Paris Blues (1961)

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Not just for Duke Ellington fans.Two American tourists (Carroll, Woodward) on a fortnight in Paris meet two competitive expat jazz musicians (Poitier, Newman). Will they get the boys to return stateside? Louis Armstrong ('Mad' Moore) steals the show.This is an, er, interesting movie. An early 60's period piece from before the Cuban missile crisis and the JFK assassination when the big issue for these young Americans was whether to settle down in suburbia or pursue the bohemian dream. With 56 years' hindsight, we see Black people and French people being patronized royally by prosperous white America, but this was 1961, and they meant well. They had just won WWII.Paul Newman is Ram Bowen, a star trombone player whose prowess with the slide has a hypnotic effect on the groovy types who spend all night in Parisian jazz cafés. Apparently star trombonists existed, but I did spend a while trying to work out what 'Ram' was short for. Ramon, perhaps. Rambunctious? Paul chews the scenery manfully, thankfully a little more restrained than in 'The Hustler', and some of his scenes with (wife) Joanne Woodward are actually quite affecting. Sydney P and Diahann C's scenes are lumbered with lines straight out of the liberal conscience handbook.I don't like the (to me, dated) Billy Strayhorn/Ellington sound at all, and it's a big component of Paris Blues: jazz music with pretensions to 'importance', whatever that is. I guess serious jazz like this symbolized the social advancement of people of colour, since they couldn't get a look in at classical music at the time. Tell it to Louis Armstrong.Nice photography, great locations, sets and supporting cast, and a satisfyingly downbeat ending. Way better than Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris, if you like a bit of jazz and Paris.

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.

For starters, this is one of those rare movies that would not have been as good if it had been shot in colour. B&W somehow fits the mood, the story and the setting. Yet it's not really a sad or dark story. As in many older B&W films, the lighting is magnificent with highlights and shadows and textures that simply aren't workable in colour. The performances are universally superb. The script is free of the usual clichés. And the music is great. (How could you possibly make a bad movie with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier and Diane Carrol?) Nor, in that era (1961), did Hollywood zoom in and linger obsessively on sexual acrobatics. This is a mature, sexy film without any graphic sex. Those were the rules back then and this film is the better for them. A thoroughly enjoyable movie with a great cast that has stood the test of a half century very well indeed.

Director Martin Ritt spent several years under a Hollywood blacklist. When McCarthyism died down, and directorial reigns were returned to him, Ritt made a series of socially conscious films, most of which were about struggles for equality, or which portrayed the downtrodden (African Americans, Native American Indians, the poor and marginalised etc) in a sympathetic light.In this regard, "Paris Blues" finds two Jazz musicians, infectiously played by Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, fleeing America for the a cool and picturesque Paris, France. Poitier's running from the racial and social conditions of early 20th century America, but Newman's looking for fame. Both see Paris as a fantasy land for American expatriates; a land of opportunity.Aesthetically, "Paris Blues" is special, Ritt creating a world of intimate Jazz clubs and lazy cobblestone streets, in which adventures occur past midnight and in which daylight hours are spent sleeping until noon. The film's aesthetic qualities are undermined by several dull romantic subplots, however, in which Newman revokes domesticity in favour for his art, much to the chagrin of Poitier.7/10 – See Michael Curtiz' "Young Man With a Horn" and Minnelli's "Some Came Running" instead. Worth one viewing.