Main Cast: Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Lonette McKee, Bob Hoskins
Release Year: 1984
Country: US
Run Time: 127 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Combining electric song and dance performances with drama (both on and off screen), Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club (1984) looks back to the 1920s-1930s peak of the legendary Harlem nightclub where only blacks performed and only whites could sit in the audience. Mixing historical figures with characters loosely based on actual people, Coppola and co-writers William Kennedy and The Godfather's Mario Puzo create a panorama of love, crime, and entertainment centered on the Club. Among them are cornet player Dixie Dwyer (Richard Gere, playing his own solos), who escapes psycho gangster "benefactor" Dutch Schultz (James Remar) for a George Raft-type Hollywood career as a gangster film star; Schultz's nubile mistress Vera Cicero (Diane Lane), who loves Dixie against her mercenary instincts; Cotton Club Mob owner Owney Madden (Bob Hoskins) and close associate Frenchy Demarge (Fred Gwynne); Vincent (Nicolas Cage), Dixie's no-good Mad Dog Coll-esque brother; Club tap star Sandman Williams (Gregory Hines), who woos ambitious light-skinned Club singer Lila Rose Oliver (Lonette McKee); and cameos by Charles "Honi" Coles and Cab Calloway impersonator Larry Marshall. Complementing the period story, Coppola evokes the style of '30s gangster movies and musicals through an array of old-fashioned devices like montages of headlines, songs and shoot-outs. Conceived by producer Robert Evans as his crowning achievement and directorial debut, Evans had to hand over the troubled production to Coppola, but the budget spiraled out of control as the script was repeatedly re-written throughout the chaotic shoot. By the time it was released, The Cotton Club's epic production story of power struggles, financial bloat, and even a murder overshadowed the "reunion" of The Godfather's creative team. Neither a Heaven's Gate-sized failure nor a wallet-saving hit like Coppola's Apocalypse Now, The Cotton Club got some favorable critical notices (although it drew fire for subordinating the African American stories). It did not, however, find a large enough audience to justify its expense and controversy, becoming another mark against 1970s "auteur" cinema in increasingly blockbuster-driven 1980s Hollywood. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
James Remar - Dutch Schultz; Nicolas Cage - Vincent Dwyer; Allen Garfield - Abbadabba Berman; Fred Gwynne - Frenchy Demange; Lisa Jane Persky - Frances Flegenheimer; Maurice Hines - Clay Williams; Julian Beck - Sol Weinstein; Novella Nelson - Madame St. Clair; Tom Waits - Irving Stark; Wynonna Smith - Winnie Williams; Charles "Honi" Coles - Sugar Coates; Larry Marshall - Cab Calloway; Woody Strode - Holmes; Dayton Allen - Solly; Tracey Bass - Dancer; Sandra Beall - Myrtle Fay; Ralph Brown - Hoofer; Thelma Carpenter - Norma Williams; Kim Chan - Ling; Rony Clanton - Caspar Holstein; Bill Cobbs - Bib Joe Ison; Nick Corri; Joe Dallesandro - Charles "Lucky" Luciano; Jordan Derwin; Wendy Edmead - Dancer; Giancarlo Esposito - Bumpy Hood; Laurence Fishburne - Bumpy Rhodes; Nicholas J. Giangiulio - Screen Test Thug; Jennifer Grey - Patsy Dwyer; Rosalind Harris - Fanny Brice; Sonia Hensley - Dancer; Paul Herman - Policeman #1; Robert Earl Jones - Stage Door Joe; Ron Karabatsos - Mike Best; Damien Leake - Bub Jewett; Bruce MacVittie - Vince Hood; Zane Mark - Duke Ellington; Susan Mechsner - Gypsie; Randle Mell - Policeman #2; Ed O'Ross - Monk; Mario Van Peebles - Dancer; Gregory Rozakis - Charlie Chaplin; James Russo - Vince Hood; John Ryan - Joe Flynn; Tom Signorelli - Butch Murdock; Tucker Smallwood - Kid Griffin; Brian Tarantina - Vince Hood; Leonard Termo - Danny; Diane Venora - Gloria Swanson; Gwen Verdon - Mrs. Tish Dwyer; Glenn Withrow - Ed Popke; Ed Zang - Clerk; Bill Graham - J.W.; Henry Le Tang - Hoofer; Marc Coppola - Ted Husing; Sarita Allen - Dancer; Jacquelyn Bird - Dancer; Carla Earle - Dancer; Joe Lynn - Marcial Flores; Steve Vignari - Trigger, Mike Coppola; Bruce Howard - Bumpy Hood; George Cantero - Vince Hood; Vincent Jerosa - James Cagney; Ed Rowan - Messiah; Christopher Lewis - Child in Street
Credit
Gregory W.M. Bolton - Art Director, David Chapman - Art Director, Melissa Prophet - Associate Producer, Gretchen Rennell - Casting, Gregory Hines - Choreography, Michael Meacham - Choreography, Henry Le Tang - Choreography, Michael Smuin - Choreography, Arthur Mitchell - Choreography, Fred Roos - Co-producer, Sylvio Tabet - Co-producer, Milena Canonero - Costume Designer, Judianna Makovsky - Costume Designer, Francis Ford Coppola - Director, Barry Malkin - Editor, Robert Q. Lovett - Editor, Dyson Lovell - Executive Producer, Barrie M. Osborne - Line Producer, John Barry - Composer (Music Score), Richard Dean - Makeup, Michael Stone - Camera Operator, Richard Sylbert - Production Designer, Stephen Goldblatt - Cinematographer, Robert Evans - Producer, Les Bloom - Set Designer, George P. Gaines - Set Designer, Connie Brink - Special Effects, William Kennedy - Screen Story, Mario Puzo - Screen Story, Francis Ford Coppola - Screenwriter, William Kennedy - Screenwriter, Mario Puzo - Screenwriter, Richard Shissler - Assistant Costumer Designer, Elizabeth Shelton - Assistant Costumer Designer
The Cotton Club was the first privately financed major motion picture, paid for almost entirely by brothers Fred and Ed Doumani of Las Vegas. The movie was not as successful as anticipated, making only $25,928,721 on a budget of over $50 million.
Gere plays a musician named Dixie Dwyer who begins working with mobsters to advance his career but falls in love with the girlfriend (Lane) of gangland kingpinDutch Schultz. Hines and Lonette McKee play dancers at the Cotton Club in a sub-plot of the movie. The movie features many song and dance numbers including fictional performances by Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. Nicolas Cage plays Dixie's brother Vincent, who also becomes a gangster. Cage's character is based on real-life gangster Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll. Gregory Hines' real-life brother Maurice plays his brother in the film.
The character of Dixie Dwyer is loosely based on the famous 1920s hot jazz cornetist, Bix Beiderbecke, right down to the alliterative name, and everyone simply calling him "Dix." The character "Lila" is loosely based on Lena Horne. Laurence Fishburne's character, "Bumpy Rhodes", meanwhile, is based on Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson; Fishburne would later play Johnson in the film Hoodlum.
Inspired to make The Cotton Club by a picture-book history of the famous nightclub by Jim Haskin, Robert Evans was the film's original producer and wanted also to direct.[2] Evans eventually decided that he did not want to direct the film and asked Coppola at the last minute.[3] Richard Sylbert claimed that he told Evans not to hire Coppola because "he resents being in the commercial, narrative, Hollywood movie business".[4] Coppola claimed that he had letters from Sylbert that ask him to work on the film because Evans was crazy. The director also said that "Evans set the tone for the level of extravagance long before I got there".[4] Coppola accepted the job because he needed the money — he was deeply in debt from making One From the Heart with his own money.[5] By the time Evans decided not to direct and brought in Coppola, at least $13 million had already been committed.[4] Las Vegas casino owners Edward and Fred Doumani put $30 million into the film. Other financial backers included Arab arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, and vaudeville promoter Roy Radin, who was eventually murdered. According to William Kennedy in an interview with Vanity Fair, the budget of the film was $47 million. However, Francis Ford Coppola told the head of Gaumont, Europe's largest distribution and production company, that he thought the film might cost $65 million.[2]
Author Mario Puzo was the original screenwriter and was eventually replaced by William Kennedy[5] who wrote a rehearsal script in eight days which the cast used for three weeks prior to shooting. According to actor Gregory Hines, a three-hour film was shot during rehearsals.[2]
Over 600 people built sets, created costumes and arranged music at a reported $250,000 a day.[2]
From July 15 to August 22, 1983, 12 scripts were produced, including five during one 48-hour non-stop weekend. Kennedy estimates that between 30-40 scripts were turned out.[2]
On June 7, 1984, Victor L. Sayyah filed a lawsuit against the Doumani brothers, their lawyer David Hurwitz, Evans and Orion Pictures for fraud and breach of contract.[3] Sayyah invested $5 million and claimed that he had little chance of recouping his money because the budget escalated from $25 to $58 million. He accused the Doumanis of forcing out Evans and that an Orion loan to the film of $15 million unnecessarily increased the budget. Evans, in turn, sued Edward Doumani to keep from acting as general partner on the film.[3]
Reaction
The Cotton Club was released on December 14, 1984 and grossed $2.9 million on its opening weekend, fourth place behind Beverly Hills Cop, Dune, and 2010.[6] The film would have had to gross $100 million to break even. Robert Evans took the blame for hiring Coppola while the director responded that if he had not been hired, the film would have never been made. Evans claimed that Coppola made the budget escalate dramatically by rejecting the script, hiring his own crew, and falling behind schedule.[6]
