The story of the troubled life and career of the legendary Jazz singer, Billie Holiday.
Director: Sidney J. Furie
Stars: Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068828/
19 songs in the Soundtracks, 17 of which I added to IMDb today from the AFI catalog listing. This time it was a labor of love. Notes to self: maybe next time check to see if any songs are missing. And try to find this "Happy" song, supposedly sung by M.Jackson.
This film is right up my alley: classic bluesy songs from the 20's-50's. I love Billie Holiday in particular, but DR doesn't really imitate her. But I love the songs, and she does them well, so it's all good. During some of the dialog going into or coming out of a song, I knew the lines, and realized that I had the 2-disc soundtrack album in vinyl. I must have listened to it a lot, because I knew the lyrics really well.
It's a very unhappy story, but I knew that going in. I was curious whether they tell the audience how her life ends, and they do, but really gently; very well done.
RP plays a fairly big part, and per the c.track he improvised with DR a couple of times. Drama, not comedy. He's brilliant. They invested some good scenes with him, and he is a crucial plot point.
In the c.track, Berry Gordy explains that he just wanted to make a film that showed black people as people, and he particularly fought for BW as the leading man, turning him into "the black Clark Gable". The kept saying they wanted to give young black women in the audience a handsome hero.
It's really criminal that DR lost the Oscar to Liza Minnelli. The range of emotions and ages she portrayed, and the great difference between her life and Billie Holiday's (per the c.track). She was terrific as a teen, as a junkie, through all phases shown. We get a scene when she sees a group of people mourning a lynched man, and later a group of protesting KKK members with torches, and she has great depth in both, as well as in the more personal scenes.
I remember during the Beach movie era, wondering when Motown would chime in. But Berry Gordy had higher ambitions, and this reflects it. I would have loved some Motown fluff, but I respect his choice. (Maybe I missed some other performance(s) because film(s) were unavailable, or not tagged music/al. But DR has only 1 such film, Beach Ball ('65, 5-), and I see nothing on Smokey Robinson's filmography.)
Nice score by Michel Legrand.
Maybe this should be a 9. Hearing the story (featurette & c.track) of how Berry Gordy had to buy the film back from Paramount before it was finished because they cut off the funds makes this film extra heroic.
Motown, Paramount & more, dir. Furie; 8+
