Best Blues MoviesApr 06 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line For a true blues experience go to a blues bar (especially if you live close to Chicago), but there are a few great films with blues music.
Finding great movies that feature blues music is difficult. In generating this list, it establishes how under utilized the blues are when it comes to film, something I’ve been aware of for a few years, being both a movie geek and blues enthusiast. Of course the best way to experience the blues is in a small blues club or bar, late night after the wannabe fans have left, and there’s just a roomful of the hardcore fans left in the smoke filled room. That’s when the blues artist relaxes and gets down with his band and cuts loose with the improvisations and just grooves. That’s when the blues is most fun! But for blues on film, we need to see some of these artists in action, or get a heavy dose of blues throughout the film. Following are my candidates for top ten films that feature blues music. Some of these are really stretching the definition though, so there’s lots of room for other films to nudge these off the list. 10. Kingpin (1996) Very inane Farrelly brothers comedy with the usual bathroom humor (some of which is pretty funny though). If you’re a blues fan, just fast forward the movie for the end credits because Blues Traveler performs a live music video of “But Anyway.” 9. Lady Sing the Blues (1972) Dianna Ross stars as Billie Holiday and sings her way through the blues in this better than average bio picture. It’s by far the best thing that Ross has ever done on film, and it’s hard to beat Billie Holiday for the blues. Her life story explains a great deal about the nature of the genre. 8. Mo’ Better Blues (1990) There are some great visuals in Spike Lee’s under rated film, and he captures a credible back-story of the musician’s life. It’s more jazz than blues, but the two genres sometimes cross over. Until there’s some more films that focus more on blues, this will have to do. 7. Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995) A rather surreal mob story that won’t play well for everybody, but no matter what you think of the movie there’s a scene that will stop you in your tracks when you see the house blues band. Yep, that is the world’s greatest guitar player on stage -– the great Buddy Guy. To hear Buddy play the blues automatically bumps this movie into the top 10 best movies of all time. More films should put out a contract on Buddy! 6. Sounder (1972) The better than average family film has a blues soundtrack throughout by Taj Mahal that is very appropriate for the film. It’s a coming of age story about a boy growing up in the 1930’s as a sharecropper in Louisiana. 5. Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) The movie is absolutely atrocious, but that is not why anyone would endure this embarrassing sequel. This is a chance to see several blues artists in a music video, and that’s the only worthwhile thing about the film. I just wish Dan Aykroyd had sung less and let the legends sing more. The time I saw this in the theater for a late night viewing, all seven of us in the theater stayed through the end credits, and there’s only one reason for that -- they had a mass blues ensemble singing over the credits. Just a sampling of the performers is self-explanatory: Aretha Franklin, Jonny Lang, B.B. King, Lonnie Brooks, Taj Mahal, and Blues Traveler. 4. O Brother Where Art Thou (2000) Music is so integral to this excellent Coen brothers film that it deserves a listing even though most of the songs are bluegrass related. However, when the escaped prisoners pick up Tommy Johnson at the Crossroads that authenticates the blues roots of the film. Add to that the fact that roots rock artist T Bone Burnett is behind the original music of the film, so he uses Delta blues elements. O Brother Where Art Thou is one of the finest musical films of the past decade, and should create more interest in roots music genre. 3. Crossroads (1986) Walter Hill’s film loosely based on the great Robert Johnson’s legendary deal with the Devil at the Crossroads contains some great blues music. Thank you, Ry Cooder for creating one of the best blues soundtracks of all time, highlighted at the end with the guitar battle with Steve Vai that helped a few young metalheads realize how important the blues are for hardcore guitar players. It also helped revive Robert Johnson’s career, some 50 years after his pre-mature death. 2. Blues Brothers (1980) If asked to name the one film that has given the biggest popular boost to the blues, it has to be this classic comedy. Belushi sings the blues surprisingly well -– he’s got the soul for it, and Aykroyd obviously loves the blues -– his House of Blues establishments are ample evidence. Of course, the movie is set around Chicago, as there is no better place for the blues. And the set pieces absolutely rock with the blues and soul legends that they engage: with the diner rocking with Aretha’s “Think” and the streets of Chicago giving it up for John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” and Ray Charles’ “Shake a Tail Feather.” Anyone who thinks the blues is for hurtin’ tunes, needs to check this film out and find out how much fun the blues can be. 1. Genghis Blues (1999) There are a few routine educational films that will show some blues artists, and a few concert films, but Genghis Blues is no ordinary documentary. This is a true labor of love, a first effort by young filmmakers Adrian and Roko Belic that took them to a remote region in the geographical center of Asia to record blues artist Paul Peña as he takes part in a Tuvan throat singing competition. This traditional art will absolutely blow your mind and has to be heard to be believed, as the singer is able to create harmonic effects with his voice by singing two or three notes simultaneously! Genghis Blues becomes one of the most intimate and illuminating documentaries I’ve ever seen -– one that I’ve seen twice recently and will look forward to multiple viewings in the future. It also inspired me to get hold of two CDs of Tuvan throat singing. The fact that I list this in the number 1 position over a comedy that I really love, should indicate how highly I think of this film.  |
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