Chronicles the rise of Chess Records and its recording artists.Chronicles the rise of Chess Records and its recording artists.Chronicles the rise of Chess Records and its recording artists.
- Awards
- 6 wins & 22 nominations
Beyoncé
- Etta James
- (as Beyoncé Knowles)
Josh Alscher
- Mick Jagger
- (as Joshua Alscher)
Tim Bellow
- Man in the Caddy
- (as Timothy Bellow)
Cedric The Entertainer
- Willie Dixon
- (as Cedric the Entertainer)
Sean Shyboy Davis
- Toothless Hillbilly Little Walter
- (as Sean Davis)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaLeonard Chess' brother, Philip, was his partner in both the nightclub and Chess Records. However, Philip is never mentioned throughout this movie, and only appears in Chess Records scenes.
- GoofsEveryone at Chess Records drives a '57 Cadillac, in 1955.
- Quotes
Muddy Waters: You and me not gonna wake up every morning and get everything we want. Mostly we got to take what come. And half the time, that's gonna be a bunch of bullshit.
- Crazy creditsThe fanfare's timing in the TriStar Pictures logo is off and is out of sync, but the logo is seen in an extra tint of blue.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Golden Globe Awards (2009)
- SoundtracksI'm a Man
Performed by Jeffrey Wright
Written by Bo Diddley (as Ellas McDaniel)
Published by Arc Music Corp.
Featured review
Excellent film.....needed more Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry was the greatest pioneer in Rock 'N' Roll history. He is ranked by Rolling Stone Mag as the 5th greatest performer in its history. He wrote music and lyrics that will live forever, played a tremendous guitar (Rolling Stone Mag lists his as number 6th in their top 100 guitar players list) and sang real well. I wish this film would have concentrated more on him.
I read that Beyonce' gained 15 pounds to play Etta James and weighed in at 135 pounds. Etta James at one time, believe it or not I checked this out, weighed over 400 pounds.
The intent and sincerity of the director and writer was superb, but this film was somewhat flawed with inconsistencies. They had Chuck Berry singing "No Particular Place to Go" at the beginning of his stardom in the mid 1950s.
Actually he recorded this hit record in 1962. In the film Berry sang "Promised Land," a super song but a non hit that never made the top 40. Why did they not have Chuck Berry sing his great hit songs such as "roll over Beethoven," "School Days," "Sweet Little 16," "Rock 'N' Roll Music," "Back in the USA" or "Johnny B Goode"? Also, Leonard Cress never, according to famed music critic George Varga, had an affair with Etta James, and the degree to which Leonard Cress cheated and exploited his musicians was not dealt with.
Ralph Bass, who was not in the film, not Cress produced Etta James' recording sessions and Cress Record mainstays Bo Didley and John Lee Hooker were missing from the film. I do, nevertheless, highly recommend this film and would rate it a 3 on a zero to 4 star scale.
I read that Beyonce' gained 15 pounds to play Etta James and weighed in at 135 pounds. Etta James at one time, believe it or not I checked this out, weighed over 400 pounds.
The intent and sincerity of the director and writer was superb, but this film was somewhat flawed with inconsistencies. They had Chuck Berry singing "No Particular Place to Go" at the beginning of his stardom in the mid 1950s.
Actually he recorded this hit record in 1962. In the film Berry sang "Promised Land," a super song but a non hit that never made the top 40. Why did they not have Chuck Berry sing his great hit songs such as "roll over Beethoven," "School Days," "Sweet Little 16," "Rock 'N' Roll Music," "Back in the USA" or "Johnny B Goode"? Also, Leonard Cress never, according to famed music critic George Varga, had an affair with Etta James, and the degree to which Leonard Cress cheated and exploited his musicians was not dealt with.
Ralph Bass, who was not in the film, not Cress produced Etta James' recording sessions and Cress Record mainstays Bo Didley and John Lee Hooker were missing from the film. I do, nevertheless, highly recommend this film and would rate it a 3 on a zero to 4 star scale.
helpful•55
- mauricebarringer
- Dec 12, 2008
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $12,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $8,195,551
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,445,559
- Dec 7, 2008
- Gross worldwide
- $8,883,644
- Runtime1 hour 49 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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