Absolutely Fantastic

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Cadillac Records will give you an introduction to the story of some of the blues legends and the story of Chess Records. Chess records became known as Cadillac records as co-founder Leonard Chess paid his musicians by Cadillac's instead of cash.The film is based on true events but many liberties have been taken with the truth. The story focuses on Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) no mention is made of his brother who founded the record label with him or their experience in working with musicians on a previous record label.Chess takes on talented blues musicians such as Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Little Walter, Howlin Wolf and later Etta James (Beyonce.) Chess guides them but also rips them off by taking shares of their royalties or leaving them destitute although Howlin Wolf did OK financially.Much is made of Muddy Waters and then later Etta James and a fledgling affair with Chess. However the more interesting characters are Chuck Berry (Mos Def) and especially Howlin Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and they are underused.The film is nicely made, a mix of music, racism, getting to the top, addiction, violence and financial destitution. The usual type of ingredients for these types of films but nothing really stands out. The writing and direction is beige, almost like a glorified television film with some bad language.

Whilst there are some good performances in this film, Eamonn Walker for example who dominates the screen whenever he is on it and Mos Def as Chuck Berry, it is impossible to look past the director's distortion of history. Martin has for some reason decided that the real stories of the artists and founders of Chess Records were not interesting enough so she essentially makes everything up. She adds relationships where there were none, attributes a murder to Little Walter because a man toured under his name, mixes up chronology, barely touches on the finances and leaves out major figures from the story. It also seems as they could not decide which angle to focus upon - jumping from one thing to another. There is a great film to be made about the subject - this is not it.To some extent you get used to filmmakers changing things for dramatic purpose but this is so overdone as to be ridiculous.

Cadillac Records is a 2008 dramatic jazz and blues music biopic written and directed by Darnell Martin. The film explores the musical era from the early 1940s to the late 1960s, chronicling the life of the influential Chicago-based record-company executive Leonard Chess, and the singers who recorded for Chess Records.The story begins with Muddy Waters with his talents being found by Leonard Chess. Thus creating the Chess Records and making Muddy Waters as his business partner. Later we see Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf and Chuck Berry being part of the whole blues gang.The film also depicts the life of each blues musicians as from the background they were to the fame they received.The Rolling Stone formed their band name after one of Waters famous song. Though that guy in that scene sure doesn't look like Mick Jagger at all.The storyline differs from its original true side story but after all it's a good film. We get to see Chuck Berry in his Sweet Little Sixteen and My ding-a-ling. And Beach Boys got sued for copyright changing Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen to Surfin' USA.Cadillac Records is the beginning of all rock 'n' roll. More like the father of rock 'n' roll!

The key: The opening titles reveal that "Cadillac Records" is "BASED on a true story". Maybe it should have been written, "Loosely based on a true story." So a lot of purist viewers are taking serious issue with the movie's departures from the true story of Chess Records. My advice to them: go watch a documentary on PBS or the BBC, and lighten up. This movie was very entertaining, the music was great, the actors were terrific, and Beyonce was simply incredible. Apparently, Etta James herself didn't think so -- according to published articles, she hated that Beyonce sang "her song" (At Last). Can you spell J-E-A-L-O-U-S? And a PS to the purists: Please avoid seeing William Bendix in "The Babe Ruth Story" -- if you hated "Cadillac Records", this movie will make you apoplectic. ;-)