Cheap Kansas City (Video) (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte) (Robert Altman) Price

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Customer Reviews of Kansas City

Ovelooked and underated American Film Noir Masterpiece
Robert Altman, one of the foremost filmakers of the last thirty years followed up what many consider to be his magnum, "Short Cuts", with this quietly more ambitious project. "Short Cuts" finished 'place' at the Oscars to "Shindler's List" and helped spawn the career of Juliana Moore (sort of like Sissy Spacek in Welcome To L.A.) although I personally liked virtually all the other performances better (and there are some great ones in it).
The release of "Kansas City" followed hard upon the heals of the Oscar 'second best', and met with 'mediocre' to 'ok' critical reviews. Thus, the film didn't have much of a run in the theatres, playing to sparsely filled houses, who basically came to see the novelty of Harry Belafonte playing a rip-snorting gangster in an Altman film. Nor was the DVD release much of a hit.
What kept the movie alive basically was the magnificent soundtrack - a group of the best of the new generation of jazz musicians playing Kansas City jazz - well - as well as Count Basie and that guy who invented the jazz saxophone (what was his name?) - oh yeah, Coleman Hawkins, themselves. The CD became a classic, and a few people discovered that Altman had fostered this long time love for Kansas City jazz, and now that he was a bigshot and could finally raise lots of money to make any film he wanted, he decided to act on his long time dream to recreate the Kansas City Jazz scene in the early thirties in a movie.
And what an incredible recreation it is! There is even a separate one + hour film which Altman made of simply the bands (as recreated by the contemporary musicians playing all the tracks in the film and on the CD and more, and nothing else!) This film evokes an amazing, dreamlike experience and ranks with any performance of twentieth century music currently on DVD, and I wish they would release it when they release the director's cut, which I predict they will (my 30 year track record is pretty good).
Simply put, "Kansas City" is a noir masterpiece. Jennifer Jason Leigh gives an incredibly complex, brilliant performance and which is only to be matched by her foil . One of the great "two chick" flicks of all time, one wonders why Altman seems to be the only director who sees Leigh for what she is: the best American actress of her generation. Belafonte and the rest of the cast are up to the searing standards demanded by these lead performances, and the script and the almost superhuman attention to detail evidenced in the sets, editing, and every frame, make one wonder what exactly the critics had in mind when they watched this film for the first time.
But the music . . . the bands themselves take on a certain personification and become characters participating in the action of the story.
I believe "Kansas City" is due for a re-evaluation and may go down as the greatest venture of both Leigh and Altman, and that's saying a lot.

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confusing and stupid plot
I rented this movie because I like period stories, especially those that take place in the 1920s and 1930s. This movie was about as dim-witted as its main character Blondie. The story was hard to follow because it made little sense, the diaglog really dull,and the movie moved at a snail's pace. And what was with the pregnant black girl? What purpose did that serve and how did it fit into the story?

This is one to skip.

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good music but slow movie
If it were not for Harry Bellefonte this one would fall apart. Harry definately held it together as the only acting bright spot.
The music was very good. So if you are a jazz fan skip the movie and get the sound track.