by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
A Rated PG-13 131 min
Somewhere, Simon Cowell is eating crow for dissing Jennifer Hudson. His snitty put-downs of American Idol contestants now serve as a reverse ringing endorsement. Hudson steals the movie as the rejected Dreamgirl, Effie White. The reason, (in the script) she wasn’t pretty enough. Ironically, that’s what Simon said, in so many words. Yes, it’s a sure bet Hudson will receive an Oscar nomination for her incredibly savvy performance as Effie. Not only is her voice an exceptionally fine instrument, but she is a naturally talented actress. If she wins an Oscar maybe Simon can present it to her while eating humble pie.
Unquestionably, this is the best film adaptation of a Broadway musical ever filmed. Brilliantly directed by Bill Condon, this is a rare bird in Hollywood–a quality production that will have mass appeal. Even with the operetta style singing the lines in some scenes, miraculously it doesn’t ruin the dramatic pace or elements of the film. Hudson has a key singing scene when Taylor dumps her for Deena (Beyonce Knowles) who Taylor marries and makes her the lead singer of the Dreams. Beyonce’ is exceptionally beautiful and turned in an Oscar worthy performance as a composite of Diana Ross.
The Broadway musical was based on Tom Eyen’s book, which is a thinly veiled biography of the rise of the Supremes as a supergroup white/black crossover trio. They were the first black singing group to break the color barrier. Jamie Foxx plays the archetype sleazeball record producer, Curtis Taylor Jr. who has mob ties and a cruel heart. Music biz insiders are debating on which one of the black producers this character was based. Taylor’s main goal was to crossover The Dreams (sounds like Supremes) into the white market to make more money. There is a funny scene that was obviously supposed to represent Pat Boone’s sappy white covers of the Motown sound, which whited-up the music for the soul-less mainstream white record buyers of the time, covered in petticoats and pabulum.
Eddie Murphy steals his scenes as the James Brown-like singer James Thunder Early, who refused to white-up his music which is what Taylor was striving for to break him into the big rooms in Vegas and Miami Beach. This is Murphy’s best and funniest performance to date. There is a loud Oscar buzz on Murphy’s memorable role as Early. In one key scene Early starts his concert as the lily white black singer, then reverts back to himself and ends up dropping his pants on national television. It was fall-down funny.
The film underscores how white cover artists ripped off the black singers like Big Mamma Thorton who originally recorded Hound Dog. Of course, Elvis made it a hit and Thorton was denied her royalties. Later when the computerized reporting system for ASCAP and BSI was established in the late 1980s, and Bonnie Raitt founded the Blues Foundation, many of the original artists were finally compensated for making the original hits that were stolen by white artists. The movie shows this injustice when one of Effie’s hits is buried by radio DJs in favor of the payola paid out by Taylor and his ilk stealing her hits.
Later in the film, Deena, then estranged from Taylor, steals his books and threatens to expose his illegal activities if he doesn’t release Effie’s original hit, compensating her for his greedy exploitation of her career using the Dreams as his vehicle. Before that, Effie goes through many years of hard times raising her daughter Magic, who is Taylor’s child. She was treated abysmally by Taylor who dumped her as too ugly for him or his Dreams group.
Taylor was a used Cadillac salesmen before rising to the status as record producer. His first studio was located in the Cadillac dealership’s garage with milk cartons on the wall to suppress the echo. Effie’s character was based on the Supremes original front-person Florence Ballard, who died broke at age 32. Clearly, Diana Ross was the least talented singer of the Supremes but, like in the Dreams, she was promoted as the lead because of her looks. However, her distinctive subdued voice became a trademark of the group and her milk chocolate looks helped her crossover into the white mainstream.
The film borders on cinematic perfection but it’s wildly entertaining at the same time. The scenario’s undercurrent depicts the black performer’s struggles against racism and the white curtain. When Early performs like a black man in front of a white audience in Miami, they walk out because he’s gyrating his hips. Elvis gyrated his hips and the white girls went crazy but the uptight white establishment wanted to ban his sexually suggestive act. To his credit, Taylor did maneuver the Dreams into the mainstream, but his only motivation was money and not the best interest of his performers. This is an awe inspiring movie to see Christmas day.
The movie Dreamgirls began as a musical, a project for Nell Carter, who never took the role because she became busy on the soap opera Ryan’s Hope in 1978. Originally the production was staged at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway, starring Sheryl Lee Ralph as Deena Jones, Jennifer Holliday as Effie White, Loretta Devine as Lorrell Robinson, Ben Harney as Curtis Taylor, Jr., Cleavant Derricks as James “Thunder” Early, and Obba Babatunde as C. C. White. It was a star-making vehicle for many of its performers, especially Holliday, whose performance as Effie was widely lauded. With 13 Tony Award Nominations and 6 Tony Awards, it was a success both commercially and artistically. One of the solos “And I Am telling You I’m Not Going,” sung by Holliday, reached the Top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982. Phylicia Rashad, who later played Bill Cosby’s wife in The Cosby Show was a member of the musical’s company.
DreamWorks Pictures and the licensee of the original play, The Tams-Witmark Music Library, announced that they would pay the licensing fees for all non-professional stage performances of Dreamgirls for the calendar year of 2006 in order to give the story more exposure for the upcoming film release. DreamWorks spent up to $250,000 subsidizing the licensing. More than fifty high schools, colleges, community theatres, and other non-commerical theatre entities staged productions of Dreamgirls in 2006.
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