The Benny Goodman Story (1956)
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Ram Bowen and Eddie Cook are two expatriate jazz musicians living in Paris where, unlike America at the time, Jazz musicians are celebrated and racism is a non-issue. When they meet and fall in love with two young American girls, Lillian and Connie, who are vacationing in France, Ram and Eddie must decide whether they should move back to America with them, or stay in Paris for the freedom it allows them. Ram, who wants to be a serious composer, finds Paris more exciting than America and is reluctant to give up his music for a relationship, and Eddie wants to stay for the city's more tolerant racial atmosphere.
Aimless youth Rick Martin learns he has a gift for music and falls in love with the trumpet. Legendary trumpeter Art Hazzard takes Rick under his wing and teaches him all he knows about playing. To the exclusion of anything else in life, Rick becomes a star trumpeter, but his volatile personality and desire to play jazz rather than the restricted tunes of the bands he works for lands him in trouble.
Robert Altman's story is a riff on race, class, and power cross-cuts between the two kidnappings and the background of corrupt politics and virtuoso jazz music. It all takes place in Kansas City in 1934.
The Jazz Singer is the first full length feature film to use sound. Director Alan Crosland created the precursor of musical films.
The daughter of jazz pianist Joe Albany witnesses her beloved father's struggle -- and failure -- to kick his heroin habit.
Biography of Loretta Lynn, a country and western singer that came from poverty to fame.
The Jolson Story is a 1946 musical biography which purports to tell the life story of singer Al Jolson. It stars Larry Parks as Jolson, Evelyn Keyes as "Julie Benson" (approximating Jolson's wife, Ruby Keeler), William Demarest as his manager, Ludwig Donath and Tamara Shayne as his parents, and Scotty Beckett as the young Jolson.
Members of a traveling jazz band try to keep their talented leader from dying after he breaks from the band and begins drinking and taking drugs.
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
Georg is a biography drama film about Estonian singer Georg Ots.
In the Swedish city of Lethe, people from different walks of life take part in a series of short, deadpan vignettes that rush past. Some are just seconds long, none longer than a couple of minutes. A young woman (Jessica Lundberg) remembers a fantasy honeymoon with a rock guitarist. A man awakes from a dream about bomber planes. A businessman boasts about success while being robbed by a pickpocket and so on. The absurdist collection is accompanied by Dixieland jazz and similar music.
A jazz legend finds love and redemption when he stars in a movie about his own troubled life to mount a comeback.
Traces the pilgrimage of John Anderson, an average guy with a passion for jazz, from his home in outback Western Australia to the jazz clubs of Paris...
Childhood friends Tracy Lord and C.K. Dexter Haven got married and quickly divorced. Now Tracy is about to marry again, this time to a shrewd social-climbing businessman. Bing still loves her. Spy magazine blackmails Grace's family by threatening to reveal her playboy father's exploits if not allowed to cover the wedding.
Marine bandmaster John Philip Sousa (Clifton Webb) becomes famous for his marches and inspires the sousaphone.
Saxophone player Charlie Parker comes to New York in 1940. He is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict but his loving wife Chan tries to help him.
Interrupted Melody is the inspirational filmed biography of world-renowned Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence. Sheâs a foremost Wagnerian, equal to the vocal and physical demands of the composerâs oeuvre. And sheâs a beacon of triumph to anyone who fights back when personal tragedy strikes.
Danny Thomas assumes the old Al Jolson role as the cantor's son-turned-cabaret entertainer. As Jerry Golding (Thomas) scales the heights of show business, he breaks the heart of his father (Eduard Franz), who'd hoped that Jerry would follow in his footsteps. Sorrowfully, Cantor Golding reads the Kaddish service, indicating that, so far as he is concerned, his son is dead. A tearful reconciliation (and a more upbeat denouement than was found in the original film) occurs when Jerry dutifully returns to sing the "Kol Nidre" in his ailing father's absence. Peggy Lee co-stars as Judy Lane, a musical comedy entertainer who falls in love with Jerry, while Mildred Dunnock and Alex Gerry do what they can with the stereotyped roles of Jerry's mother and uncle, respectively.
A biography of the dancer Isadora Duncan, the 1920s dancer who forever changed people's ideas of ballet. Her nude, semi-nude, and pro-Soviet dance projects as well as her attitudes on free love, debt, dress, and lifestyle shocked the public of her time.
Richard Attenborough, Patrick McGoohan and a host of jazz legends including Charles Mingus and Dave Brubeck star in this 60s melodrama, inspired by Shakespeare's 'Othello'
Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench is about the often uneasy but always beautiful relationship between music and love. It tells the story of a young Boston jazz musician who drifts from affair to affair, his trumpet the only constant in his life. He makes a promising connection with an aimless introvert named Madeline, who immediately takes to his music. Their relationship is cut short, however, when Guy leaves her for another, more outgoing love interest. The two separated lovers slowly wind their way back into each otherâs lives, through a series of romances and near-romances punctuated by song.
Lavish biography of Flo Ziegfeld, the producer who became Broadway's biggest starmaker.
Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.
Murderesses Velma Kelly (a chanteuse and tease who killed her husband and sister after finding them in bed together) and Roxie Hart (who killed her boyfriend when she discovered he wasn't going to make her a star) find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.
Film biography of entertainer Eddie Cantor, with Keefe Brasselle starring as the popular stage, radio and movie comic.
Bob Fosse's semi-autobiographical film celebrates show business stripped of glitz or giddy illusions. Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider) is at the top of the heap, one of the most successful directors and choreographers in musical theatre. But he can feel his world slowly collapsing around him--his obsession with work has almost destroyed his personal life, and only his bottles of pills keep him going.
Biography of rock star Jimi Hendrix chronicles his early career, including a stint with Little Richard who fired him for getting too flamboyant, to his tragic failure.
Frank and Jack Baker are professional musicians who play small clubs. They play smaltzy music and have never needed a day job...
Neil Diamond stars as Yussel in this tale of a young Jewish cantor who strives to make a career in music.
In what would cause a fantastic media frenzy, Clifford Irving (Gere) sells his bogus biography of Howard Hughes to a premiere publishing house in the early 1970s.
The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for.
A comedic biopic focused on the life of fictional jazz guitarist Emmett Ray. Ray was an irresponsible, free-spending, arrogant, obnoxious, alcohol-abusing, miserable human being, who was also arguably the best guitarist in the world.
A biography of Woody Guthrie, one of America's greatest folk singers. He left his dust-devastated Texas home in the 1930s to find work, discovering the suffering and strength of America's working class.
Al Stump is a famous sports-writer chosen by Ty Cobb to co-write his official, authorized 'autobiography' before his death. Cobb, widely feared and despised, feels misunderstood and wants to set the record straight about 'the greatest ball-player ever,' in his words.
Biopic about 1970s British marijuana trafficker Howard Marks, whose inventive smuggling schemes made him a huge success in the drug trade, as well as leading to dealings with both the IRA and British Intelligence. Based on Marks' biography with the same title.
28-year-old Kansas University doctoral student Omar Razaghi wins a grant to write a biography of Latin American writer Jules Gund. Omar must get through to three people who were close to Gund--his brother, widow, and younger mistress--so he can get authorization to write the biography. Written by Marisa_Gabriella, edited by Krystal Frauendienst
This film is about a famous jazz saxophonist, Izzy who's life is forever changed after he is accidentally shot.
Inside the Blue Note nightclub one night in 1959 Paris, an aged, ailing jazzman coaxes an eloquent wail from his tenor sax. Outside, a young Parisian too broke to buy a glass of wine strains to hear those notes. Soon they will form a friendship that sparks a final burst of genius in director Bertrand Tavernier
Fictionalized biography of George Gershwin and his fight to bring serious music to Broadway.
Two interwoven stories. The first is a biography of anarchist Sakae Osugi which follows his relationship with three women in the 1920s. The second centers around two 1960s' students researching Osugi's theories.
George Wallace is a 1997 television film starring Gary Sinise as George Wallace, the former Governor of Alabama. It was directed by John Frankenheimer, who won an Emmy award for it; Sinise and Mare Winningham also won Emmies for their performances. The film was based on the 1996 biography Wallace : The Classic Portrait of Alabama Governor George Wallace by Marshall Frady, who also co-wrote the teleplay. Frankenheimer's film was highly praised by critics: in addition to the Emmy awards, it received the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries/Motion Picture made for TV. Angelina Jolie also received a Golden Globe for her performance as Wallace's second wife, Cornelia.
A black jazz band becomes entangled in the aristocratic world of 1930s London as they seek fame and fortune.
Ghost is an idealogical musician who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself.
A biopic based on the life story of J.C. Daniel, the pioneer of Malayalam cinema. It is a detailed account on Daniel's life, making of his film Vigathakumaran and the tragic story of Vigathakumaran's heroine P. K. Rosie. The film is particularly based on the novel Nashta Naayika by Vinu Abraham (which details the story of Rosie) and the biography of J. C. Daniel by Chelangatt Gopalakrishnan.
A film about the troubled and controversial life of the master comedy filmmaker.
The autobiography of a Somalian nomad circumcised at 3, sold in marriage at 13, fled from Africa a while later to become finally an American supermodel and is now at the age of 38, the UN spokeswoman against circumcision.
In February, 1962, as the civil rights movement reaches Bayonne, Louisiana, a New York journalist arrives to interview Jane Pittman, who has just turned 110. She tells him her story dating back to her earliest memories before slavery ended. In between the chapters of her life, the present-day struggles of Blacks in Bayonne, urged on by Jimmy, are dramatized.
The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem. The story follows the people that visited the club, those that ran it, and is peppered with the Jazz music that made it so famous
A seedy writer of sleazy pulp novels is recruited by a quirky, reclusive ex-actor to help him write his biography at his house in Malta.
Biography of the British painter Francis Bacon. The movie focuses on his relationship with George Dyer, his lover. Dyer was a former small time crook.
Famed reporter Stephen O'Malley travels to a small town to investigate the death of a national hero.
Biography of the legendary entertainer Bill Robinson, also known as Mr. Bojangles.
In this hit Russian musical, a group of friends flaunts Soviet authority in 1950s Moscow by embracing jazz. When Communist Mels falls for Polly, a free-spirited jazz fan, he risks losing his party membership by associating with her rebellious crew.
A New York stockbroker refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration. Based on Jordan Belfort's autobiography.
In the early 1970s, Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (Andy Garcia) is torn between his own musical dreams and the dreams of his wife, Marianela (MÃa Maestro), a fervent supporter of the ideals of the Castro revolution. Also starring Charles S. Dutton as Dizzy Gillespie and José Zúñiga as Paquito D'Rivera, this gripping jazz biopic is at once a detailed portrait of a musician and a stinging critique
One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story was a 1978 made for TV movie telling the story of Ron LeFlore, a troubled Detroit youth who rose from Michigan prisons to star in Major League Baseball with the Detroit Tigers. The movie was based on LeFlore's autobiography, Breakout: From Prison to the Big Leagues.
It follows LeFlore from his heroin addiction, to his time in Michigan's Jackson State Penitentiary, and tells of his discovery in prison by Billy Martin, who was then the manager of the Detroit Tigers. The role of Ron LeFlore was played by LeVar Burton. Larry B. Scott portrayed Ron LeFlore's younger brother.
Former Detroit manager Billy Martin played himself, and former Tiger players Norm Cash, Bill Freehan, Al Kaline, and Jim Northrup also appeared as themselves. The movie first aired on CBS Television on September 26, 1978.
This sometimes confusing erotic drama about the incestuous relationship of a mother and daughter is based on the autobiography of Italian theater actress Piera Degli Esposti though it focuses more on her mother Eugenia (Hanna Schygulla).
This biographical drama, based on the late actress's autobiography, chronicles her attempts to rescue her drug addicted son while simultaneously trying to overcome her life-threatening cancer.
As bareknuckled boxing enters the modern era, brash extrovert Jim Corbett uses new rules and dazzlingly innovative footwork to rise to the top of the top of the boxing world.
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