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The Ladykillers (2004 film)
Encyclopedia
The Ladykillers is a 2004 dark comedy film directed, written and produced by the Coen brothers
and stars Tom Hanks
, with a supporting cast that includes J. K. Simmons
, Marlon Wayans
, Tzi Ma
, Ryan Hurst
and Irma P. Hall
. It is based on the 1955
British Ealing comedy
of the same name
.
It is the first film in which Ethan and Joel Coen share both producing and directing credits; previously Ethan had always been credited as producer and Joel as director. The film was originally to be directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
, the Coens' former cinematographer
. They were commissioned to write the script. When Sonnenfeld backed out, the Coens were eventually hired as directors, with Sonnenfeld retaining a producer credit.
), an elderly, God-fearing widow meets Professor Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr (Tom Hanks
), who expresses his interest in the room she has to let and asks to use her basement for rehearsals of an early music
ensemble he directs. She accepts the terms and agrees. The fellow musicians in the pretend ensemble are actually a gang of criminals, named Lump (Ryan Hurst
), The General (Tzi Ma
), Garth Pancake (J. K. Simmons
), and Gawain (Marlon Wayans
).
With all of their talents combined, the group of criminals plan to dig through the crumbling, dried earth that has piled up to form a tunnel in Mrs. Munson's basement and conclude that they will emerge in the vault of the casino.
After a series of comical mishaps that threaten to derail their plan, they break through the wall of the vault and snatch the loot. Mrs. Munson subsequently finds out what her tenant has done, and outraged, she tells Dorr to return the money and go with her to church on Sunday or else she will call the police. The gang decides to murder her. Through another series of comical mishaps, all the criminals end up dying while trying to kill Mrs. Munson. Gawain is shot, Garth is strangled, The General chokes to death, Lump accidentally shoots himself, and Dorr gets hanged. The police refuse to believe her story about the robbery, and tell her to keep the money she found, which she gives to Bob Jones University
.
The gag of the portrait changing expressions is taken from Preston Sturges
' film Sullivan's Travels
. In an early adventure, Sullivan (Joel McCrea
) escapes the advances of a sexually aggressive widow (Almira Sessions) by making a rope out of his bedsheet. The portrait of the late husband is duly shocked. In the original film, if you look closely at the pictures in the parlor, you will see a photograph of the captain at the salute. Two of the Coens' previous films, Intolerable Cruelty
and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
, were also heavily influenced by Preston Sturges.
Bruce Campbell
makes a cameo appearance
in the film, as in many Coen films, this time portraying a Humane Society worker.
. On Rotten Tomatoes
, the film scored 55%.
scored The Ladykillers, continuing his long-time collaboration with the Coen Brothers
, the bulk of the soundtrack is devoted to African American
gospel music
, produced by T Bone Burnett, who had previously worked with the Coens in sourcing soundtrack music for The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
.
The soundtrack does not actually contain any pieces of Renaissance music. Similar to his work on O Brother, Burnett chose a mix of vintage songs by Blind Willie Johnson
, The Soul Stirrers
, Swan Silvertones
and Bill Landford & The Landfordaires (the 1950s group sampled by Moby
on "God's Gonna Cut You Down
"), along with recordings of contemporary black gospel artists, including Donnie McClurkin
, Rose Stone
, Bill Maxwell and church choirs, made especially for the film soundtrack. Hip hop
songs by Nappy Roots
and Little Brother are also featured.
The soundtrack was praised for helping to set the tone of the film, distance it from the 1955 original and complement the contemporary Southern United States
setting and gospel music
atmosphere.
Additional music
Credits
at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival
.
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
and stars Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, with a supporting cast that includes J. K. Simmons
J. K. Simmons
Jonathan Kimble "J. K." Simmons is an American actor. He is best known for his roles on television as Dr. Emil Skoda in NBC's Law & Order , Assistant Police Chief Will Pope in TNT's The Closer, neo-Nazi Vernon Schillinger in the HBO prison drama Oz, on film as J...
, Marlon Wayans
Marlon Wayans
Marlon L. Wayans is an American actor, model producer, comedian, writer, and director of movies, beginning with his role as a pedestrian in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka in 1988...
, Tzi Ma
Tzi Ma
Tzi Ma is a Chinese American actor who has made numerous appearances in American films and TV series.-Life and career:Ma was born in Hong Kong...
, Ryan Hurst
Ryan Hurst
Ryan Douglas Hurst is an American actor who perhaps most notably starred as Gerry Bertier, an All-American linebacker in Disney's Remember the Titans and as Alison's brother, Michael, in the show Medium. He also played the role of football player Lump Hudson in The Ladykillers, appeared in the...
and Irma P. Hall
Irma P. Hall
Irma P. Hall is an African American actress who has appeared in numerous films and television shows since the 1970s. She is best known for playing matriarchal figures the films A Family Thing, Soul Food and The Ladykillers....
. It is based on the 1955
1955 in film
The year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
British Ealing comedy
Ealing Comedies
For the film Ealing Comedy, see Ealing Comedy .The Ealing Comedies were a series of film comedies produced by Ealing Studios during the period 1947 to 1957....
of the same name
The Ladykillers
The Ladykillers is a 1955 British black comedy film made by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, it stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Katie Johnson...
.
It is the first film in which Ethan and Joel Coen share both producing and directing credits; previously Ethan had always been credited as producer and Joel as director. The film was originally to be directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
Barry Sonnenfeld
Barry Sonnenfeld is an American filmmaker and television director. He worked as cinematographer for the Coen brothers, then later he directed and produced big budget films such as Men in Black.-Life and career:...
, the Coens' former cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
. They were commissioned to write the script. When Sonnenfeld backed out, the Coens were eventually hired as directors, with Sonnenfeld retaining a producer credit.
Plot
Mrs. Marva Munson (Irma P. HallIrma P. Hall
Irma P. Hall is an African American actress who has appeared in numerous films and television shows since the 1970s. She is best known for playing matriarchal figures the films A Family Thing, Soul Food and The Ladykillers....
), an elderly, God-fearing widow meets Professor Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr (Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
), who expresses his interest in the room she has to let and asks to use her basement for rehearsals of an early music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
ensemble he directs. She accepts the terms and agrees. The fellow musicians in the pretend ensemble are actually a gang of criminals, named Lump (Ryan Hurst
Ryan Hurst
Ryan Douglas Hurst is an American actor who perhaps most notably starred as Gerry Bertier, an All-American linebacker in Disney's Remember the Titans and as Alison's brother, Michael, in the show Medium. He also played the role of football player Lump Hudson in The Ladykillers, appeared in the...
), The General (Tzi Ma
Tzi Ma
Tzi Ma is a Chinese American actor who has made numerous appearances in American films and TV series.-Life and career:Ma was born in Hong Kong...
), Garth Pancake (J. K. Simmons
J. K. Simmons
Jonathan Kimble "J. K." Simmons is an American actor. He is best known for his roles on television as Dr. Emil Skoda in NBC's Law & Order , Assistant Police Chief Will Pope in TNT's The Closer, neo-Nazi Vernon Schillinger in the HBO prison drama Oz, on film as J...
), and Gawain (Marlon Wayans
Marlon Wayans
Marlon L. Wayans is an American actor, model producer, comedian, writer, and director of movies, beginning with his role as a pedestrian in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka in 1988...
).
With all of their talents combined, the group of criminals plan to dig through the crumbling, dried earth that has piled up to form a tunnel in Mrs. Munson's basement and conclude that they will emerge in the vault of the casino.
After a series of comical mishaps that threaten to derail their plan, they break through the wall of the vault and snatch the loot. Mrs. Munson subsequently finds out what her tenant has done, and outraged, she tells Dorr to return the money and go with her to church on Sunday or else she will call the police. The gang decides to murder her. Through another series of comical mishaps, all the criminals end up dying while trying to kill Mrs. Munson. Gawain is shot, Garth is strangled, The General chokes to death, Lump accidentally shoots himself, and Dorr gets hanged. The police refuse to believe her story about the robbery, and tell her to keep the money she found, which she gives to Bob Jones University
Bob Jones University
Bob Jones University is a private, for-profit, non-denominational Protestant university in Greenville, South Carolina.The university was founded in 1927 by Bob Jones, Sr. , an evangelist and contemporary of Billy Sunday...
.
Cast of characters
- Tom HanksTom HanksThomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
as G.H. Dorr, Ph. D, the mastermind of the casino heist. He is the chatty SouthernSouthern United StatesThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
dandy who rents Mrs. Munson's apartment as a stage for the robbery. Dorr is very articulate, charming, and is somewhat pretentious. He is a recognizable parody of some of William FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
's characters and bears some resemblance to Manly Pointer in Flannery O'ConnorFlannery O'ConnorMary Flannery O'Connor was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist. An important voice in American literature, O'Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries...
's "Good Country People". - Irma P. HallIrma P. HallIrma P. Hall is an African American actress who has appeared in numerous films and television shows since the 1970s. She is best known for playing matriarchal figures the films A Family Thing, Soul Food and The Ladykillers....
as Marva Munson, a well-meaning, God-fearing elderly widow. She shares her name with the judge in the previous Coen Brothers film Intolerable CrueltyIntolerable CrueltyIntolerable Cruelty is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Academy Award winners George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Geoffrey Rush and Billy Bob Thornton with Cedric the Entertainer...
. - Tzi MaTzi MaTzi Ma is a Chinese American actor who has made numerous appearances in American films and TV series.-Life and career:Ma was born in Hong Kong...
as "The General", the often silent owner of the Hi-Ho Donut store in the town. It is strongly implied that he gained his rank and experience tunneling for the Vietcong during the Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. - J. K. SimmonsJ. K. SimmonsJonathan Kimble "J. K." Simmons is an American actor. He is best known for his roles on television as Dr. Emil Skoda in NBC's Law & Order , Assistant Police Chief Will Pope in TNT's The Closer, neo-Nazi Vernon Schillinger in the HBO prison drama Oz, on film as J...
as Garth Pancake, a garrulous demolitions expert who suffers from IBSIrritable bowel syndromeIrritable bowel syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion. It is a functional bowel disorder characterized by chronic abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating, and alteration of bowel habits in the absence of any detectable organic cause. In some cases, the symptoms are relieved by bowel movements...
. He has a female partner, Mountain Girl, whom he met at an Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) weekend. - Marlon WayansMarlon WayansMarlon L. Wayans is an American actor, model producer, comedian, writer, and director of movies, beginning with his role as a pedestrian in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka in 1988...
as Gawain MacSam, the foul-mouthed, hotheaded janitor of the Bandit Queen Casino and the inside man. - Ryan HurstRyan HurstRyan Douglas Hurst is an American actor who perhaps most notably starred as Gerry Bertier, an All-American linebacker in Disney's Remember the Titans and as Alison's brother, Michael, in the show Medium. He also played the role of football player Lump Hudson in The Ladykillers, appeared in the...
as Lump Hudson, the brawn of the group and a former football player who "is not very intelligent". He seldom speaks, and he at first refers to Dorr as "Coach". - Diane DelanoDiane DelanoDiane A. Delano is an American character actress, sometimes credited as Diana Delano. Her best known roles might be "Bobbi Glass" as well as her twin sister nurse "Jessi Glass "on the 1999 series Popular and the recurring character "Barbara Semanski" on Northern Exposure...
as Mountain Girl, Garth Pancake's female partner and right hand gal. She wears braids and dresses in mountain clothing. - George WallaceGeorge Wallace (comedian)George Henry Wallace is an American comedian and actor. He is number 93 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time.-Early life:...
as SheriffSheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
Wyner, the lazy sheriff of Saucier. - Stephen RootStephen RootStephen Root is an American actor. He is best known for his comedic work on the TV sitcom NewsRadio, in the film Office Space and as the voice of Bill Dauterive and Buck Strickland in the animated series King of the Hill...
as Mr. Gudge, the intolerant but weak-willed manager of the Bandit Queen Casino.
Production notes
In the sequence where the gang begins to dump the corpses into the river to dispose of them, a garbage barge conveniently passes underneath each fallen robber as he falls from the bridge, replacing the goods train used in the original 1955 British film classic.The gag of the portrait changing expressions is taken from Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated playwright, screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois...
' film Sullivan's Travels
Sullivan's Travels
Sullivan's Travels is a 1941 American comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges. It is a satire about a movie director, played by Joel McCrea, who longs to make a socially relevant drama, but eventually learns that comedies are his more valuable contribution to society. The film features...
. In an early adventure, Sullivan (Joel McCrea
Joel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films.-Early life:...
) escapes the advances of a sexually aggressive widow (Almira Sessions) by making a rope out of his bedsheet. The portrait of the late husband is duly shocked. In the original film, if you look closely at the pictures in the parlor, you will see a photograph of the captain at the salute. Two of the Coens' previous films, Intolerable Cruelty
Intolerable Cruelty
Intolerable Cruelty is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Academy Award winners George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Geoffrey Rush and Billy Bob Thornton with Cedric the Entertainer...
and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely...
, were also heavily influenced by Preston Sturges.
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
makes a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in the film, as in many Coen films, this time portraying a Humane Society worker.
Reception
The film scored a 56/100 normalized average on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, the film scored 55%.
Soundtrack
While Carter BurwellCarter Burwell
Carter Benedict Burwell is an American composer of film scores.-Life and career:Burwell was born in New York City, the son of Natalie , a math teacher, and Charles Burwell, who founded Thaibok Fabrics, Ltd...
scored The Ladykillers, continuing his long-time collaboration with the Coen Brothers
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
, the bulk of the soundtrack is devoted to African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
, produced by T Bone Burnett, who had previously worked with the Coens in sourcing soundtrack music for The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is the soundtrack of music from the 2000 American film of the same name, written, directed and produced by the Coen Brothers and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Goodman....
.
The soundtrack does not actually contain any pieces of Renaissance music. Similar to his work on O Brother, Burnett chose a mix of vintage songs by Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson
"Blind" Willie Johnson was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals....
, The Soul Stirrers
The Soul Stirrers
One of the most popular and influential gospel groups of the 20th century, the Soul Stirrers were pioneers in the development of the quartet style of gospel and, without intending it, in the creation of soul music, doo wop, and motown sound, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel.The...
, Swan Silvertones
Swan Silvertones
The Swan Silvertones were an American gospel music group that achieved popularity in the 1940s and 1950s while led by Claude Jeter. Jeter formed the group in 1938 as the "Four Harmony Kings" while he was working as a coal miner in West Virginia...
and Bill Landford & The Landfordaires (the 1950s group sampled by Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
on "God's Gonna Cut You Down
God's Gonna Cut You Down
"God's Gonna Cut You Down", also known as "Run On" and "Run On for a Long Time", is a traditional folk song which has been recorded by numerous artists representing a variety of genres...
"), along with recordings of contemporary black gospel artists, including Donnie McClurkin
Donnie McClurkin
Donald Andrew McClurkin, Jr. is an American gospel music singer and minister. He has won three Grammy awards, ten Stellar awards, two BET awards, two Soul Train awards, one Dove award and one NAACP Image award for his work....
, Rose Stone
Rose Stone
Rose Stone is an African-American singer and keyboardist. She is best known as one of the lead singers in Sly & the Family Stone, a popular psychedelic soul/funk band founded by her brothers, Sly Stone and Freddie Stone...
, Bill Maxwell and church choirs, made especially for the film soundtrack. Hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
songs by Nappy Roots
Nappy Roots
Nappy Roots is an American alternative Southern rap quintet that originated in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1995 and is best known for its hit single "Awnaw."...
and Little Brother are also featured.
The soundtrack was praised for helping to set the tone of the film, distance it from the 1955 original and complement the contemporary Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
setting and gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
atmosphere.
- "Come, Let Us Go Back to God" (The Soul StirrersThe Soul StirrersOne of the most popular and influential gospel groups of the 20th century, the Soul Stirrers were pioneers in the development of the quartet style of gospel and, without intending it, in the creation of soul music, doo wop, and motown sound, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel.The...
) – 2:50 - "Trouble of This World (Coming Home)" (Nappy RootsNappy RootsNappy Roots is an American alternative Southern rap quintet that originated in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1995 and is best known for its hit single "Awnaw."...
) – 3:48 (Featuring chorus by Rose StoneRose StoneRose Stone is an African-American singer and keyboardist. She is best known as one of the lead singers in Sly & the Family Stone, a popular psychedelic soul/funk band founded by her brothers, Sly Stone and Freddie Stone...
, Freddie Stone and Lisa Stone) - "Let Your Light Shine on Me" (The Venice Four with Rose StoneRose StoneRose Stone is an African-American singer and keyboardist. She is best known as one of the lead singers in Sly & the Family Stone, a popular psychedelic soul/funk band founded by her brothers, Sly Stone and Freddie Stone...
and the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir) – 6:43 - "Another Day, Another Dollar" (Nappy RootsNappy RootsNappy Roots is an American alternative Southern rap quintet that originated in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1995 and is best known for its hit single "Awnaw."...
) – 3:48 - "Jesus I'll Never Forget" (The Soul StirrersThe Soul StirrersOne of the most popular and influential gospel groups of the 20th century, the Soul Stirrers were pioneers in the development of the quartet style of gospel and, without intending it, in the creation of soul music, doo wop, and motown sound, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel.The...
) – 2:36 - "Trouble in, Trouble Out" (Nappy RootsNappy RootsNappy Roots is an American alternative Southern rap quintet that originated in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1995 and is best known for its hit single "Awnaw."...
) – 4:04 - "Trouble of This World" (Bill Landford & The Landfordaires) – 2:45 (Not featured in film)
- "Come, Let Us Go Back to God" (Donnie McClurkinDonnie McClurkinDonald Andrew McClurkin, Jr. is an American gospel music singer and minister. He has won three Grammy awards, ten Stellar awards, two BET awards, two Soul Train awards, one Dove award and one NAACP Image award for his work....
) – 4:33 - "Weeping Mary" (Rosewell Sacred Harp Quartet) – 2:41
- "Sinners" (Little Brother) – 4:25
- "Troubled, Lord I'm Troubled" (Bill Landford & The Landfordaires) – 2:58
- "You Can't Hurry God" (Donnie McClurkinDonnie McClurkinDonald Andrew McClurkin, Jr. is an American gospel music singer and minister. He has won three Grammy awards, ten Stellar awards, two BET awards, two Soul Train awards, one Dove award and one NAACP Image award for his work....
) – 2:26 - "Any Day Now" (The Soul StirrersThe Soul StirrersOne of the most popular and influential gospel groups of the 20th century, the Soul Stirrers were pioneers in the development of the quartet style of gospel and, without intending it, in the creation of soul music, doo wop, and motown sound, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel.The...
) – 2:28 - "Trouble of This World" (Rose StoneRose StoneRose Stone is an African-American singer and keyboardist. She is best known as one of the lead singers in Sly & the Family Stone, a popular psychedelic soul/funk band founded by her brothers, Sly Stone and Freddie Stone...
and the Venice Four and the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir) – 2:55 - "A Christian's Plea" (Swan SilvertonesSwan SilvertonesThe Swan Silvertones were an American gospel music group that achieved popularity in the 1940s and 1950s while led by Claude Jeter. Jeter formed the group in 1938 as the "Four Harmony Kings" while he was working as a coal miner in West Virginia...
) – 2:23 - "Let Your Light Shine on Me" (Blind Willie JohnsonBlind Willie Johnson"Blind" Willie Johnson was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals....
) – 3:07 - "Let the Light from the Lighthouse Shine on Me" (Rose StoneRose StoneRose Stone is an African-American singer and keyboardist. She is best known as one of the lead singers in Sly & the Family Stone, a popular psychedelic soul/funk band founded by her brothers, Sly Stone and Freddie Stone...
and the Venice Four and the Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir) – 1:42 - "Yes" (The Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir featuring Kristle Murden) – 5:29
Additional music
- "Minuet" (3rd movement) from "String Quintet in E, Op. 13 No. 5", composed by Luigi BoccheriniLuigi BoccheriniLuigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
; which the gang pretends to play, echoing the original 1955 film.
Credits
- Produced by T Bone Burnett
- Soundtrack executive producers: Joel and Ethan CoenCoen BrothersJoel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
- Associate gospel music producer: Bill Maxwell
- Associate hip hop music producer: Keefus Ciancia
Awards
The film won the Jury PrizeJury Prize (Cannes Film Festival)
The Jury Prize is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It is considered the third most prestigious prize at the film festival, after the Palme d'Or and the Grand Prix....
at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival
2004 Cannes Film Festival
The 2004 Cannes Film Festival started on May 12 and ran until May 23. The Palme d'Or went to the American film Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore.-Jury:* Quentin Tarantino, President * Emmanuelle Béart * Edwidge Danticat * Tilda Swinton...
.