Download Lady Sings the Blues movie

Lady Sings the Blues is a semi-factual 1972 film about jazz singer Billie Holiday loosely based on her 1956 autobiography which, in turn, took its title from one of Holiday's most popular songs. It was produced by Motown Productions for Paramount Pictures. Diana Ross portrayed Holiday, alongside a cast including Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan and Scatman Crothers.

The movie was adapted by Chris Clark, Suzanne de Passe and Terence McCloy from the book by William Dufty and Billie Holiday. It was directed by Sidney J. Furie.

It was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning none. [1] The nominations were for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Diana Ross), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Carl Anderson, Reg Allen), Best Costume Design, Best Music, Original Song Score and Adaptation (Gil Askey) and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced.[2] The film was also screened at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, but wasn't entered into the main competition.[3]

The same year, Motown released a successful soundtrack double-album of Ross' recordings of Billie Holiday songs from the film, also titled Lady Sings the Blues. The album became one of the Number-one albums of 1973 (U.S.) in the Billboard Hot 200 Album Charts,[4] in the weeks of April 7 and 14, 1973.

The film opens in 1936, New York City, where Billie Holiday (Diana Ross) is being placed under arrest at the NYPD police station, Billie is then finger-printed, covered into a straight jacket and is locked up in a jail cell. The film then flashes back to 1928, where a woman calls Billie by her actual name, "Eleanora". During these events, Billie has a encounter with a rapist (Harry Caesar), until a madame (Isabel Sanford) witnesses this and throws him out onto the streets. Billie then skips home to her Aunt Ida's (Lynn Hamilton) house, with Ida and her children, demanding that Billie cleans up the house, after Aunt Ida and her children leave, Billie (who accidentally leaves the door open), puts on a record, and looks at herself in the mirror, only to find the rapist has followed her home, then Billie, who tries to retaliate, goes to her room, and tries to leave, until the rapist comes, throws her on her bed, covers her face, and rapes her.

Followed by the incident, Billie's mother, Mama Holiday (Virginia Capers), who is working as a housekeeper for a wealthy family, is seen speaking to a butler (Jester Hairston), with whom she is best friends with. Billie is then escorted to the house with a police officer, and then cries out that she came all the way to see her. Mama Holiday feeds Billie, and set up a job to clean at a brothel in the Harlem section of New York City. The brothel itself is run by an arrogant, selfish owner named Ms. Edson (Paulene Myers), who gives Billie a very small paycheck ($4 an hour), and starting Billie's career.

One night, Billie sneaks into a nightclub/bar with black showgirls, owned by Reg Hanley (James T. Callahan), who tries to rid of Billie, who claims that she that she knows every single song out to date, then she sees Louis McKay (Billy Dee Williams), he smiles at her, then a guard comes, picks Billie up and kicks out her out of the nightclub.

One day, when Billie is all alone in her room, Ms. Edson sends up a well-known"customer", nicknamed "Big Ben" (Scatman Crothers), who tries to get Billie in bed with him. Billie, who is dressed in all-yellow dress with a 1920s-style hat, leaves as she states "Sorry. I've just quit the business". Billie is then fired on her way out the door, beginning Billie's famed career as a jazz singer.

Billie heads across the street, to the club she was once kicked out of, and auditions with the showgirls, Billie, who does not quite catch up with the girls' dancing moves, is told to leave by Reg. Billie then speaks to a man, who becomes her best friend; Piano Man (Richard Pryor), who plays the song "All of Me", Reg then witnesses her talent for singing, and books her for a show, beginning Billie's career as a singer.

The film continues on with Billie's debut at the nightclub, as she (nervously) sings a slow jazz ballad (to which, the audience, predominately, African American does not find entertaining and boos her.), then Louis, who surprisingly arrives at Billie's debut, takes his hand out with $5 dollar bill, as he romantically (and sarcastically) replies, "Do you want my arm to fall off?". Billie, then takes the dollar, and sings "Them There Eyes". Louis mysteriously disappears during Billie's set.

After the show ends, Billie receives a bigger paycheck, and flowers given by Reg Hanley, but sent from Louis to Billie. Louis, however, asks her out on a date to a fancy restaurant, which Billie rejects, but they do go out on a date. Billie starts to take a liking into Louis, and begins a secret life: becoming a heroin addict. Eventually, she is discovered by two men: Harry (Paul Hampton) and Jerry (Sid Melton), who sign her to Decca Records.

Towards the end of the 1930s, onto the early 1940s, Holiday becomes a world-renowned jazz singer and big-time celebrity, at the height of her success, Billie experiences an overwhelming, and fateful moment, when Billie is in the South, and runs on top of a hill for some fresh air, witnesses the lynching of an African-American man, pressing her to record one the most controversial songs in history ("Strange Fruit"), along with another scene, which included a headline tour with Billie singing a few lyrics to "You're Mean to Me", only to faint in front of a live audience of a thousand.

Cast

• Diana Ross - Billie Holiday
• Billy Dee Williams - Louis McKay
• Richard Pryor - Piano Man
• James T. Callahan - Reg Hanley (as James Callahan)
• Paul Hampton - Harry
• Sid Melton - Jerry
• Virginia Capers - Mama Holiday
• Yvonne Fair - Yvonne
• Isabel Sanford - The Madame
• Tracee Lyles - The Prostitute
• Ned Glass - The Agent
• Milton Selzer - The Doctor
• Norman Bartold - The Detective #1
• Clay Tanner - The Detective #2
• Jester Hairston - The Butler

35 Comments »

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The movie was unfortunately not as good as Diana Ross.

The first question that would run across the mind of anyone who'd watch
this movie is: "Can Diana Ross act?" The answer, I'm glad to say, is an
unequivocal "Yes." And I think that's what the director wanted to clear
up right from the very first scene, with a flash forward to Billie
Holiday's drug bust while the credits were still on. Ms. Ross, devoid
of make-up and with "crazy hair," put on an extremely convincing
performance of heroic (or coke) withdrawal, replete with howling.Her performance is the highlight of the movie, which unfortunately felt
like it ran way too long, and I found myself constantly checking the
run time. It wasn't bad as a musical. As I had read previously, Ms.
Ross didn't seek to imitate Billie Holiday's style, and instead created
a distinct and appropriate – yet similar – jazz style of her own just
for the movie (check out "Good Morning Heartache"), and I, being a fan,
didn't mind the song interludes.What dragged the movie was the constant focus on Holiday's drug
addiction (to showcase more of Ms. Ross's acting?). It felt like there
was scene after scene of her being drug-addled, whining, and screaming,
which began to abrade after a while. It's too bad, since with better
direction and screenplay, coupled with Ms. Ross's capable acting and
singing, this could've been one of the truly great musical biopics.

Lawson from Singapore - 27 May 2009

Fell in Love at 10 years old

I can remember watching this movie multiple times with my father. As a
young black girl I got it!!! I've read opinions that criticize the fact
that the movie didn't focus on the music or the other artist of the
time. The point is. . .get ready. It was an autobiographical account of
Billie's life.I can remember seeing the movie and actually being moved to go to the
library to check out a book to find out who this lady really was. I
think Diana did a damn good job putting her artistic touch to
portraying Billie's life, her struggles, vices, love and yes, her
music. The fact is, is that the movie wasn't about Billie's making of
jazz as it was about the struggles of a young black woman with a
passion for singing moved by segregation and Jim crow and having to
constantly adjust and reinvent herself to cope in a society that loved
and hated her all at the same time.Heavy. I'm not partial to Diana Ross one way or another. But the lady's
got skills. And if the emotion she put into playing this role wasn't
enough to tug at your heartstrings, then you ain't human.Some say the film lacked non continuity. Such is life. I get it. We
were made to reflect on where she had been in order to know how she got
to be who she was. This movie while of course jazz inspired and
musical, was a deeper reflection into the cracks and fissures that
shaped a life. Billie Holiday.I thank my father for his love of good movies and for sharing movies
like, "Lady Sings the Blues" with me.I'm out! Peace.

chileflower from United States - 29 March 2009

Drama/Romance fans might enjoy but Billie fans better buy a book!

Even with little knowledge about Billie Holiday's life, watching this
movie one soon begins to realize, that it is not a biopic about one of
the greatest jazz singers of all times. They obviously just used her
name to gain more attention.If you can forget that, you see a story about the life of a fictional
jazz singer in the 40s. There are some similarities to Billie's life:
the prostitution and the drug abuse and a bit of racism. But everything
is smoothed down and the core of the movie is the love story between
the singer and her husband, the love of her life. It even has a happy
ending: the successful concert in Carnegie Hall with the audience
applauding and the singer happy, her husband proud and the manager
smelling the dollars.As a drama/romance for the mass(or Oscar) market, the movie works well
and Diana Ross' performance is surprisingly good and in the more tragic
scenes she even managed to give it some deepness. Billy Dee Williams
looks sharp and plays his part as the caring husband convincingly.
Richard Pryor unfortunately tried to improvise his role and failed.Drama/romance fans might enjoy but Billie fans better buy a book.

Matt Scrumb from Switzerland - 17 January 2009

A quite good movie, but……

This would be a truly great film if it weren't supposed to tell the
story and convey the musical greatness of Billie Holiday. For
entertainment and for a picture of life for black musicians of the time
this is indeed good. But this was supposed to give us Billie Holiday's
story and that story still remains to be depicted on the screen Diane
Ross did prove herself as a worthy actress in this and it's sad that
this movie remains as the only one of hers that showed her in that
light. However, this remains a high quality fictional story of a
fascinating fictional black singer. It has its great scenes.So I stand with an 8/10 rating of this as a film. And I recommend this
as a film. But sadly, I can not recommend it as a depiction of one of
the great blues singers of all time. Maybe someday such a movie about
the very real Billie Holiday will be made.

SeventyFiveYearOldGuy from United States - 12 March 2008

Lady Sings the Blues was an enjoyable Holiday biopic starring Ms. Ross

In continuing my reviews of African-Americans in film in chronological
order for Black History Month, we're now at 1972 with the biographical
depiction of Billie Holliday as portrayed by Diana Ross called Lady
Sings the Blues. While the movie itself isn't very accurate in
recounting Lady Day's life and career and Ms. Ross herself hardly
resembles the legendary singer, it does move along nicely as a drama
especially with two of her costars-Billy Dee Williams and Richard
Pryor-providing many scene stealing moments. As Holiday's lover Louis
McKay, Williams oozes great romantic chemistry with Ross as we see him
trying to get her out of whatever addictions she keeps coming back to.
Then there's Pryor as Piano Man as we see many of his humorous moments,
with or without Diana, bring some needed levity whenever things get
heavy though there's some good drama concerning him at the end. Other
black performers I'd like to mention include: Isabel Sandford as the
first madame that Holiday encounters as we see her tell Billie she can
keep the record she keeps playing. She was already familiar to TV
viewers as Louise Jefferson on "All in the Family" which would later
spin her off into "The Jeffersons". Then there's Lynn Hamilton as the
second madame Ross encounters. Ms. Hamilton would later that year or
next become familiar as Fred Sandford's girlfriend Donna Harris on
"Sandford and Son". Harry Caesar plays a really creepy man who forces
himself on teenage Billie in perhaps the movie's most chilling scene.
There's also Jester Hairston-later familiar to me as Rolly on "Amen"-as
a butler and, in perhaps the most humorous scene, Scatman Crothers as
Big Ben, a client that prostitute Billie quits on to go audition at a
night club. Ms. Ross was the second (or third since Cicely Tyson was
also nominated that year for Sounder) African-American to be nominated
an Oscar for Best Actress after Dorothy Dandridge's previous nod some
18 years before. It was much deserved especially with the drug-induced
depictions handled realistically by her. The songs Holiday made famous
are handled by Diana in a way that brings you back to the period
depicted here. When the score plays during the Ross-Williams dialogue,
however, it brings me temporarily out of the period and into the
obviously-made-in-'70s mode. Other than that I highly enjoyed Lady
Sings the Blues and recommend it to anyone who loves a good drama with
good music.

tavm from Baton Rouge, La. - 23 February 2008

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