“They’re probably gonna break this after I leave anyway,” Etta James says of her drinking glass after throwing it on the floor to break it in one of the pivotal moments seen in “Cadillac Records.” This moment symbolizes the lack of respect and recognition that black musicians failed to receive for their musical genius and creativity in the 1950s and 60s in America, largely because of racism. “Cadillac Records” is a valuable and important film because it documents the struggles faced by black musicians on the label Chess Records, founded in Chicago by Phil and Leonard Chess in the 1950s.
In that pivotal scene, Leonard Chess has set up a private meeting between Etta James and her white father in a restaurant. According to the film, a white pool player nicknamed “Minnesota Fats’ is James’s father, and after meeting with her, he gets up from the table and says, “I can’t help you, kid,” denying that she is his daughter. Upset by this, James asks for a bottle of gin from the white waiters, who do not bring it to her until Leonard Chess asks them to.
Much like the refusal of James’s father to acknowledge her, other artists on the Chess label, such as Chuck Berry, did not receive their proper recognition and dues when they first started in their musical careers but instead had their melodies stolen by white musicians whose versions of the black musicians’ songs were more famous than the originals. In one scene from the film, Chuck Berry, played by Mos Def, says, upon seeing The Beach Boys performing “Surfin’ USA” on TV, “They stole the melody from Sweet Little Sixteen and changed the lyrics.”
Leonard Chess, played by Adrien Brody, signs Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Etta James, Chuck Berry, and Howlin’ Wolf to the record label. While he is shown trying to help them in some of their personal struggles, for instance, setting up the meeting between James and her father, he also does things like use the royalties they’ve earned to buy them all Cadillacs, which they aren’t aware of. They just think he is giving them all Cadillacs outright. He has his moments of struggle, too. His nightclub is burned down, he falls in love with James but cannot be in a relationship with her because he is married, and at the beginning of the film, before he starts the record label, he is poor, living in a dump, and not accepted by his then-girlfriend’s father because he’s not “good enough” for her.
Muddy Waters, played by Jeffrey Wright, is discovered by two white men traveling across the country recording music for the Library of Congress, and so he has a way out of his cabin in Mississippi and goes to Chicago. He stays loyal to Chess even when he is not in the limelight and helps out with other musicians on the label, although he has his struggles too, succumbing to alcohol and philandering.
Little Walter, played by Columbus Short, sings a song in the film that goes something like, “My baby can’t stand no cheating,” and later on, there is a scene of Elvis Presley on TV performing that song. Little Walter is also shown struggling with substance addiction, and ends up getting into fights because of his addiction, and the injuries from all his fights end up killing him eventually. When he goes on tour in the South, he sees someone on the side of the road impersonating him, with “Little Walter and the Jukes” painted on the side of the their rusty automobile (not a Cadillac). Little Walter shoots the impersonator point blank, and is never shown in the film going to jail for it, since the man he shot was also black and back then, presumably, the police didn’t care if black people killed each other.
One of the most heartbreaking aspects of the film is the love felt between Chess and Etta James, played by Beyonce Knowles. They fall in love with each other but cannot have a relationship because Chess is married to someone else. James is seen looking at Chess with tears streaming down her face as she records a love song.
The struggles with substance addiction and troubled relationships faced by the musicians on the Chess label, as well as the lack of recognition due them because of racism and the theft of their musical genius by white artists, were heart-wrenching, and made me appreciate their musical genius even more. This film is worth seeing because it made me more aware of how racism affected these musicians’ lives, and it made me appreciate their musical genius even more.
“Cadillac Records” is playing at RMP Patton Creek 15 in Hoover until January 8th. Showtime is at 9:25 nightly until January 7th, and on the last night, January 8th, the film starts at 9:55. This film has been rated “R” for “pervasive language and some sexuality.”
"Cadillac REcords" reviewed by Lori Hamilton
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