Cadillac Records - A Review
In the 1940s and 50s bluesmen from the Mississippi delta were workin’ their way up highway 61 to the clubs and bars of Chicago. About the same time a pair of Jewish brothers started a record studio on the South side. The two converged and some of the most influential records of the 20th century were cut at Chess records recording studios, 2120 S Michigan Ave. Cadillac Records is the story of Leonard Chess (his brother Phil has become revised history) and the larger-than-life artists he worked with in the 50s and 60s. The film focuses on Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Chuck Berry, Etta James, and Willie Dixon. As if that wasn’t enough music history, the real Chess records could have added John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy, and quite a few more.
The film begins paralleling the rise of Leonard Chess (Adrian Brody) and Muddy Waters (Jeffery Wright). If the film had made this its sole focus we might have had a very interesting and effective story. Sadly it struggles to bring the weight of its narrative home. In an effort to cover so many performers and such a complex of relationships, it glosses over interesting points like Muddy’s life in Mississippi, and the evolution of the Blues from acoustic to electric beneath his fingertips.
The Blues gets my vote for most difficult musical genre to cover convincingly. All the acting was quite good, but the musical performances never let me forget that I was watching recreations. You simply can’t impersonate a Howlin’ Wolf or a Chuck Berry without building the character from the ground up. As they show up in this film they seem without context or background. Relegated to a side show, they become caricatures – goofy not iconic. Beyoncé Knowles as Etta James is the obvious exception to the musical pitfall and this grounds her character. I was thrilled to see that her ability to act the part was not at all overshadowed by her ability to sing the part.
Adrian Brody plays the most interesting role. Leonard Chess was a musical and social progressive who gave black men (and women!) a chance to make music on their own terms at a time when they couldn’t eat in most restaurants. One astounding scene shows Chuck Berry (Mos Def) with thousands of dollars in his pocket making a sandwich in his top-of-the-line Cadillac in the parking lot of a restaurant clearly displaying their ‘Whites Only’ sign in the window. Yet Chess’s intentions are deeply suspect. He cares for this motley family and has a passion for their music but to what end? It was too easy to take advantage of their eagerness and lack of education. After all most of these men walked out of the delta and into Chess studios, many could not read or write. Cadillac Records is so named because of Leonard Chess’s practice of paying his musicians in brand new Cadillacs rather than their royalties. You guess which would have amounted to more dough. When they would get in a bind and ask him for money, only then would he inform them that the Cadillac wasn’t free. Brody brings this duplicity to life well. He has a way of conveying a great sadness in his eyes. The scenes he shares with Knowles are the best in the film. Once again we wish the script had been narrowed to focus on just their story.
It must be incredibly difficult to write a picture like this. It is an ensemble piece with established characters in all the leads, tons of iconic music, and a vague yet clichéd narrative arc. I venture my next suggestion fully aware that there could be a few reels of genius footage on the cutting room floor that a studio executive made them leave out because of test market research. So, to whom it may concern: Could it go a little slower and run about 30 minutes longer? It would need the pacing and extra scenes to gather its composure and let us feel the unprecedented history, to let us hang out with the characters – to pause for breath, let the riff resonate and feedback, then roar home the refrain.
