Lady Sings the Blues – 1972
Director
Sidney J. Furie
Writers
Chris Clark
Suzanne De Passe
Cast
Diana Ross
Billy Dee Williams
Richard Pryor
Review by Wayne Malin
Worth seeing for Ross,
First off this is NOT a factual biography of Billie Holiday…a lot of her dark side is ignored. That aside, this is a pretty good movie. It follows Holiday from a little girl all the way up to her debut at Carnegie Hall. Along the way she deals with drug addiction, rape, prostitution etc etc. That’s the big problem with the movie–it’s too depressing. Holiday is a victim again and again and again. It wears one down seeing this woman just torn apart over and over. Also, the movie is too long–2 1/2 hours.
Still, it’s worth seeing for Diana Ross performance (Oscar-nominated). She sings like Holiday and (sometimes) looks like her. She never strikes a wrong note is her acting–she’s letter perfect in every scene. So watch it for her and the music. Otherwise, it’s pretty depressing. Also, there’s a good supporting performance by Richard Pryor.
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