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'Round Midnight



'Round Midnight is a love letter from director Bertrand Tavernier to the heyday of bebop and to the Black American musicians who found refuge in the smoky underground jazz clubs of 1950s Paris. In a miraculous, sui generis fusion of performer and character that was nominated for an Oscar, legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon plays Dale Turner, a brilliant New York jazz veteran whose music aches with beauty but whose personal life is ravaged by addiction. Searching for a fresh start in Paris, Turner strikes up an unlikely friendship with a struggling single father and ardent jazz fan (François Cluzet) who finds his life transformed as he attempts to help the self-destructive musician. Herbie Hancock's evocative, Oscar-winning score sets the mood for this definitive jazz film, a bittersweet opus that glows with lived-in, soulful authenticity.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, supervised by composer Herbie Hancock and presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
• New interview with jazz and cultural critic Gary Giddins
• New conversation with music producer Michael Cuscuna and author Maxine Gordon, widow of musician Dexter Gordon
• Before Midnight, a 1986 behind-the-scenes documentary
• Panel discussion from 2014 featuring director Bertrand Tavernier, Cuscuna, Maxine Gordon, and jazz scholar John Szwed, moderated by jazz critic and broadcaster Mark Ruffin
• Performance from 1969 of "Fried Bananas" by Dexter Gordon, directed by Teit Jørgensen
• New English subtitle translation and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by scholar Mark Anthony Neal

ando wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2011 6:53 am

At its heart I'd say that Round Midnight is about finding kindred spirits; in this instance, one ailing sax player who attempts to surround himself with people willing to communicate. Perhaps he's not been able to do it for a while (at last before the movie starts). But when we meet Dale Turner, played by the late, legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon, he's leaving New York, on his way to Paris where there are "no cold eyes".

Physically debilitated, alcoholic and extremely slow of speech, Gordon's persona brings to mind a number of great horn players out of the swing and bop eras. Specifically, for me, it's Lester Young. Perhaps there have been other Pork Pie Hat wearing horn players who walked around addressing folks as Lady this and Lady that. But I doubt it. The spirit of Pres (Lester Young's moniker, given by Billie Holiday) and Lady Day is deliberately evoked in the scene between Gordon and Lonette McKee (gardenias and all), who plays Turner's long lost singer/soul mate. (The still above is an obvious homage to the Pres/Lady Day friendship and brings to mind the Billie's Blues reunion number that CBS aired in 1957, which featured a reunited Pres, Billie, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge and a host of other jazz horn greats. Gordon, McKee & Company don't have much on that company but the Gordon/McKee chemistry is effective enough to tell the story.)

People have dismissed the film as a Bud Powell bio-pic rip-off, mostly (I'm guessing) because Powell went to Paris and befriended a young graphic designer as Turner does in the film. But that's probably about as close to Powell as the story gets.

The plot gets no thicker than that, though. Turner does manage to establish and rediscover relationships by making changes in his own life that he had not foreseen making back in New York. That's actually a lot to convey in a movie and Round Midnight does it mostly through very spare dialogue and wonderful music. Despite its simplicity not many "jazz" films, however ambitious, are this accomplished.

Does anyone here know of another jazz film that evokes the life and music of its enviornment as vividly?

I think this is an underappreciated gem, but then Tavernier on the whole is underrated. Dale Turner is complex--an artist who (like Thelonious Monk for example) was in some ways dependent and in need of consistent care, but never childlike. He won't be condescended to, and while he draws support from those around him, he's completely his own person. I'm thinking of a couple of scenes in particular here but I don't want to describe them, for anyone who hasn't seen the film yet.

ando wrote:People have dismissed the film as a Bud Powell bio-pic rip-off, mostly (I'm guessing) because Powell went to Paris and befriended a young graphic designer as Turner does in the film. But that's probably about as close to Powell as the story gets.

There's more to it than that. Much of Turner's "condition" generally speaking seems drawn from Powell's mental/neurological problems, and in fact much of the film was adapted directly from Paudras's book Dance of the Infidels. But it would be really foolish for anyone to dismiss the film for being a drama based on fictionalized biographical details from two musicians. There are countless great examples of fiction employing details of real people for its own purposes. I personally find straight biopics disappointing far more often than not, and they're really not any more "real." Lady Sings the Blues is easily one of the most egregious examples of this.

Does anyone here know of another jazz film that evokes the life and music of its enviornment as vividly?

Sweet and Lowdown is do-not-miss. Altman's Jazz 34 (on a double bill with his Kansas City) is pretty great as well. For an extremely different kind of film, a look at the music today, Musician (on Ken Vandermark, from the Work series) is probably the best thing I've seen. An excellent view of the context in which the music is made and an antidote to any romanticized notions of what it's like to make a living as a truly creative, independent musician, especially when that music has a relatively tiny following.

Actually, I thought of Sweet and Lowdown right after I posed the question. Though Sean Penn gives a stunning performance (and it is, indeed, a fine film - probably my favorite from Woody Allen), I couldn't feel the connection between the way Emmet Ray was living his life and the music he performed. I didn't know the man at the end any more than I did when the film started. To my mind there's a certain emotional distance between Ray and viewer that is never bridged, save the music. That is not the case with Turner in RM. There are moments of extreme vulnerability in Turner that I see more in Ray's paramour, Hattie, played by Samantha Morton, than in Ray at any point in SAL. Perhaps this was, in fact, what Allen was trying to convey. But the music in this context is received differently.

Gregory wrote:

ando wrote:People have dismissed the film as a Bud Powell bio-pic rip-off, mostly (I'm guessing) because Powell went to Paris and befriended a young graphic designer as Turner does in the film. But that's probably about as close to Powell as the story gets.

There's more to it than that. Much of Turner's "condition" generally speaking seems drawn from Powell's mental/neurological problems, and in fact much of the film was adapted directly from Paudras's book Dance of the Infidels. But it would be really foolish for anyone to dismiss the film for being a drama based on fictionalized biographical details from two musicians.

Indeed, it is a foolish dismissal since Gordon seems to be playing Gordon, foremost, and merely paying homage to Pres and Powell. How deep he channeled the character of Bud Powell is debatable. I don't see any proof in the film that Tavernier was even interested in going in that direction.

Altaman's Jazz 34 is now on my list. Thanks. Musician, was so prosaic (not merely unromantic) that at a certain point I wondered just why Vandermark was reeling off the minutia of his occupation. Musician proceeds more like a industrial study than feature film, which is assuredly part of its intention. But even Studs Terkel put more imagination into his real-life "working" features. Musician is a tough slog.

Have you seen Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould? I think it's more than a mere doc on the late pianist (Gould is a living, breathing, endlessly pontificating, obnoxious presence). It's an intriguing psychological portrait with the requisite amount of dramatic narrative structure to hold one's continued interest. This is probably a fine example of an anti-jazz film. But I still think Tavenier is able to convey in RM with deft economy what directors Michèle Hozer and Peter Raymont (of the Gould film) have to elucidate in terms of music and the musician's life. Perhaps it's just that Tavernier allows Gordon's presence to informTurner's situations as they unfold. But there are also scenes not involving Turner that are startlingly cogent (particularly those between Francis and his daughter - and makes me wonder if such interactions are actually described in Paudras's book. Have you read it?), but which, enlarge the scope of Turner's life. The Gould film features interviews of those close to Gould during his life but we don't see (or feel) the emotional influence of his presence in their lives.

Dare I mention Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach? Forget it.

While on Woody Allen, don't forget Wild Man Blues!

I'm not too familiar with jazz music films so I'd be curious what both of you think of Young Man With A Horn? Would that class as a 'true' jazz film or more of a melodrama with some jazz attached?

I've meant to see Genius Within and should have by now, as Gould is a subject of great interest for me. I've been holding off on buying it, since I've got to choose between a DVD or an interlaced Blu-ray, each going for about $20. But with your reminder, I checked my library, and they have it, so I'll be seeing it soon. Wish I could discuss Round Midnight further, but I'm moving today, so I should really be packing!

By the way, another good documentary about another, more recent context of improvised music, and probably more engaging than Musician for most, is Off the Road, which features the late, great Peter Kowald at his affable best, having many interesting encounters on the road in the United States thanks to a refreshingly unorthodox approach to touring. It's available (under the title Off the Road), in a set with a performance doc DVD and a CD, from Rogue Art (I ordered mine from Jazz Loft).

Just saw colin's question. Young Man with a Horn is all right, definitely worth seeing once (and features some nice photography). It's more about the trumpet player's personal problems than his creative life (the former standing in the way of the latter for pretty much the entire film). Anyway, I wouldn't say it shows much insight into the music or what it might have been like to be a musician in the time of Bix Beiderbecke or the big band era, but I think it was merely supposed to be a standard drama for general audiences, so the music angle is just in the service of that.

Gregory's assessment of Young Man With A Horn is on point. We get the usual ebullience (and sometimes flat-out violence) from Kirk Douglass and a effectively chilly performance from Lauren Becall. And Doris Day? I think the closest she ever came to portraying a jazz singer was in Love Me or Leave Me, with James Cagney. But even there she's more torch singer than jazz interpreter. So, yeah, overall the music in YMWAH is a side attraction.

I bring up these other films featuring jazz musicians primarily to shed light on Tavernier's approach in Midnight.

One that just came to mind (I wonder if you've seen this, Gregory) is Allen Reisner's St. Louis Blues (1958) featuring Nat Cole, Eartha Kitt, Pearl Bailey and a host of musicians. Now, here, as in Midnight we get a real jazz musician in the lead, supposedly playing legendary blues writer and coronet player, W.C. Handy. In the film the deeply religious Handy takes up with a blues band and the moral dilemma of upholding his minister father's values vs. the seeming lack of morality inherent in a blues musician's lifestyle becomes the focal point. (Thank God for the 60s, heh.) Now, one can argue about the point at which a blues band becomes a jazz band far less effectively (I think) than one can elucidate the difference between the blues and straight-ahead jazz but blues is unquestionably the basis and foundation of jazz.

Similar to Gordon in Midnight, Nat Cole developed as a jazz musician and in 1958 his was a marquee name. So in terms of dollars the casting made sense. But Cole lends a remarkable sensitivity to the role and his chemistry with the sometimes pushy but always encouraging saloon singing Eartha Kit as Gogo Germaine is especially effective. Their relationship epitomizes what I referred to in the first post about finding kindred spirits at the heart of Midnight. Presumably, if Handy hadn't found Germaine, he'd be writing church music in Memphis til he was as old and socially antiquated as his overbearing father. That's inplied in the script. But, remarkably, it's also on the screen. Cole (and the film) comes alive when Kitt is singing alongside him. That, I think, epitomizes the spirit of jazz - a collborative improvisation, even if the number is just a 12 bar blues. What one does with the blues number makes all the difference. And, of course, it's here where the rather stiff bio-pic shines.



Reisner, though, wasn't able to extend this spirit to the rest of the film. Can't blame him. For one, the script doesn't allow it. It even puts a stranglehold on the fiesty Pearl Bailey and the powerful Mahalia Jackson who, though a died-in-the-wool gospel singer, was admittedly highly influenced by her native New Orleans jazz musicians. You can hear it in her phrasing and variations (she certainly never sang a spititual twice the same way). Perhaps if Reisner was less concerned with presenting a sanitized version of the Handy story and let the actors simply riff off the script a bit he'd have been able to at least approach something like the seemingly free-form like narrative of Round Midnight. My contention is that things happen within this approach to narrative that absolutely cannot happen within the strictures of the traditional bio-pic approach. That something that happens is vital, certainly in jazz, but I would argue a jazz film as well.

I think Eastwood's Bird, for another example, suffers because of this (another tough slog) but I need to watch it again to be sure.

(Admirers of Round Midnight (or jazz, in general) will probably get a kick out of this clip featuring Lester Young interviewed by some French music critic. Spooky. I wonder if Gordon listened to this when he was developing the character of Dale Turner. The issue of Turner being asked to play like somebody else, which comes up immediately in the film, is a focal point of the Prez interview. Now that I think on it - Gordon probably got the story straight from Lester himself.)

The Martin Scorsese connection with RM was just elucidated for me in the special edition extra feature of New York, New York. Irwin Winkler was commenting on how he met with Scorsese and Tavernier, who asked both of them if they were satisfied with the ending of New York, particularly, with the fate of Jimmy Doyle, played by Robert Deniro. Scorsese said that he wasn't and that Doyle probably would have moved to Paris (where, presumably, he could play for a more appreciative audience) and lived out he rest of his days there. Well, apparently Tavernier told Winkler that he was interested in making that film which inevitably became Round Midnight. I'm not sure if Dexter Gordon was aware of this. Despite being solidly American personalities, Jimmy Doyle is about a universe away from Dale Turner. I think that by the time the movie was in actual production the Jimmy Doyle story had been scrapped altogether.

Finch wrote: Sat Mar 27, 2021 5:09 am With Tavernier's passing yesterday, maybe Criterion will upgrade Coup De Torchon (which I'd love to see) to Blu-Ray next year (as their 2021 lineup is all planned and dated for). Or go further and do a box set with four or five other of his French films and Round Midnight...? Death Watch was (or still is?) on the Criterion Channel but that's already out through Shout Factory, and despite the Scotland connection, one that I'm not as much interested in.

Do we know if Cohen has the rights to some of his other films?

Wasn’t it confirmed somewhere that Round Midnight was one of the licenses from Warner Bros. they’ve yet to release?

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote: Sat Mar 27, 2021 5:52 am Wasn’t it confirmed somewhere that Round Midnight was one of the licenses from Warner Bros. they’ve yet to release?

I hope they do, and I really hope they do something with Herbie Hancock in the extras. Might even be nice to get an interview with Scorsese even though he only has a small part.

According to Howard Fishman, Criterion has plans to release Round Midnight

I've not seen Round Midnight before but as a jazz lover I'm very excited just the same.

Finch wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:34 pm I've not seen Round Midnight before but as a jazz lover I'm very excited just the same.

Feel precisely the same. Day one purchase.

Me three

dwk wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 8:57 pm 'Round Beaver

Thanks. This graphic is a bit misleading -


Gordon's Dale, as a character (as Tavernier has it), is supposed to be a composite of Bud Powell and Lester Young. He's mostly Gordon, of course.

Just put the soundtack, which I haven't played in a long time, on shuffle and Chet Baker's version of Fair Weather came up first. I like the track but now that we're talking about the Criterion release I don't recall it in the film. Chet certainly ain't in it. Odd.

Maxine Gordon On The Legacy of Gordon

I recall that some of the songs like that one on the soundtrack were only heard quietly in the background of the film rather than being in the foreground of the score.

Gregory wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 6:46 am I recall that some of the songs like that one on the soundtrack were only heard quietly in the background of the film rather than being in the foreground of the score.

Indeed. Rewatched it. Fair Weather comes on at the moment Francis first meets Dale and agrees to buy him a beer.

I'm not a jazz aficionado and I didn't rate this film as highly as many have, but I thought the film lived and died with Dexter Gordon's performance and he is incredible. His Oscar nomination for Best Actor was well-earned, as I cannot imagine anyone else bringing the same cadence and approach to every line. What a great one and done perf!