Review of Cadillac Records (2008) by Tom M — 01 Oct 2010

Poor Phil Chess. Like so many movies that tell too much story over too much time, Cadillac Records consolidates characters, omits important events, and hurries along at too brisk a pace for viewers to ever get to know any of the individuals/characters portrayed. Two Chess brothers was one too many for Cadillac Records, so Phil was wiped from the history books. Leonard, on the other hand, not only survived the cut but is considerably enhanced: he's much more handsome, and he has developed a sense of rhythm nowhere evident on record. Leonard clearly got the better end of the deal.

In the plus column, the movie looks great (great design and costumes, good period stuff) and never really infuriates. It's always engaging enough in its superficial way, and some of the music is terrific. The Etta James stuff sounds great, as does the Howlin' Wolf material. The Muddy Waters material pales in comparison to the originals, which I suppose is unavoidable; he's much harder to imitate well. Chuck Berry gets short shrift here too. The problem isn't with the treatment of any one figure, though. It's that a brief period in any of these people's lives could make a great movie, but a movie that tries to cover the entire careers of all these people can't ever be anything other than a flyover. What do we really know about Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, Chuck Berry, Hubert Sumlin, Willie Dixon, and Leonard Chess when this movie's over? Not much more than you'd get from a perfunctory set of liner notes. At least they made the cut. Poor Phil, he wasn't so lucky.