Paris Blues

If you're looking for a film on the level of Godard's "Breathless" , which was made in the same year (1961), forget it. Belmondo and Seberg coolly ride the crest of the New Wave in some other Paris. But there's never a good reason not to see Louis Armstrong, who is wonderful, so if nothing, see it for him. And where else are you going to get Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier hanging out in a jazz cave with hipsters looking like they just flew in from planet square, but in the process looking a lot cooler than the people trying to look cool.

The love scenes are as melodramatic and corny as they can be, bordering on camp, with a lot of hand wringing and flinging about and running, but c'mon! Newman and Woodward and Poitier and gorgeous Diahann Carroll? Rent this with Diva or Charade or both and it can be a Paris street scene night., although Diva and Charade are far superior. You can definitely do a lot worse.

PARIS BLUES won't change your life unless you were one of those people (and I count myself one of them) that has been teetering on the verge of Euro-philia and this is the final straw to make you sell off all that crap you've acumulated over the years and live like a peddler just to be in Paris. Even if you are not, this movie could make you think twice. The core of the film is basically by-rote romances that, in themselves, would be non-descipt except for the fact that nothing Paul Newman touches can be bland. It is the elements surrounding these two romances that makes the film worth watching. Generally, to be a watchable film, the sum of the parts have to add up to more than the whole. Here, the film is simply the sum of it's parts...and those parts are wonderful. If I was to tell somebody there was a film out there where Paul Newman romances Joanne Woodward in a fifties jazz club in Paris alongside Sidney Pointier while they compete with Louis Armstrong most would go "What?Where? What movie?" which was exactly my reaction. Paris, Jazz, coffee...Newman. It's a confection with absolutely no nutritional value and yet you feel so much better having tried it.

Paris Blues (1961)

*** (out of 4)

American Jazz musicians Ram (Paul Newman) and Eddie (Sidney Poitier) are living in Paris where they spend all night practicing their music. Americans Lillian (Joanne Woodward) and Connie (Diahann Carroll) find themselves in Paris on vacation and soon they meet the musicians and sparks fly. The two week vacation soon has Lillian having major feelings for Ram but he knows if he decides to go with her it would mean going away from his love of music.

Paris BLUES comes from director Martin Ritt who made a number of films with Newman but this one here has to be the most underrated. I really don't understand why this film isn't better known because it features a terrific cast and has some outstanding music as well as being a lot more sexual and mature than a lot of films made during this period.

The main reason to watch this are for the performances and especially the chemistry of Newman and Woodward. The couple was already married by the time they made this and that chemistry between them just jumps right off the screen and especially the sexual tension between the two. Newman is very good in his rather grumpy role and he nails that part perfectly but he also nails the romantic side. Poitier is basically playing second fiddle here but it's still a lot of fun seeing him and Newman work together. Carroll is excellent in her supporting role and it was a lot of fun seeing Louis Armstrong.

The Jazz music score is perfect and I thought the film did a terrific job at playing up the Paris nightlife and the life of two musicians who are up all night. I thought the four stars had an excellent chemistry together and it makes for their journey to be quite entertaining. It also doesn't hurt that the film also deals with race relations without beating the viewing over the head. Paris BLUES really deserves to be seen by more people as it's certainly a nice little gem.

Within 2 years of "Paris Blues" being released the US involvement in Vietnam began to sour the relationship between America and la rive gauche. French intellectuals affected to disdain the United States and all its works;one of the few aspects of Americana that were permitted to be still admired was jazz music. Even so the myth of the American jazz musician as a god-like figure had faded by the mid sixties.Giants like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were still revered but the journeymen jazzers like Ram Bowen(Newman)no longer filled the clubs just because they were American. The Indian Summer of America's honeymoon with Europe peaked with "Paris Blues".

Beautifully shot in black and white in the quintessentially Parisian parts of the city where the 2 pairs of lovers could stroll hand in hand photogenically it was a love letter to the arondissements beloved of Scott Fitzgerald,Hemingway and Gertrude Stein 30 years after the affair had ended.

Paul Newman was never more charming,Sidney Poitier never more cool and self-effacing;their pairing considered quite daring at the time coming just a few years after the ground-breaking "The Defiant Ones". Duke Ellington wrote the score and his "Mood Indigo" is beautifully played by Murray McCeachern.Louis Armstrong plays himself - why his character is named Wild Man Moore one can only speculate.

I saw "Paris Blues" when I was 20 years old and my love affair with jazz was a its height. Looking at it now it doesn't seem all that special,the characters and situations have all become clichés;but perhaps that's a bit like saying "Hamlet"'s a good play but it's full of quotations.

When the story begins, Ram (Paul Newman) and Eddie (Sidney Poitier) are American musicians who have been living in Paris for some time. They love jazz and spend their evenings performing in various clubs. However, their bohemian lifestyle is about to be challenged in the form of two ladies who are traveling together (Joanne Woodward and Diahann Carroll). When love is in the air, there are problems--can such a lifestyle work with wives AND would these men be willing to return home to the States if need be?

This is a film I really enjoyed for a couple reasons. First, the acting was terrific and the characterizations were very nice. Second, the story is unusual. However, some of it being unusual is because the movie leaves the viewer wondering what will happen next...will they have a happy ending or not? Well, the film doesn't make this clear...which didn't bother me. Worth seeing.