Cadillac Records – Review

Must admit, this was one movie we were actually looking forward to go see.  It had all the marks of a great film.  A story that needed to be told, filmed in Chicago, great music, and an “A List” of movie stars.  Etta James never looked this good!

The movie hit the mark in the entertainment category, but we’re not sure what happened when it came to actually telling the story of Chess Records? We think they were just making it up as they went.  So we decided to make a list of things we liked about the movie and things we didn’t like.  Feel free to log in and comment to add to our list!

Things we liked:

• Beyonce as Etta James… Schawing!
• Eamonn Walker as Howlin’ Wolf.  Spine chilling and spot on.
• The Music, all songs were re-recorded for the movie and done very well
• A soundtrack released on vinyl!
• Entertaining story line.

Things We didn’t like

• No Mention of PHIL CHESS!
• No mention of Artistocrat records
• Seriously, why leave this stuff out?
• We don’t get it.  A 30 second blurb, Phil’s in the bathroom, SOMETHING!
• Could have done more with Chess soul music from the 60’s.  Just mentioned Etta with no mention of Billy Stewart, The Dells, Fontella Bass, etc. etc. etc.

So there you have it.  Over all 3 out of 5 stars for this one.  The better news is this could just be a Hollywood Mulligan because another Chess Records story comes out soon starring Matt Dillon as Leonard Chess.  Hey Matt when you coming back out to visit us?