciano but this did not occur. [10] The role of Luciano was instead portrayed by Joe Dallesandro, starting the dramatic film career for the former Warhol Superstar.

Author Mario Puzo was the original screenwriter and was eventually replaced by William Kennedy, [6] who wrote a rehearsal script in eight days which the cast used for three weeks prior to shooting. According to actor Gregory Hines, a three-hour film was shot during rehearsals. [3] From July 15 to August 22, 1983, twelve scripts were produced, including five during one 48-hour non-stop weekend. Kennedy estimates that between 30 and 40 scripts were turned out. [3] Production began on August 22, 1983, at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. [4] Over 600 people built sets, created costumes and arranged music at a reported $250,000 a day. [3] During the production many crew members were abruptly fired. Within several weeks the film was already over budget, allowing Evans to deduct from the $4 million salary of Coppola, who had not yet been fully paid because the script was still being rewritten and thus incomplete. Coppola reacted by walking off set and refusing to continue directing the film until he was fully paid. [4]

As costs on the film continued to rise, the Doumani brothers convinced Orion Pictures to advance costs for the film on the condition that Evans step down as producer and hired mobster Joseph Cusamano to intimidate Evans into giving up his share of the partnership. Evans initially agreed but stopped them by filing a restraining order against them after learning Sayyah was not involved in the deal. [4] On June 7, 1984, Sayyah filed a lawsuit against the Doumani brothers, their lawyer David Hurwitz, Evans and Orion Pictures for fraud and breach of contract. [5] Sayyah invested $5 million and said that he had little chance of recouping his money because the budget escalated from $25 to $58 million. He accused the Doumanis of forcing out Evans and said that an Orion loan to the film of $15 million unnecessarily increased the budget. Evans, in turn, sued Edward Doumani to keep from acting as general partner on the film. [5] The court ruled in favor of Evans but also gave Coppola's close associate Barrie M. Osborne full control over post-production, essentially barring Evans from the completion of the film. Sayyah and the Doumani brothers would also be uncredited as producers. [4]

Music

The soundtrack for the film was written by John Barry. It released on December 14, 1984, via Geffen Records. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band in 1986. [11]

Release

Home media

Embassy Home Entertainment paid a record $4.7 million for North America home video rights. [12] The film appeared on videotape and videodisc in April 1985. It was the first to use the Macrovision copy protection system on VHS. [13]

Director's cut

In 2015, Coppola found an old Betamax video copy of his original cut that ran 25 minutes longer. When originally editing the picture, he acquiesced to distributors who wanted a shorter film with a different structure. Between 2015 and 2017, Coppola spent over $500,000 of his own money to restore the film to the original cut. This version, titled The Cotton Club: Encore and running 139 minutes, debuted at the Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2017. [14] Lionsgate (owner of the Zoetrope Corporation backlog, and working in association with original studio Orion Pictures) released that version theatrically, and on DVD and Blu-ray in the fall of 2019.

The Film Stage gave The Cotton Club: Encore a rating of A−, while Rolling Stone described the result of this version as "eye-opening". [15] [16]

Reception

Box office

The Cotton Club was released on December 14, 1984, in the United States and Canada on 808 screens and grossed $2.9 million on its opening weekend, fifth place behind Beverly Hills Cop , Dune , City Heat and 2010 . [17] [18] Evans took the blame for hiring Coppola while Coppola responded that if he had not been hired, the film would have never been made. Evans said that Coppola made the budget escalate dramatically by rejecting the script, hiring his own crew, and falling behind schedule. [18] The film was a commercial failure, grossing just under $26 million against a $58 million budget. After the film's release stock traders began selling Orion Pictures shares with the expectation that the studio would suffer financially. [4]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 74% rating based on 31 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Energetic and brimming with memorable performers, The Cotton Club entertains with its visual and musical pizazz even as its plot only garners polite applause." [19] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68% based on reviews from 14 critics. [20]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film 4 out of 4 stars. [21] The film appeared on both Siskel and Ebert's best of 1984. [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Ford Coppola</span> American filmmaker (born 1939)

Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood film movement and is widely considered one of the greatest directors of all time. Coppola is the recipient of five Academy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, two Palmes d'Or, and a BAFTA Award.

<i>The Godfather Part II</i> 1974 epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola

The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American epic crime film. The film is produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, loosely based on the 1969 novel The Godfather by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. It is both a sequel and a prequel to the 1972 film The Godfather, presenting parallel dramas: one picks up the 1958 story of Michael Corleone, the new Don of the Corleone family, protecting the family business in the aftermath of an attempt on his life; the prequel covers the journey of his father, Vito Corleone, from his Sicilian childhood to the founding of his family enterprise in New York City. The ensemble cast also features Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Morgana King, John Cazale, Marianna Hill, and Lee Strasberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Puzo</span> American author, screenwriter, and journalist (1920–1999)

Mario Francis Puzo was an American author and screenwriter. He wrote crime novels about the Italian-American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia, most notably The Godfather (1969), which he later co-adapted into a film trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first film in 1972 and for Part II in 1974. Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for the 1978 Superman film and its 1980 sequel. His final novel, The Family, was released posthumously in 2001.

<i>The Godfather Part III</i> 1990 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola

The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from the screenplay co-written with Mario Puzo. The film stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy García, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, Bridget Fonda, George Hamilton, and Sofia Coppola. It is the third and final installment in The Godfather trilogy. A sequel to The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), it concludes the fictional story of Michael Corleone, the patriarch of the Corleone family who attempts to legitimize his criminal empire. The film also includes fictionalized accounts of two real-life events: the 1978 death of Pope John Paul I and the Papal banking scandal of 1981–1982, both linked to Michael Corleone's business affairs.

Orion Releasing, LLC is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films from 1978 until 1999 and was also involved in television production and syndication throughout the 1980s until the early 1990s. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former senior executives at United Artists. From its founding until its buyout by MGM in the late 1990s, Orion was considered one of the largest mini-major studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cotton Club</span> Jazz club in New York City

The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940). The club operated during the United States' era of Prohibition and Jim Crow era racial segregation. Black people initially could not patronize the Cotton Club, but the venue featured many of the most popular black entertainers of the era, including musicians Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Fats Waller, Willie Bryant; vocalists Adelaide Hall, Ethel Waters, Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith, Lillie Delk Christian, Aida Ward, Avon Long, the Dandridge Sisters, the Will Vodery choir, The Mills Brothers, Nina Mae McKinney, Billie Holiday, Midge Williams, Lena Horne, and dancers such as Katherine Dunham, Bill Robinson, The Nicholas Brothers, Charles 'Honi' Coles, Leonard Reed, Stepin Fetchit, the Berry Brothers, The Four Step Brothers, Jeni Le Gon and Earl Snakehips Tucker.

<i>Rumble Fish</i> 1983 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Rumble Fish is a 1983 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the 1975 novel Rumble Fish by S. E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. The film stars Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Vincent Spano, Diane Lane, Diana Scarwid, Nicolas Cage, Chris Penn, and Dennis Hopper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Corleone</span> Fictional character from The Godfather

Michael Corleone is a fictional character and the protagonist of Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather. In the three Godfather films, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Michael was portrayed by Al Pacino, for which he was twice-nominated for Academy Awards. Michael is the youngest son of Vito Corleone, a Sicilian immigrant who builds a Mafia empire. Upon his father's death, Michael succeeds him as the don of the Corleone crime family.

<i>Tucker: The Man and His Dream</i> 1988 American biographical film

Tucker: The Man and His Dream is a 1988 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Jeff Bridges as inventor Preston Tucker. The film recounts Tucker's story and his attempt to produce and market the Tucker 48, which was met with scandal between the Big Three automobile manufacturers and accusations of stock fraud from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Joan Allen, Martin Landau, Elias Koteas, Frederic Forrest and Christian Slater appear in supporting roles. For his performance, Landau was nominated for the Academy Award and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Corleone</span> Fictional character from The Godfather series

Vincent SantinoCorleone is a fictional character in the 1990 feature film The Godfather Part III. He is portrayed by Andy García, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance.

<i>The Godfather</i> 1972 American crime film by Francis Ford Coppola

The Godfather is a 1972 American epic gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel. The film stars an ensemble cast including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, and Diane Keaton. It is the first installment in The Godfather trilogy, chronicling the Corleone family under patriarch Vito Corleone (Brando) from 1945 to 1955. It focuses on the transformation of his youngest son, Michael Corleone (Pacino), from reluctant family outsider to ruthless mafia boss.

<i>Hammett</i> (film) 1982 film by Wim Wenders

Hammett is a 1982 American neo-noir mystery film directed by Wim Wenders and executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay was written by Ross Thomas and Dennis O'Flaherty, based on the novel of the same name by Joe Gores. It stars Frederic Forrest as detective story writer Dashiell Hammett, who gets caught up in a mystery very much like one of his own stories. Marilu Henner plays Hammett's neighbor, Kit Conger, and Peter Boyle plays Jimmy Ryan, an old friend from Hammett's days as a Pinkerton agent. The film was entered into the 1982 Cannes Film Festival.

<i>Dementia 13</i> 1963 film by Francis Ford Coppola

Dementia 13, known in the United Kingdom as The Haunted and the Hunted, is a 1963 independently made black-and-white horror-thriller film produced by Roger Corman, and written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars William Campbell and Luana Anders with Bart Patton, Mary Mitchell, and Patrick Magee. It was released in the United States by American International Pictures during the fall of 1963 as the bottom half of a double feature with Corman's X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes.

The Godfather is a trilogy of American crime films directed by Francis Ford Coppola inspired by the 1969 novel of the same name by Italian American author Mario Puzo. The films follow the trials of the fictional Italian American mafia Corleone family whose patriarch, Vito Corleone, rises to be a major figure in American organized crime. His youngest son, Michael Corleone, becomes his successor. The films were distributed by Paramount Pictures and released in 1972, 1974, and 1990. The series achieved success at the box office, with the films earning between $430 and $517 million worldwide. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II are both seen by many as two of the greatest films of all time. The series is heavily awarded, winning 9 out of 28 total Academy Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Sylbert</span> American production designer

Richard Sylbert was an American production designer and art director, primarily for feature films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Malkin</span> American film editor (1938–2019)

Barry M. Malkin was an American film editor with about 30 film credits. He is noted for his extended collaboration with director Francis Ford Coppola, having edited most of Coppola's films from 1969 to 1997. In particular, Malkin worked with Coppola on four of the component and compilation films of the Godfather trilogy, though he did not edit the first film, The Godfather. Film critic Roger Ebert called the first two Godfather films a "cultural bedrock".

<i>Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli</i> 2021 book by Mark Seal

Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather is a non-fiction book written by Mark Seal detailing the making of the Academy Award-winning film, The Godfather.

<i>Killing Hollywood: The Cotton Club Murder</i> American true crime podcast

Killing Hollywood: The Cotton Club Murder is an eight-part crime drama podcast starring Juliette Lewis, Rainn Wilson, and Christian Slater. The series is based on the murder of Roy Radin, and was released in May, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Ford Coppola's unrealized projects</span>

The following is a list of unproduced Francis Ford Coppola projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director Francis Ford Coppola has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these productions fell in development hell or were cancelled.

References

  1. ↑ The Cotton Club at Box Office Mojo
  2. ↑ 1985|Oscars.org
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Scott, Jay (November 12, 1984). "Making of Cotton Club: A Legend of its Own". The Globe and Mail .
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "The Cotton Club". AFI Catalog. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 Harmetz, Aljean (June 10, 1984). "Cotton Club Investor Sues Partners in Film". New York Times .
  6. 1 2 Gussow, Michael (March 22, 1984). "Parting Film Shots: Coppola and Dutch". New York Times .
  7. 1 2 3 Kroll, Jack (December 24, 1984). "Harlem on My Mind". Newsweek .
  8. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (March 10, 2020). "Ten Billionaires Who Were Stung by Hollywood". Filmink.
  9. ↑ Evans, Bradford (September 1, 2011). "The Lost Roles of Richard Pryor". Splitsider . Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  10. ↑ Beck, Marilyn (September 3, 1982). "Hollywood: French actor Delon will play Lucky role". Chicago Tribune. p. c5.
  11. ↑ "The Cotton Club – John Barry | Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  12. ↑ Bierbaum, Tom (December 21, 1984). "IVE Pays $2 Mil For Homevideo Rights To '1984'". Daily Variety . p. 1.
  13. ↑ De Atley, Richard (September 7, 1985). "VCRs put entertainment industry into fast-forward frenzy". The Free Lance-Star. Associated Press. pp. 12–TV. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  14. ↑ Thompson, Anne (September 1, 2017). "Francis Ford Coppola: Why He Spent $500K to Restore His Most Troubled Film, 'The Cotton Club'". IndieWire . Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  15. ↑ NYFF Review: With 'The Cotton Club Encore', Francis Ford Coppola Brings Grandeur to New Reworking
  16. ↑ ‘The Cotton Club’: Francis Ford Coppola's Mangled Epic Gets an Encore Rolling Stone
  17. ↑ "Domestic 1984 Weekend 50". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  18. 1 2 Salmans, Sandra (December 20, 1984). "Cotton Club is Neither a Smash Nor a Disaster". The New York Times . Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  19. ↑ "The Cotton Club". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  20. ↑ "The Cotton Club". Metacritic . Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  21. ↑ Ebert, Roger (January 1, 1984). "The Cotton Club". Chicago Sun-Times .
  22. ↑ "Siskel and Ebert Top Ten Lists (1969–1998)". Innermind.com. Retrieved November 29, 2017.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.