Mo' Better Blues

Mo' Better Blues
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Spike Lee
Written by	Spike Lee
Produced by	Spike Lee
Starring	Denzel Washington Spike Lee Wesley Snipes Giancarlo Esposito Robin Harris Joie Lee Bill Nunn John Turturro Dick Anthony Williams Cynda Williams
Cinematography	Ernest Dickerson
Edited by	Samuel D. Pollard
Music by	Bill Lee
Production company	40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	August 3, 1990 (1990-08-03)
Running time	130 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10 million
Box office	$16,153,600 (USA) (sub-total)

Mo' Better Blues is a 1990 American musical comedy drama film starring Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, and Spike Lee, who also wrote, produced, and directed. It follows a period in the life of 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, who also plays for the Bleek Gilliam character. The film was released five months after the death of Robin Harris and is dedicated to his memory, and is his penultimate acting role.

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 play baseball with them. Bleek's mother insists that he continue his trumpet lesson. His father becomes concerned that Bleek will grow up to be a sissy, and a family argument ensues. Bleek continues playing his trumpet, and his friends go away.

Over twenty years later, an adult Bleek performs on the trumpet at a busy nightclub with his jazz band, The Bleek Quintet. Giant, the band’s manager, advises Bleek to stop allowing his saxophone player Shadow Henderson to grandstand with long solos.

The next morning Bleek wakes up with his girlfriend, Indigo Downes. She leaves to go to class, while he meets his father for a game of catch, telling him that while he likes Indigo, he likes other women too and is not ready to make a commitment. Later in the day while he is practicing, another woman named Clarke Bentancourt visits him. She suggests that he fire Giant as 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."

Giant meets with his bookie to place bets. He meets Bleek at the club with the rest of the band, except for the pianist, Left Hand Lacey, 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 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 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. He declines her request.

Bleek and Giant fend off requests from the other members of the band for a raise due to the band's success. Bleek goes to the club owners to ask for more money, which they refuse, reminding him that it was Giant who locked him into the current deal.

That night 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, and though he sleeps with them each again, they leave him (after he calls each of them by the other's name). However, tension rises with Shadow who has feelings for Clarke.

Bleek and Giant go for a bike ride, where Bleek insists that Giant do a better job managing. Giant promises to do so, and then asks Bleek for a loan to pay his gambling debts. Bleek declines, and later Giant is apprehended by two loan sharks who demand payment. Giant can’t pay and gets his fingers broken. Later Giant tells Bleek that he injured himself, but Bleek doesn't 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 and leaves messages for each, but Clarke has begun a new relationship with Shadow. Bleek finds out about it and fires Shadow. The loan sharks find Giant at the club, take him outside, and beat him while Bleek plays--before Bleek can raise the money. Bleek goes outside to intervene and gets beaten as well. Additionally, one loan shark takes Bleek's own trumpet and smacks him across the face with it. This permanently injures his lip, making him unable to continue playing the trumpet.

Months later, Bleek reunites with Giant, who has gotten a job as a doorman and stopped gambling. He drops in to 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 on his lips and is unable to play well. He walks off the stage, gives his trumpet to Giant, and goes directly to Indigo's house. She is angry with him because he hasn’t contacted her 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, Miles is ten years old and wants to go outside to play with his friends. Indigo wants him to finish his trumpet lessons. However, unlike in the opening scene, Bleek relents and allows his son go play with friends.

Cast

• Denzel Washington as Bleek Gilliam
• Spike Lee as Giant
• Wesley Snipes as Shadow Henderson
• Joie Lee as Indigo Downes
• Cynda Williams as Clarke Bentancourt
• Giancarlo Esposito as Left Hand Lacey
• Bill Nunn as Bottom Hammer
• Jeff "Tain" Watts as Rhythm Jones
• Dick Anthony Williams as Mr. Gilliam
• Abbey Lincoln as Lillian Gilliam
• John Turturro as Moe Flatbush
• Nicholas Turturro as Josh Flatbush
• Robin Harris as Butterbean Jones
• Samuel L. Jackson as Madlock
• Leonard L. Thomas as Rod
• Charlie Murphy as Eggy
• Coati Mundi as Roberto
• Diahann Carroll as Jazz Club Singer
• Rubén Blades as Petey

Music

Mo' Better Blues
Soundtrack album by Branford Marsalis Quartet and Terence Blanchard
Released	July 31, 1990
Genre	Jazz
Length	37:20
Label	Sony Music

The soundtrack to the film was composed and played by Branford Marsalis Quartet and Terence Blanchard.

In 1991, the soundtrack was nominated for a Soul Train Music Award for Best Jazz Album.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocals	Length
1.	"Harlem Blues"	W. C. Handy	Cynda Williams	4:50
2.	"Say Hey"	Branford Marsalis		3:18
3.	"Knocked Out the Box"	Branford Marsalis		1:35
4.	"Again, Never"	Bill Lee		3:54
5.	"Mo' Better Blues"	Bill Lee		3:40
6.	"Pop Top 40"	Branford Marsalis Spike Lee	Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes	5:40
7.	"Beneath the Underdog"	Branford Marsalis		5:07
8.	"Jazz Thing"	Keith Elam Branford Marsalis Lolis Eric Elie Chris E. Martin	Gang Starr	4:48
9.	"Harlem Blues (Acapulco version)"	W. C. Handy	Cynda Williams	4:46
Total length:				37:38

Musicians

• Branford Marsalis – Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone
• Kenny Kirkland – Piano
• Robert Hurst – Bass
• Jeff "Tain" Watts – Drums
• Terence Blanchard – Trumpet

Anti Defamation League controversy

For his portrayal of Jewish nightclub owners Moe and Josh Flatbush, Lee drew the ire of the Anti Defamation League (ADL), B'nai B'rith, and other such Jewish organizations. The ADL claimed that the characterizations of the nightclub owners "dredge up an age-old and highly dangerous form of anti-Semitic stereotyping", and the ADL was "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, 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."

Lee refused 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."

Reception

Critical response

Mo' Better Blues received mixed to positive reviews from critics, as the film holds a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 34 reviews.

See also

• List of American films of 1990

External links

• Mo' Better Blues at IMDb
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Mo' Better Blues at AllMovie
• Mo' Better Blues at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mo' Better Blues at Box Office Mojo