Mo' Better Blues
Encyclopedia
Mo' Better Blues is a 1990 drama film
starring Denzel Washington
, Wesley Snipes
, and Spike Lee
, who also directed. It follows a period in the life of a fictional jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam (played by Washington) as a series of bad decisions result in his jeopardizing both his relationships and his playing career. The film focuses on themes of friendship, loyalty, honesty, cause-and-effect and ultimately salvation. It features the music of the Branford Marsalis
quartet and Terence Blanchard
on trumpet. The film was released five months after the death of Robin Harris
and is dedicated to his memory.
The next scene brings us to the present (over twenty years later), with an adult Bleek (Denzel Washington
) performing on the trumpet at a busy nightclub with his jazz band, The Bleek Quintet (Jeff "Tain" Watts, Wesley Snipes
, Giancarlo Esposito
and Bill Nunn
). Giant (Spike Lee
, one of his boyhood friends from the previous scene), is waiting in the wings, and advises him to stop allowing his saxophone
player Shadow Henderson (Snipes) to grandstand with long solos.
The next morning Bleek wakes up with his girlfriend, Indigo Downes (Joie Lee
). She leaves to go to class, while he meets his father by the Brooklyn Bridge for a game of catch, telling him that while he does like Indigo, he likes other women too and is not ready to make a commitment. Later in the day while he is practicing his trumpet, another woman named Clarke Bentancourt (Cynda Williams
) visits him. She suggests he fire Giant as his manager; he suggests that they make love (which he refers to as “mo’ better”). She bites his lip and he becomes upset about it, saying, "I make my living with my lips," as he examines the bleeding bottom lip.
Giant is with his bookie, betting on baseball. Then he goes to the nightclub and argues with the doormen about what time to let the patrons into the club. He meets Bleek inside with the rest of the band, except for the pianist, Left Hand Lacey (Esposito), who arrives late with his French girlfriend and is scolded by Giant. Later Giant goes to the club owners’ office, points out how busy the club has been since Bleek and his band began playing there, and unsuccessfully attempts to renegotiate their contract.
Giant meets his bookie (Ruben Blades
) the next morning, who is concerned that Giant is going too deep into debt. Giant shrugs it off, and places several new bets. He then stops off at Shadow's home to drop off a record. Shadow confides in him that he is cheating on his girlfriend. This leads to the next scene where Bleek is in bed with Clarke, and she asks him to let her sing a number at the club with his band, to which he declines.
Bleek and Giant are fending off requests from the other members of the band, especially Shadow, for a raise due to the band’s success at the club. Bleek goes to the club owners to see about more money, which they refuse, reminding him that it was Giant who locked him into the current deal.
That night at the club, both Clarke and Indigo arrive at the club to see Bleek. They are wearing the same style dress, which Bleek had purchased for them both. Bleek attempts to work it out with each girl, but they are both upset with him over the dresses, and though he sleeps with them each again they leave him (after he calls each of them by the others' name). However, tension rises with Shadow, who has feelings for Clarke.
Bleek and Giant go for a bike ride, where Bleek insists to Giant that he do a better job managing and bringing in money. Giant promises to do so, then asks Bleek for a loan to pay off his gambling debt. Bleek declines, and later Giant is apprehended by two loan sharks (Samuel L. Jackson
and Leonard L. Thomas) who demand payment. Giant can’t pay and gets his fingers broken. Later Giant tells Bleek that he fell off his bike on the ride home, but Bleek does not believe him. Giant asks the other band members for money and Left loans him five hundred dollars. When loan sharks stake out Giant’s home, he goes to Bleek for a place to stay. Bleek agrees to help him raise the money, but fires him as manager.
Bleek misses both his girlfriends, leaving messages for each, but Clarke has begun a new relationship with Shadow. Bleek finds out about it, and fires Shadow. The loan sharks track Giant down at the club before Bleek can come up with the money, take him outside and beat him while Bleek plays. Bleek goes outside to intervene, and gets beaten as well. Additionally, one loan shark (Samuel L. Jackson
) takes Bleek's own trumpet, and smacks him across the face with it. This not only puts Bleek in the hospital, but it also permanently injures his lip, making him unable to continue playing trumpet.
Months later, Bleek reunites with Giant, who has gotten a job as a doorman and stopped gambling. He drops into see Shadow and Clarke, who are now performing together with the rest of Bleek’s former band. Shadow invites him on stage, and they play together. Bleek still has scars to his lips, and is unable to play correctly. He walks off the stage, gives his trumpet to Giant, and goes directly to Indigo’s house. She is angry with him because she hasn’t heard from him in over a year. She tries to reject him, but agrees to take him back when he begs her to save his life.
A montage flashes through their wedding, the birth of their son, Miles, and Bleek teaching his son to play the trumpet. In the final scene of the movie, Miles is ten years old, and wants to go outside to play with his friends. Indigo wants him to finish practicing his trumpet lessons. However, unlike the (almost identical) opening scene in the beginning of the film, Bleek relents and allows his son to leave and play with friends. This final scene uses exactly the same dialogue as the first, with changes only in the delivery of the dialogue leading to an alternate conclusion.
and Terence Blanchard
.
In 1991, the soundtrack was nominated for a Soul Train Music Award for Best Jazz Album, but lost to saxophonist Najee
for "Tokyo Blue".
Lee eventually responded in an editorial in The New York Times
, alleging "a double standard at work in the accusations of anti-Semitism" given the long history of negative portrayals of African-Americans in film: "Not every black person is a pimp, murderer, prostitute, convict, rapist or drug addict, but that hasn't stopped Hollywood from writing these roles for African-Americans". Lee argues that even if the Flatbush brothers are stereotyped figures, their "10 minutes of screen time" is insignificant when compared to "100 years of Hollywood cinema... [and] a slew of really racist, anti-Semitic filmmakers". According to Lee, his status as a successful African-American artist has led to hostility and unfair treatment: "Don't hold me to a higher moral standard than the rest of my filmmaking colleagues... Now that young black filmmakers have arisen in the film industry, all of a sudden stereotypes are a big issue... I think it's reaching the point where I'm getting reviewed, not my films."
Ultimately, however, Lee refuses to apologize for his portrayal of the Flatbush brothers: "I stand behind all my work, including my characters, Moe and Josh Flatbush... if critics are telling me that to avoid charges of anti-Semitism, all Jewish characters I write have to be model citizens, and not one can be a villain, cheat or a crook, and that no Jewish people have ever exploited black artists in the history of the entertainment industry, that's unrealistic and unfair."
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
starring Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
, Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Trent Snipes is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist, who has starred in numerous action films, thrillers, and dramatic feature films. Snipes is known for playing the Marvel Comics character Blade in the Blade film trilogy, among various other high profile roles...
, and Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
, who also directed. It follows a period in the life of a fictional jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam (played by Washington) as a series of bad decisions result in his jeopardizing both his relationships and his playing career. The film focuses on themes of friendship, loyalty, honesty, cause-and-effect and ultimately salvation. It features the music of the Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque.-Biography:Marsalis was born...
quartet and Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
on trumpet. The film was released five months after the death of Robin Harris
Robin Harris
Robin Hughes Harris was an American comedian and actor, known for his recurring comic sketch about Bébé's Kids.-Childhood:...
and is dedicated to his memory.
Plot
The film begins with a scene set in Brooklyn, New York in 1969. A group of four boys walk up to Bleek Gilliam’s brownstone and ask him to come out and play baseball with them. Bleek's mother insists that he continue his trumpet lesson, to his chagrin. His father becomes concerned that Bleek will grow up to be a sissy, and a family argument ensues. In the end, Bleek continues playing his trumpet, and his friends go away.The next scene brings us to the present (over twenty years later), with an adult Bleek (Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
) performing on the trumpet at a busy nightclub with his jazz band, The Bleek Quintet (Jeff "Tain" Watts, Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Trent Snipes is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist, who has starred in numerous action films, thrillers, and dramatic feature films. Snipes is known for playing the Marvel Comics character Blade in the Blade film trilogy, among various other high profile roles...
, Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Esposito
Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito is a Danish-born American film and television actor and director.-Early life:Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to an Italian father and African-American mother. His mother was an opera and nightclub singer from Alabama, who once appeared on the same...
and Bill Nunn
Bill Nunn
-Early life:Nunn was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of William G. Nunn, Jr., a well-known journalist and editor at the Pittsburgh Courier, as well as an NFL scout. Nunn's paternal grandfather was the first African American football player at George Westinghouse High School.Nunn was a...
). Giant (Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
, one of his boyhood friends from the previous scene), is waiting in the wings, and advises him to stop allowing his saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
player Shadow Henderson (Snipes) to grandstand with long solos.
The next morning Bleek wakes up with his girlfriend, Indigo Downes (Joie Lee
Joie Lee
Joie Susannah Lee is an American screenwriter, film producer and actress. She has appeared in many of the films directed by her brother, Spike Lee, including She's Gotta Have It , School Daze , Do the Right Thing , and Mo' Better Blues...
). She leaves to go to class, while he meets his father by the Brooklyn Bridge for a game of catch, telling him that while he does like Indigo, he likes other women too and is not ready to make a commitment. Later in the day while he is practicing his trumpet, another woman named Clarke Bentancourt (Cynda Williams
Cynda Williams
Cynda Williams is an American television and film actress.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois as Cynthia Williams, she was known by her birth name of Cindy Williams until she started her film career...
) visits him. She suggests he fire Giant as his manager; he suggests that they make love (which he refers to as “mo’ better”). She bites his lip and he becomes upset about it, saying, "I make my living with my lips," as he examines the bleeding bottom lip.
Giant is with his bookie, betting on baseball. Then he goes to the nightclub and argues with the doormen about what time to let the patrons into the club. He meets Bleek inside with the rest of the band, except for the pianist, Left Hand Lacey (Esposito), who arrives late with his French girlfriend and is scolded by Giant. Later Giant goes to the club owners’ office, points out how busy the club has been since Bleek and his band began playing there, and unsuccessfully attempts to renegotiate their contract.
Giant meets his bookie (Ruben Blades
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, lawyer, actor, Latin jazz musician, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz genres...
) the next morning, who is concerned that Giant is going too deep into debt. Giant shrugs it off, and places several new bets. He then stops off at Shadow's home to drop off a record. Shadow confides in him that he is cheating on his girlfriend. This leads to the next scene where Bleek is in bed with Clarke, and she asks him to let her sing a number at the club with his band, to which he declines.
Bleek and Giant are fending off requests from the other members of the band, especially Shadow, for a raise due to the band’s success at the club. Bleek goes to the club owners to see about more money, which they refuse, reminding him that it was Giant who locked him into the current deal.
That night at the club, both Clarke and Indigo arrive at the club to see Bleek. They are wearing the same style dress, which Bleek had purchased for them both. Bleek attempts to work it out with each girl, but they are both upset with him over the dresses, and though he sleeps with them each again they leave him (after he calls each of them by the others' name). However, tension rises with Shadow, who has feelings for Clarke.
Bleek and Giant go for a bike ride, where Bleek insists to Giant that he do a better job managing and bringing in money. Giant promises to do so, then asks Bleek for a loan to pay off his gambling debt. Bleek declines, and later Giant is apprehended by two loan sharks (Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
and Leonard L. Thomas) who demand payment. Giant can’t pay and gets his fingers broken. Later Giant tells Bleek that he fell off his bike on the ride home, but Bleek does not believe him. Giant asks the other band members for money and Left loans him five hundred dollars. When loan sharks stake out Giant’s home, he goes to Bleek for a place to stay. Bleek agrees to help him raise the money, but fires him as manager.
Bleek misses both his girlfriends, leaving messages for each, but Clarke has begun a new relationship with Shadow. Bleek finds out about it, and fires Shadow. The loan sharks track Giant down at the club before Bleek can come up with the money, take him outside and beat him while Bleek plays. Bleek goes outside to intervene, and gets beaten as well. Additionally, one loan shark (Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
) takes Bleek's own trumpet, and smacks him across the face with it. This not only puts Bleek in the hospital, but it also permanently injures his lip, making him unable to continue playing trumpet.
Months later, Bleek reunites with Giant, who has gotten a job as a doorman and stopped gambling. He drops into see Shadow and Clarke, who are now performing together with the rest of Bleek’s former band. Shadow invites him on stage, and they play together. Bleek still has scars to his lips, and is unable to play correctly. He walks off the stage, gives his trumpet to Giant, and goes directly to Indigo’s house. She is angry with him because she hasn’t heard from him in over a year. She tries to reject him, but agrees to take him back when he begs her to save his life.
A montage flashes through their wedding, the birth of their son, Miles, and Bleek teaching his son to play the trumpet. In the final scene of the movie, Miles is ten years old, and wants to go outside to play with his friends. Indigo wants him to finish practicing his trumpet lessons. However, unlike the (almost identical) opening scene in the beginning of the film, Bleek relents and allows his son to leave and play with friends. This final scene uses exactly the same dialogue as the first, with changes only in the delivery of the dialogue leading to an alternate conclusion.
Cast
- Denzel WashingtonDenzel WashingtonDenzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
— Bleek Gilliam - Spike LeeSpike LeeShelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
— Giant - Wesley SnipesWesley SnipesWesley Trent Snipes is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist, who has starred in numerous action films, thrillers, and dramatic feature films. Snipes is known for playing the Marvel Comics character Blade in the Blade film trilogy, among various other high profile roles...
— Shadow Henderson - Joie LeeJoie LeeJoie Susannah Lee is an American screenwriter, film producer and actress. She has appeared in many of the films directed by her brother, Spike Lee, including She's Gotta Have It , School Daze , Do the Right Thing , and Mo' Better Blues...
— Indigo Downes - Cynda WilliamsCynda WilliamsCynda Williams is an American television and film actress.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois as Cynthia Williams, she was known by her birth name of Cindy Williams until she started her film career...
— Clarke Bentancourt - Giancarlo EspositoGiancarlo EspositoGiancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito is a Danish-born American film and television actor and director.-Early life:Esposito was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to an Italian father and African-American mother. His mother was an opera and nightclub singer from Alabama, who once appeared on the same...
— Left Hand Lacey - Bill NunnBill Nunn-Early life:Nunn was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of William G. Nunn, Jr., a well-known journalist and editor at the Pittsburgh Courier, as well as an NFL scout. Nunn's paternal grandfather was the first African American football player at George Westinghouse High School.Nunn was a...
— Bottom Hammer - Jeff "Tain" Watts — Rhythm Jones
- Dick Anthony WilliamsDick Anthony WilliamsDick Anthony Williams is an American actor. Williams is known for his starring performances on Broadway in The Poison Tree, What the Wine-Sellers Buy and Black Picture Show. He is also remembered for playing the character of Pretty Tony in The Mack, which starred Max Julien and Richard Pryor...
— Big Stop Williams - John TurturroJohn TurturroJohn Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing , Miller's Crossing , Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers film series...
— Moe Flatbush - Nicholas TurturroNicholas TurturroNicholas Turturro, Jr. is an American film, television and prolific on-stage character actor, perhaps best known for his role as James Martinez, on NYPD Blue from 1993 to 2000.-Early life:...
— Josh Flatbush - Robin HarrisRobin HarrisRobin Hughes Harris was an American comedian and actor, known for his recurring comic sketch about Bébé's Kids.-Childhood:...
— Butterbean Jones - Samuel L. JacksonSamuel L. JacksonSamuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
— Madlock - Leonard L. Thomas — Rod
- Charlie MurphyCharlie MurphyCharles Quinton "Charlie" Murphy is an American actor, comedian, and writer notable as being a cast member and writer on the Comedy Central sketch-comedy series Chappelle's Show...
— Eggy - Coati MundiCoati MundiCoati Mundi is the stage name of American musician Andy Hernandez, percussionist, notably playing the vibraphone, and member of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, then of Kid Creole and the Coconuts. He scored the Top 40 UK hit "Me No Pop I" in 1981, just before the release of Tropical Gangsters...
— Roberto
Soundtrack
The soundtrack to the film was composed and played by Branford Marsalis QuartetBranford Marsalis Quartet
-Current members:*Branford Marsalis – saxophones*Joey Calderazzo - piano*Eric Revis - bass*Justin Faulkner - Drums -Past members:*Jeff "Tain" Watts - Drums *Kenny Kirkland - Piano *Robert Hurst - Bass...
and Terence Blanchard
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard is an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. Since he emerged on the scene in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and then shortly thereafter with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Blanchard has been a leading artist in jazz...
.
In 1991, the soundtrack was nominated for a Soul Train Music Award for Best Jazz Album, but lost to saxophonist Najee
Najee
Jerome Najee Rasheed , known professionally as Najee, is an urban jazz saxophonist and flautist.He attended New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where he studied with George Russell and Jaki Byard....
for "Tokyo Blue".
- "Harlem Blues" (vocals: Cynda WilliamsCynda WilliamsCynda Williams is an American television and film actress.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois as Cynthia Williams, she was known by her birth name of Cindy Williams until she started her film career...
) 4:50 - "Say Hey" 3:18
- "Knocked Out the Box" 1:35
- "Again, Never" 3:54
- "Mo' Better Blues" 3:40
- "Pop Top 40" (vocals: Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes) 5:40
- "Beneath the Underdog" 5:07
- "Jazz Thing" (Gangstarr, Kenny KirklandKenny KirklandKenneth David “Kenny” Kirkland was an American pianist/keyboardist. He is most often associated with Sting, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, and Kenny Garrett....
, Robert Hurst) 4:48 - Harlem Blues (Acappella Version)" (vocals: Cynda Williams) 4:46
Anti Defamation League controversy
For his portrayal of Jewish nightclub owners Moe and Josh Flatbush, Lee drew the ire of the Anti Defamation League, B'Nai Brith, and other such Jewish organizations. The Anti-Defamation League claimed that the characterizations of the nightclub owners "dredge up an age-old and highly dangerous form of anti-Semitic stereotyping," and "...disappointed that Spike Lee – whose success is largely due to his efforts to break down racial stereotypes and prejudice – has employed the same kind of tactics that he supposedly deplores."Lee eventually responded in an editorial in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, alleging "a double standard at work in the accusations of anti-Semitism" given the long history of negative portrayals of African-Americans in film: "Not every black person is a pimp, murderer, prostitute, convict, rapist or drug addict, but that hasn't stopped Hollywood from writing these roles for African-Americans". Lee argues that even if the Flatbush brothers are stereotyped figures, their "10 minutes of screen time" is insignificant when compared to "100 years of Hollywood cinema... [and] a slew of really racist, anti-Semitic filmmakers". According to Lee, his status as a successful African-American artist has led to hostility and unfair treatment: "Don't hold me to a higher moral standard than the rest of my filmmaking colleagues... Now that young black filmmakers have arisen in the film industry, all of a sudden stereotypes are a big issue... I think it's reaching the point where I'm getting reviewed, not my films."
Ultimately, however, Lee refuses to apologize for his portrayal of the Flatbush brothers: "I stand behind all my work, including my characters, Moe and Josh Flatbush... if critics are telling me that to avoid charges of anti-Semitism, all Jewish characters I write have to be model citizens, and not one can be a villain, cheat or a crook, and that no Jewish people have ever exploited black artists in the history of the entertainment industry, that's unrealistic and unfair."