Sax and violence

Kansas City

(1996)

Astonishing how little I remembered of this movie that I saw (at the York Square Cinema, RIP) when it was new, less than 16 years ago--and I certainly didn't remember liking it this much. Tempted not to deaccession it, but with a free sample of Showtime for the next couple of days, I need to free some space on my DVR hard drive.

This may be one of the best concert movies ever, with '90s jazz stars playing '30s jazz giants; the highlight is an extended tenor shootout between Craig Handy as Coleman Hawkins and Joshua Redman as Lester Young. James Carter, Ron Carter, Don Byron, Olu Dara, and Geri Allen (yes, even a woman!) are also in the Hey-Hey Club jam session--one hell of a soundtrack.

Oh, and what distinguishes this from other great concert films is that there's a narrative plot attached, a Stockholm-syndromed kidnapping of a politician's wife (the wonderful Miranda Richardson) by the wife (the equally wonderful Jennifer Jason Leigh) of a petty crook who had made the mistake of pissing off the city's black crime boss played by Harry Belafonte (I think this is the only acting I've ever seen him do, but I'd pay to see him again).

Brilliantly inevitable climax, but can someone explain to me how the scene that proceeds from the film's final gunshot makes any sense?