Customer Reviews

Pete Kelly's Blues

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've loved this movie since it's release. Peggy Lee is the greatest lady pop/jazz singer of the mid 20th Century, and she gets into the 1920's mode as if it were a svelte gown. Her renditions are immaculate, as we always expect them to be, but less expected is her portrayal of the exploited artist in the speakeasies. She chews up the scenery, and stands tastefully right in between Jack Webb's unemotiveness and Edmund O'Brien's ham. An interesting contrast movie of about the same year which allows O'Brien to roast his ham with color is "The Girl Can't Help It", a rock and roll movie starring Jane Mansfield, and featuring the entertainers of the hour, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, et alia. The cast of "Pete Kelly's Blues" also includes young Lee Marvin and Martin Milner as sidemen in Pete Kelly's band. The best song in the flick is the cameo by Ella Fitzgerald, of whom we would wish to see and hear more, if only her part was bigger in the script. A nice evocation and snapshot, if symbolic, of the world of Bix and Bing, Ruth Etting and Moe the Gimp.

Jack Webb loved jazz and the jazz age. That comes through loud and clear in Pete Kelly's Blues. I liked this movie immensely because it's a labor of love. Despite it's flaws (Jack Webb tends to be stiff at times) the movie works and works well. Meticulous attention to detail, Peggy Lee in a dramatic role as well as her glorious singing, Andy Devine as a cop along with the great Ella Fitzgerald and some of the best jazz music ever recorded plus a strong supporting cast, make this movie well worth savoring again and again.

Charles Albrecht

Given that this has already been remastered in letterbox/stereo for Laserdisc, why isn't this available on DVD? Webb loved 20s jazz and that is reflected in the terrific soundtrack and meticulous attention to period detail in every frame (wonderful Cinemascope production design!). Ella sings as only she can and acts as only she couldn't; Peggy Lee's heartbreaking performance as a torch singer on the skids was rightfully nominated for an Oscar (and oh yeah - "she sings"). This was one of the ten top-grossers of 1955, just behind "East of Eden," and its not available ten years into the DVD era?!

Jack's the greatest. If you are not an American, Jack's your American icon, circa 1955. And you can't really argue with his friends Peggy Lee, Ella, and Miff Mole (it's his band that's featured). Other viewers and critics remark upon the versimiltude, but this misses the point; Jack captures the jazz myth. I don't care if this is the way it was; it's enough--more than enough--that this is the way I imagined it was. Jack reached into my imagination and put a part of it on screen. Wow-ow!

Not that great a movie, though it's saved by a terrific soundtrack. Jack Webb plays Kelly, a 1920s cornet player in Kansas City who runs into trouble with a gangster who demands "protection." He goes along with it for a while, but then decides to stand up for himself and comes out a winner (no surprise there). Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and an excellent jazz combo add immeasurably to what's lacking in the story. Dick Cathcart did the trumpet dubs. Another plus is the wisecracking script - there are more sarcasms and smart-alecky quips per frame than just about anyplace else in moviedom, and most are real zingers. On the negative side, Webb is as stiff as a board (a style all his: think DRAGNET, only here he's even stiffer) and the shootout at the empty nightclub is on the far side of reality. Fun to watch, though.

J.Simms is completely accurate in his/her summary.I've wanted this dvd since dvds were invented but of course the shops are filled with overhyped rubbish that is impossible to watch twice-the only possible reason for owning a dvd!The sort of classics referred to by Simms -which must include the Russian version of War and Peace and the Russian version of Solaris(not the recent crap one) are watchable over and over again.Where is the dvd of Alphville ? for example;but how are young film fans ever going to discover the difficult,dangerous and worthwhile while the industry continally overpraises rubbish and promotes it.Pete Kelly's Blues is a work of art wherein each aspect - acting,singing,direction,colour pace and atmosphere complements the others.It may not be to your taste,but it IS a great film.

I had never heard of this film before, but I knew I wanted a DVD copy of "Blues in the Night", so I went ahead and ordered this one too. I had been hearing the rumors that it was fullscreen, but when I saw it advertised on TCM they showed a widescreen clip, so I took a chance.

Rest assured, it is indeed widescreen. It sounds great, and it looks great with a couple of numbers by Ella Fitzgerald. However, this is not anything close to a musical. Rather it is a 20's gangster tale that involves Pete Kelly (Jack Webb) and his band. For those of you who remember Dragnet, Webb's narration might have you thinking of Dragnet just a little too much. Webb also directed this film, and he did a great job of giving it a real 20's feel. You don't feel like you're looking at a bunch of people from the 50's dressed up for a 20's costume party.

The only thing bad I can say about it is I had a hard time figuring out Pete Kelly's motivation. A person close to him is killed, and he is ready to give in to the gangster responsible and forget the whole thing ever happened. He finds out another person he barely knows has been killed by the same gangster and he's ready for war. He tosses an eager and beautiful Janet Leigh out of his room in one scene, and in the next scene he's overjoyed to see her to the point of wanting to marry her. The clinical acting style that worked so well for Webb in Dragnet just left me a little confused here. Still, overall, I would recommend it.

According to several other sites I have looked up (key word "Pete Kelly's Blues Anamorphic" ) PKB will be wide-screen with a new digital sound-track. It only makes sense: this was a wide-screen showcase for Warner, so why re-issue without showing the whole movie? Also, there are several shorts included with the DVD.

Great Music. One of Hollywood's best movies. I have it on VHS. I want it on DVD.

Pete Kelly's Blues was a radio show that Jack Webb starred in way back in the late forties or early fifties. The show was short lived as the network wanted Webb to do Dragnet.

But Webb was an avid jazz fan. He had a tremendous jazz collection of some 6000 recordings. This movie was very special to him. While Webb was not a great actor, he surrounded himself with a marvelous group of actors for this movie. And the music is without equal.

The plot, like all Webb plots, was simple. A gangster was hassling Kelly and Kelly took him out. The movie was written by Richard Breen, who wrote a lot of scripts for Webb both on radio and later on television. Breen knew how to write for Webb and the script worked.

Peggy Lee and Janet Leigh both did fantastic work and Lee sang wonderfully well in her unique style. Her acting was lovely.

The soundtrack to the film is a must-have for any Webb fan and, for that matter, for any jazz fan. Be sure and get the true original as there are many versions. I own the vinyl and the original and prize it. They're expensive but worth the price.

Webb was not a good actor. He was stiff and limited. But his greatness came in his desire to try new things and to give whatever he did 100 percent. The result was always unique. Moreover, his greatness came in his attention to detail while, at the same time, quickly running through a very simple script and making it very good. Few people can do that in any profession but especially the arts.

Webb was passionate about his work. And he was especially passionate about this rather dark movie that took place in 1929 Kansas City. Having an intimate knowledge of KC and the great jazz houses, I was very keen on the movie. Of course, I wasn't around in 1929. But if I had been, I would have hung out in the road houses and listened to the jazz. So this movie is the next best thing to having been there.

Highly recommended.