Product Description

In Kansas City during the Depression a young man robs a gambler and is held hostage by a mysterious night club owner. In response the man's wife kidnaps a socialite whom she tries to trade for her husband.Running Time: 115 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 794043769924

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37657 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2005-02-15
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 116 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Robert Altman wanted to captured a sense of what life was like in his hometown during the Depression, both in a story about the people who lived there and, more impressionistically, in the jazz that sprouted there before moving to New York. But his plot here is rambling and undramatic: A small-time hood double-crosses a vicious black gangster (Harry Belafonte) and is grabbed by him, marked for death. To save his life, the hood's dim blond wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) kidnaps a rich politician's wife (Miranda Richardson) and spends the day driving around town with her, on the theory that the politician can convince the gangster to free her husband. Leigh is jittery, Richardson seems bored--and the lengthy jam sessions we see (involving contemporary musicians such as Joshua Redman) serve only to prolong an already slow-moving film. Possibly worth seeing for the silky menace of Belafonte, but there is little else to recommend it. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Ovelooked and underated American Film Noir Masterpiece
Robert Altman, one of the foremost filmakers of the last thirty years followed up what many consider to be his magnum, "Short Cuts", with this quietly more ambitious project. "Short Cuts" finished 'place' at the Oscars to "Shindler's List" and helped spawn the career of Juliana Moore (sort of like Sissy Spacek in "Welcome To L.A.") although I personally liked virtually all the other performances better (and there are some great ones in it).
The release of "Kansas City" followed hard upon the heals of the Oscar 'second best', and met with 'mediocre' to 'ok' critical reviews. Thus, the film didn't have much of a run in the theatres, playing to sparsely filled houses, who basically came to see the novelty of Harry Belafonte playing a rip-snorting gangster in an Altman film. Nor was the DVD release much of a hit.
What kept the movie alive basically was the magnificent soundtrack - a group of the best of the new generation of jazz musicians playing Kansas City jazz - well - as well as Count Basie and that guy who invented the jazz saxophone (what was his name?) - oh yeah, Coleman Hawkins, themselves. The CD became a classic, and a few people discovered that Altman had fostered this long time love for Kansas City jazz, and now that he was a bigshot and could finally raise lots of money to make any film he wanted, he decided to act on his long time dream to recreate the Kansas City Jazz scene in the early thirties in a movie.
And what an incredible recreation it is! There is even a separate one + hour film which Altman made of simply the bands (as recreated by the contemporary musicians playing all the tracks in the film and on the CD and more, and nothing else!) This film evokes an amazing, dreamlike experience and ranks with any performance of twentieth century music currently on DVD, and I wish they would release it when they release the director's cut, which I predict they will (my 30 year track record is pretty good).
Simply put, "Kansas City" is a noir masterpiece. Jennifer Jason Leigh gives an incredibly complex, brilliant performance and which is only to be matched by her foil, Miranda Richardson. One of the great "two chick" flicks of all time, one wonders why Altman seems to be the only director who sees Leigh for what she is: the best American actress of her generation. Belafonte and the rest of the cast are up to the searing standards demanded by these lead performances, and the script and the almost superhuman attention to detail evidenced in the sets, editing, and every frame, make one wonder what exactly the critics had in mind when they watched this film for the first time.
But the music . . . the bands themselves take on a certain personification and become characters participating in the action of the story.
I believe "Kansas City" is due for a re-evaluation and may go down as the greatest venture of both Leigh and Altman, and that's saying a lot.

Great Movie, Insipid Plot
The reason I adore this movie is because of the accuracy of the recreation. Everything matches with what a jazz lover knows about Kansas City at that time: the characters named in the movie - up to Bennie Moten's (died in 1935, leader of the orchestra Count Basie took over) surgeon, Charlie Parker's mother, Lester Young, Hawkins (somewhat less); the characters seen and mentioned, such as Tom Prendergast (the ganster who got Truman a start), John Lazzia etc; and characters just seen but not mentioned, such as the lady playing piano - Geri Allen, who looks like Mary Lou Williams -, the singing bartender patterned after Big Joe Turner.

Then there is the music which is just great, a successful recreation of ancient jazz, which can be heard in "Robert Altman's Jazz '34" and purchased separately in two CD's, "Kansas City" (the original soundtrack) and "Kansas City After Dark", all three available ar Amazon and reviewed.

On the positive side for the movie I'll mention the great interpretation by Harry Belafonte and Miranda Richardson (Mrs. Stilton), less so of Jennifer Jason Leigh.

I think the weak side is the plot: Blondie (Leigh) abducts Mrs. Stilton to get back his man, who is in custody of the black gangasters (Belafonte) for a hold-up. Then Blondie goes on talking and talking with a somewhat annoying and exaggerated pitch.

I conjecture Altman wanted to make a movie on his home town in the moment of maximum musical blossing and jazz development and he gave less importance to plot and characters, more to the music. I think we can be happy with that, but as a jazz lover I prefer the above-mentioned "Jazz '34".

One of my favorites!
This movie got mediocre reviews (and some major dissing), but it is one of my favorites. I've watched it about ten times (you almost have to, the story line is so involved--classic Altman). I bought the video, because I will probably never tire of the awesome soundrack, the cool sets and wardrobe, and the great characters and storyline. Very, very dark--loved it!