The Cotton Club (1984)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writers:

William Kennedy (story) &
Francis Ford Coppola (story) ...

Release Date:

14 December 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Music

Tagline:

It was the jazz age. It was an era of elegance and violence. The action was gambling. The stakes were life and death.

Plot:

The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem. The story follows the people that visited the club...

Plot Keywords:

Dead Children | Dead Boy | Irish American | Box Office Flop | Controversial

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Richard Gere	...	Dixie Dwyer
Gregory Hines	...	Sandman Williams
Diane Lane	...	Vera Cicero
Lonette McKee	...	Lila Rose Oliver
Bob Hoskins	...	Owney Madden
James Remar	...	Dutch Schultz
Nicolas Cage	...	Vincent Dwyer
Allen Garfield	...	Abbadabba Berman
Fred Gwynne	...	Frenchy Demange
Gwen Verdon	...	Tish Dwyer
Lisa Jane Persky	...	Frances Flegenheimer
Maurice Hines	...	Clay Williams
Julian Beck	...	Sol Weinstein
Novella Nelson	...	Madame St. Clair
Laurence Fishburne	...	Bumpy Rhodes (as Larry Fishburne)

Runtime:

127 min | Germany:123 min (video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Hungary:16 | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:16 (1985) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

5th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Zoetrope Studios

Trivia:

The Nicolas Cage character "Mad Dog" Dwyer was based on an actual Irish gangster named "Mad Dog" Coll. (Cage is also the nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola.)

Quotes:

Dixie: What do they call you?
Sol Weinstein: Nobody calls me nothin'.
Dixie: Not even your mother?
Sol Weinstein: I didn't have a mother. They found me in a garbage pail.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003)

Soundtrack:

Ring Dem Bells

My Kind Of Movie

This is a great movie. I personally don't think the beautiful Diane Lane could be in a bad flick, she would make the worst one good. I was impressed with Richard Geres musical ability as he played his own coronet and sounded as good as anyone I've ever heard. The dancing was superb, the costumes beautiful and the plot authentic. It took me back to the great musicals of the forties and fifties. I was raised in the waning days of the era of this movie, the thirties, and I could almost hear my Dad talking about the evils of the big cities while we listened to the radio news of gangsters and shootouts. I would recommend this movie to anyone. I rate it 10/10.