"The Cotton Club" (1984): most authentic 1920s-'30s costuming

[cookie]

I found that movie in the $10 throw out pile somewhere and knew I had to have it for posterity. Better get it out again and watch it. Hines was such a great talent RIP.

 

[Chas]

It's a so-so movie with some terrif. choreography by Henry LeTang and others. Unfortunately the dancing is a minor character. No "Snake Hips" Tucker or anything like that.

[video=youtube;7U4ww-MmAY4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U4ww-MmAY4[/video]

 

[resortes805]

Gregory Hine's light gray flannel belt back suit: amazing.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Unfortunately the dancing is a minor character.

But the music is a major character. Almost all of it is early Duke Ellington, and very well played too.

 

[scotrace]

Didn't Richard Gere actually play the cornet for this role?

The dancing is a large part of the appeal of The Cotton Club for me. That bit with all the dancers in their own club, quietly showing off their stuff for the others is the part I go back to watch again and again.

Diane Lane was eighteen when this was shot.

 

[Chas]

But the music is a major character. Almost all of it is early Duke Ellington, and very well played too.

True.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Didn't Richard Gere actually play the cornet for this role?

Yes. Gere even performs a brief but classic Biederbeck turn (from a 1927 song, "Singin' the Blues").

And don't forget the very young Nicolas Cage as Vince "Mad Dog" Dwyer, loosely based on an Irish gangster named Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll. Mr. Cage's fifth movie role -- one that was well suited to his over-the-top acting style. (It helped that uncle Francis Coppola was the director.)

 

[Marc Chevalier]

On Netflix. http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The-Co...&strackid=7b8900c911dbf705_0_srl&trkid=222336

 

[Shangas]

I remember reading somewhere that Nick Cage (actual name Nicholas Coppola) changed his name to his current screen-name because he wanted to make it big without having to live up to the Coppola family name, which already had so many people in the movie industry (Carmine Coppola, Francis F. Coppla, Roman Coppola, Sofia Coppola etc etc...)

 

[Doctor Strange]

Yes, and he got the name from a Marvel Comics character - Luke Cage, Power Man!

 

[Shangas]

Finally finished watching "The Cotton Club" for the first time.

I think it was a wonderful movie. I think it really showed the cutthroat ways of showbiz in the 1920s and 30s and the effect that Prohbition and the Depression had on pop culture.

And that movie rekindled my interest in a classic 1930s and 1940s duo: The Nicholas Brothers, who can be seen here with the Glenn Miller Orchestra performing 'I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo':

[video=youtube;sf9LqlRU6oM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf9LqlRU6oM&feature=related[/video]

After a bit of scavenging, I found the sheet-music to "Crazy Rhythm". Running it through on the piano. It's such a fun song to play...

 

[Marc Chevalier]

THE COTTON CLUB was originally slated --and filmed-- to be about three hours long. (That's Coppola for you!) Money troubles and distribution arguments led to lots of cutting. Some of the film's plot twists seem awkward or incomprehensible due to these cuts.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

BIG bonus: TOM WAITS played a small but memorable role in it!

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3215164672/tt0087089

 

[Marc Chevalier]

This photo album give an excellent idea of the film's very authentic costumes, hairstyles and sets:


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087089/mediaindex

 

[Chasseur]

Back in the mid-1990s when I first started to get serious about style and dressing well that was one of the first movies I watched for inspiration and it really left an impression. The music, the dancing and the wardrobe were really well done, though the movie itself because of the production problems was not as strong as it could have been. But still not a bad movie at all.

Beyond the wardrobe, I have say Diane Lane in that movie was amazing, she really sticks with me as iconic image of the recreation of late 1920s feminine beauty.

Though, Josie Maran's ulta sexy flapper/cigarette girl in "The Aviator" could be another contender...

But I am getting off topic...

 

[MisterCairo]

I don't mind the change in direction...

Back in the mid-1990 when I first started to get serious about style and dressing well that was one of the first movies I watched for inspiration and it really left an impression. The music, the dancing and the wardrobe were really well done, though the movie itself because of the production problems was not as strong as it could have been. But still not a bad movie at all.

Beyond the wardrobe, I have say Diane Lane in that movie was amazing, she really sticks with me as ironic image of the recreation of late 1920s feminine beauty.

Though, Josie Maran's ulta sexy flapper/cigarette girl in "The Aviator" could be another contender...

But I am getting off topic...

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Time for an in-depth look at the outstandingly authentic costumes for men:

 

[Marc Chevalier]

And the very authentic haircuts:

 

[Marc Chevalier]

And the nightclub costumes:

 

[Marc Chevalier]

And general greatness: