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The Bargain Nexus - Paris Blues
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $57.70
Your Save: $ ( % )
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Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Starring: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier, Louis Armstrong, Diahann Carroll
Directed By: Martin Ritt
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302923056
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 6302923050
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: 1998-09-01
Running Time: 98
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1961-09-27
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Pleasant but uninvolving drama
Comment: Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier play US expatriates ,both jazz musicians,living and working in Paris .Newman is in Paris because he feels more able to grow musically in a European environment while Poitier is escaping racial prejudice in the US .They meet two US tourists and pair off together ,Newman with Joanne Woodward and Poityier with Diahann Carroll .Cue much -frankly rather dull-discourse between the couples in bars ,cafes etc and frequent leisurely perambulations around the city in which they talk(my how they do talk!)about life ,love and the whole damned thing!Carroll devotes much time to trying to persuade Poitier to return to America,while woodward does the same with Newman.
The problem for me with this movis is twofold-the dull maundering script by Jack Sher ,Irene Kamp and Walter Bernstein which tries to put a social consciousnes spin on what is pretty standard Hollywood material ;and Martin Ritt's direction.It almost seems as if he said "okay guys we are in Paris-let's do a Nouvelle Vague" movie -you know Truffaut and those cats ".The result is a movie with gestures to a European sensibility -and using a local crew -but one which is hafway between Hollywood and the Left Bank.
Too often scenes go nowhere and the movie meanders rather than moves with a sense of purpose .On the plus side it is well acted all round ,the Ellington score is a delight and the presence of jazz luminaries like Satchmo give proceedings a shot in the arm when the action starts to sag .This will I suspect appeal mostly to jazz lovers and Francophiles I applaud its jazz theme but as a movie I found it a bit lacking in grit.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great music
Comment:
Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier are two expatriot jazz musicians living in Paris; Newman is there to compose serious music and Poitier to escape from racial prejudice in the US. Along come Joanne Woodward and Diahann Carroll on vacation, and in a flash they're paired off and in love. Carroll wants Poitier to return to the US ("life is better there now for blacks," she says). Newman wants to go back to America with Woodward, but realizes that music is his whole life and must pursue it further in Paris on his own. Since it's a jazz movie there's the obligatory drug scene with one of the other musicians. The plot and the writing are not that strong, but Newman (in only his second featured role) is pretty good. And when things start to sag, on comes Louis Armstrong for a swinging jam session (can't beat that!). Duke Ellington is responsible for the great musical score. Murray MacEachern dubbed Newman's trombone work, and Paul Gonsalves did Poitier's tenor sax dubs.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Paris Blues - a defining moment
Comment: I moved to Paris in 2003. I am retired, black and american. Friends always asked ... why Paris? I kept saying, I vacationed in Paris but never found the moment until today...
I finally can identify when I first fell in love with Paris. It was when I was 10
years old and saw the movie Paris Blues. It starred Paul Newman and Joanne
Woodward but what struck me was it also starred Sidney Poitier and Diahann
Carroll, that was unheard off back then but I was too young to know. I still
remember a scene with Diahann Carroll wearing this coat. It was then that a quiet seed was planted inside me to love Paris. I don't recall who was with me that day, I just remember the film and I remember wishing it would come on television; I have no memory of seeing it again.
What made it standout was that they Poitier and Carroll were featured in
roles equal to Newman and Woodward. I never forgot that movie, it is truly
the reason I fell in Love with Paris. Later, I went to the little store
across from our place at 16th & Ridge and discovered a cheap perfume called ,
Evening in Paris, incredible. I tear up with this memory. I was somehow able to come up with the money to buy a bottle. A defining moment! Please, where and when can I find the DVD: The movie comes on Paris TV today at 11h25 and I will be watching.
Paulette
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dreamy & Sad
Comment: Having lived in Paris for awhile, I was drawn to watching the film. It was great to see something made in the period when American jazz was popular in Paris, in the 50s-60s. I always love seeing the scenes in Paris, a city that never seems to change appearance--when you've lived there, it's always interesting to realize that you've only seen it in a long line of others who have parallel experiences. The film is a bit slow, but still worth seeing. The racial discussions and the fact that black Americans are portrayed as regular people with personal lives and complete personalities--as opposed to seeing them as racial stereotypes or the symbolic embodiment of...whatever--is refeshing. Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, and Dhianne Carroll are very effective--more so than Joanne Woodward. Woodward seems a bit stoic and unenergetic for this role. The music in the film is wonderful in itself, and seeing a glimpse into French and American jazz culture is interesting. My only real criticism is that the film is a bit slow and lacks enough verve to be truly compelling. If one wasn't interested in Paris or jazz, I'm not sure how interested one would be. I liked it, but I love those aspects of it too.
One French critic on IMDB said he is troubled by the fact that American films set in Paris tend to make a post card out of Paris--they always deal with lovers, art, or music. I can see that a bit in this film, but as an American, I have to admit that I also--sorry--enjoy some of the dreamy aspects of the city. When I was there I studied art too. Alas, I may be predictable, but I think Paris is a beautiful and mesmerizing city too.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The elusive frontier!
Comment: The bliss against the love : two musicians in search of the fame and glory. Two women in love who suddenly find the love of their lives in the middle of the Light City.
Paris the same city which opened its arms to Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis among others jazz celebrities.
Ritt makes an exceptional tour de force film with impeccable performances of all the cast. The supreme highlight is the casual encounter between Satchmo, Poitier, Newman and the gypsy guitarrist.
A must for any lover cinema and a reference for the jazz hard fans.
What will they be waiting for the immediat release on DVD format?
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