Cadillac Records

I just ordered and received the third DVD of this film. I lived in Chicago in the 60s and often visited some of the black blues clubs in the Old Town district. I heard Muddy Waters live and enjoyed his music. He was always a snappy dresser, very polite and well mannered and ripped those guitar solos! When the band took a break and went out back to "smoke", he sat down on the edge of the stage and smoked. ...and conversed with his fans who approached him. Always polite and well mannered. I love this DVD but end up giving my copy to a friend and have to get a new one for me. Maybe I'll just keep this one! I know I'll watch it again tonight.

A very good movie. A producer offers opportunities to artists who had no representation in the music industry. An immensely interesting and sometimes heartbreaking journey

You will cry

This is the great movie about music business.First of all, the charactor appears in this movie is just so charming to look at.Second, the music appears are so lovely to hear. I will listen to them again and again through youtube maybe 1000 times.Also I should never forget to mention that the music was done by fine composer/ Trumpet player Terence Blanchard a living legend jazz musician.Adrien Brody you've seen him enough already right? <THE PIANIST><THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL><KING KONG>. He is a great actor.In this movie he acts as an owner of the record company struggle to make it a great one.Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry. They all are from this company and now are legends. Also appears are Rolling Stones and so on. You will be blow away by their appearence.Beyoncé Knowles acts sings like a diva and you will never forget her face when you see this movie I mean it.And Jeffrey Wright acting as Muddy Waters is truely unforgettable.This movie shows ups and downs of the true great singers as well.Moments of their times when they are in drugs, going to prison and dissapears from the scene. Coming back with really hard try for come backs.Because of their skin color, they struggle to be survived from society. Fom cops, from mean guys and from everything.Love and friendship.And most of all beautiful development of their true genious music and go all the way to top the chart. Their best moments.And there are always the leader Adrien Brody acting as Leonard Chess .If you like soul, Rhythem and blues, rock and any kind of music you will love this movie.If you like musician struggle to be at the top you will love this movie.The cinematography, the song, the acting, the editing, the production design, there is not a single thing I can criticize about.It is just perfect.Two thumps way up and I just couldn't shut down when the credit is rolling at the end.I wanted more.

This movie is a great reference to a part of the history of American music that is way overlooked--Chicago Blues. Most people don't realize that Muddy Waters was, by way of musical lineage, one of the fathers of rock and roll. But the most important aspect of Muddy's (as well as that of Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, et al) place in musical history is the music itself--Chicago Blues. Even if rock and roll, heavy metal, and hip hop were never invented, these blues icons would still be marked in history for their achievements in Chicago blues music. 2003 was the 100th anniversary of the blues, and despite Martin Scorsese's noble effort in recognizing this with his PBS documentary of the Blues in that year, I didn't notice much of a blues revival stemming from that year. It's nice to have movies like this that remind us from time to time what the roots of American music really are!I was really impressed with the actors in this movie--they did a great job in portraying their respective characters, including their own singing, which was great! I was particularly impressed with the authenticity of Jeffrey Wright's both singing and acting aspects of the portrayal of Muddy Waters.Some of the details of this story are skewed for effect in this movie, I'm sure, but overall I found it faithful enough in its depiction of how it all came about and went. I must say, though, that I find it hard to believe that Howlin' Wolf actually threatened to kill Muddy if he stole any of his band members again. I know they were rivals, but I have trouble believing they hated each other that much--maybe I'm wrong--I was just surprised to hear something like that in the script.Adrien Brody does a fine job of portraying Leonard Chess, but Robert DeNiro would have been PERFECT. DeNiro even looks now a lot like Leonard Chess did back then (Brody is simply much younger than Chess was at the time), and I'm sure the makeup team would have had no problem in creating a dead ringer of Chess out of DeNiro! And Chess's legendary tough-guy type attitude? That's right down DeNiro's alley! But alas, I guess they couldn't afford DeNiro, as this was a pretty low-budget film.So despite the flak that this movie is getting in respect to authenticity, I'm giving it five stars, because it is in fact a very good movie and a great effort in preserving the memory of Chicago Blues!

Great soundtrack but not true to life

Leonard Chess was a risk taker. He was willing to put out black "race" music, as it was termed, at a time when blacks were still very much in the lower echelons of society. People like Muddy Waters, Little Walter Horton, Howling Wolf, Willie Dixon, Etta James and Chuck Berry blazed a wide trail for Rockers to follow; be they white or black. The movie has some very poignant moments that will rip your heart out. The music is fabulous if you like the blues, and the Rolling Stones liked the blues and came to Chess records to meet greet and record. The end of the movie will definitely give you a warm and fuzzy thrill.