Pro: 1. Nobody needs to be told that Francis Ford Coppola can make a great gangster film. The feuds between the mobsters is intriguing and the action scenes never fail to excite. The fact that many of the gangsters existed in real life makes it all the more exciting. 2. It's not hard to see why the Cotton Club became so famous with all the great acts we see performing at the club in this movie. My favorite is Cab Calloway performing "Minnie The Moocher".3. African-Americans in "The Godfather" were mostly ignored or scorned. It's great to see them get more focus in "The Cotton Club". The romance between Gregory Hines & Lonette McKee is very sweet. It's a pleasure to see Lawrence Fishburne's gangster "Bumpy" give Caucasian gangsters what they have coming. I was delighted to learn the real-life Bumpy survived to his 60's and died of heart failure when so many gangsters were murdered.4. My favorite moment in the film is when Frenchy destroys Owen Madden's watch just so he can give Owen a new watch. Even hardened criminals can have a heartfelt moment together.5. I can see why Richard Gere and Diane Lane went on to do 2 more movies together. They have nice some real nice chemistry. It doesn't hurt that they both have music talent: Lane does a good cover of "Am I Blue?" and credit to Gere for doing his own coronet solos.6. There's a nice moral to the story: Richard Gere, who favors music and acting over mob violence lives happily ever after while his brother, Nicholas Cage seeks an easy living though mob violence and robbery and lives a very short life (it amuses me that Nicholas Cage is gunned down in The Cotton Club in a phone booth while James Caan was gunned down in The Godfather at a toll booth). It's similar with Gregory Hines. He wanted to kill Big Mike for his cruel treatment but Bumpy tells him his ticket to a better life is his tap dancing. Good think Gregory Hines is able to listen to reason and things end up well for him.7. Best Line Bumpy: This uppity (n-word) would like to offer you a drink (dunks Big Mike's head in a toilet bowl)Cons 1. Mostly, this movie does a great job of not appearing to be a Godfather rip-off except for one thing. This movie has two montages of mob violence, one while Lonette McKee sings "Ill WInd Go Away" and another while Gregory Hines tap dances. It's hard to see this and not think of the mob violence montage set to piano music in The Godfather. The first montage of mob violence with Lonette McKee especially resembles the montage in The Godfather with the use of newspaper headlines.2. What was the point of giving Nicholas Cage's character a fiancé? She never really serves any purpose to the story. I don't remember if we even see her reacting to Mad Dog's death.

"The Cotton Club" remains a very stylish recreation of the thirties, balancing carefully on the thin line between parody and homage. The central story about a cornet player and a gangster's moll runs along nicely without being spectacular. Richard Gere is a cornet player who suddenly comes into money after he saves the life of gangster Dutch Schultz. The other actors such as Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins & Nicolas Cage do a great deal with such little parts. But a few things make The Cotton Club memorable. The singing and dancing is never less than sensational. Rather than go for a lavish Moulin Rouge-type approach, Coppola recreates what it must have been like in reality to play in a small club in Harlem. The production values (decors, costumes etc.) are lush.The music played is new recordings of - and very true to - Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway - og the jazz-music at the time! - Very well played and sometimes even better than the originals! The music on the trumpet - by the principal character, (Richard Gere) - is a very good and true applause to the legendary trumpet-player Bix Beiderbecke! - And some of the singing is applause to Ethel Waters! Singing, dancing, love, gangsters, guns and fighting. What more do you need out of a film?! Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club is every bit as dazzling, chaotic and decadent as one might imagine the roaring twenties would have been. it's set in and revolves around the titular jazz club, conducting a boisterous, kaleidoscope study of the various dames, dapper gents, hoodlums, harlots and musicians who called it home. Among them are would be gangster Dixie Dwyer (a slick Richard Gere), Sandman Williams (Gregory Hines), a young Bumpy Johnson (Laurence Fishburne) and renowned psychopathic mobster Dutch Schultz (a ferocious James Remar). Coppola wisely ducks a routine plot line in favor of a helter skelter, raucous cascade of delirious partying, violence and steamy romance, a stylistic choice almost reminiscent of Robert Altman. Characters come and go, fight and feud, drink and dance and generally keep up the kind of manic energy and pizazz that only the 20's could sustain. The cast is positively stacked, so watch for appearances from Nicolas Case, Bob Hoskins, Diane Lane, John P. Ryan, James Russo, Fred Gwynne, Allen Garfield, Ed O Ross, Diane Venora, Woody Strode, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Cobbs, Sofia Coppola and singer Tom Waits as Irving Stark, the club's owner. It's a messily woven tapestry of crime and excess held together by brief encounters, hot blooded conflict and that ever present jazz music which fuels the characters along with the perpetual haze of booze and cigarette smoke. Good times.

Dixie Dwyer is a jazz musician who begins working with mobsters to advance his career.Then he goes and falls for Vera Cicero, the girlfriend of the famous Jewish gangster, Dutch Schultz.He eventually becomes a Hollywood film star.His younger brother Vincent becomes a gangster in Schultz' mob.The Cotton Club (1984) is directed by Francis Ford Coppola.It's produced by the 80-year old producer Robert Evans.In the writing team there were Coppola and Mario Puzo, writer of The Godfather novel.The movie was a flop, even though everybody had great expectations for it.Richard Gere does very good job in the lead.The part was originally offered for Sylvester Stallone, who turned it down.Coppola's nephew Nicholas Cage is great as Vincent Dwyer.Diane Lane is fantastic as Vera.The great late Gregory Hines is terrific as the dancer Sandman Williams.Lonette McKee is wonderful as his girl Lila Rose Oliver.Gregory's brother Maurice Hines is great as his film brother Clay.Her character is loosely based on Lena Horne.Bob Hoskins is brilliant as the mobster and club owner Owney Madden.Fred Gwynne is one of the kind as his right-hand man Frenchy Demange.James Remar plays Dutch Schultz and he does it with style.Great job by Allen Garfield, who plays Abbadabba Berman.Laurence Fishburne is very good as Bumpy Rhodes.Musician Tom Waits plays Irving Starck.Jennifer Grey portrays Patsy Dwyer.Diane Venora is Gloria Swanson.Bill Cobbs is Big Joe Ison.Woody Strode portrays Holmes.Robert Earl Jones is Stage Door Joe.The young Sofia Coppola is seen as Child in Street.Mario Van Peebles is Dancer.This movie is better than its reputation.It does give a good portrayal of the 1930's.The movie has got some good scenes.The drive-by shooting, where Vincent and his men accidentally kill the kid, is one of them.And so is where Vincent is shot by Schultz' men in a drugstore telephone booth.Coppola did a fine job.The result may not be a masterpiece, but a good movie anyway.