Just piped this movie into my computer through Netflix. I'd never seen it before, though I knew it was absolutely saturated with blues. I was astonished by Samuel L Jackson's fantastic brute-force blues vocals. But what astonished me even more...as I researched the movie on imdb (don't you just love that site?), I found that Jackson spent 6 months learning to play blues guitar just for this film. I'm sure this is old news to a lot of you, but this is incredible to me and I now have a new soundtrack to add to my favorites, especially since Memphis Charlie is on it as well.
Another tidbit, Cedric Burnside and Kenny Brown, the members of Lazarus' band, are the grandchildren of R.L. Burnside. They played in his band while he toured up until his death in 2005. On a side note, features of Lazarus (played by Samuel L. Jackson), such as his hair and his history with the Juke Joint, are remarkably similar to Burnside's. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
I enjoyed the movie but found the Stack-O-Lee scene (although bad ass) out of character for a "God fearing Bluesman" therefore it felt forced or included only because it was too cool to leave out. But eye candy called Christina Ricci more than made up for one misplaced scene. ----------
Busted!! I live in the Detroit area, and while our football team was in a decades-long slump, I stole this song, wrote new lyrics and called it the "Bill Ford Moan." Bill Ford is the owner of the Lions. I similarly defiled Hootchie-Cootchie Man and White Boy Lost in the Blues.
I'm from Bloomfield Hills, W. Bloomfield, Livonia, Farmington Hills and finally Royal Oak when I lived there - 1968 thru 1999. Now residing in GA. ---------- The Iceman
That was a great band RL had with Cedric and Kenny Brown. Prolly my favorite blues show of all time way back when they showed up with Paul Wine Jones as the opener. Those guys introduced the hill country sound to NYC at Manny's Car Was back in the early 90's. The place was roaring. Been hooked ever since.
OK, you guys can eat your hearts out, but I know Christina Ricci' body double for that movie. She is the one in all the cool scenes that you guys are talking about. In fact, I was at a wedding, for her sister, this past October in Destin Florida on the beach, and we ha a bonfire on the beach at night, with a miniature Jam Session (Guitrar, Bongos, and me on Harmonica) with everyone getting pretty loose ard carefree in a hippie sort of way, if you know what I mean. Pretty Cool. ----------
I agree that the plot of the movie was kinda lame. And putting Justin Timberlake in that kind of role was a mistake of the first order. But as you said, the music was fantastic, and Samuel L. Jackson got to reveal his musical side. That was good to see him in a role that was more than just "Motherf^ckin' snakes on this motherf^ckin' plane" or "Say what again! Say what again!" Hope he gets a chance to do something like it again in the future. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
Ricci's problem is that she often gets typecasted into these skanky roles. But she is a really good actress overall, and pretty easy on the eyes off screen. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
@jonsparrow: Well, what MY date looks like seems to me to be quite another question. But if you must know my (recently divorced) wife was a true beauty. And those exist outside the "super model" or movie star worlds, believe it or not (and not only here in Sweden). My point about C Ricci is that hadn´t she been a movie star nobody would think of her a "beautiful". It´s the same kind of phenomenon as with Madonna: a whole world was deluded into thinking that this brat was beautiful. It´s a smart media construct.
no i would classify cristina ricci as "beautiful". i would call her "hot". but i like hot girls. you dont have to treat them as nice as a "beautiful woman". ----------
