I work in a movie theater and I watched 5 minutes of this movie today.
Here's what I saw:
Chuck Berry (played by Mos Def) is listening to Surfin' USA by the Beach Boys, which he feels bears a striking resemblance to his own composition, Sweet Little Sixteen. As he is voicing his dismay, two police officers come in and arrest him for transporting a minor across state lines. Allusions are made to the young girl in question being white. There is a montage of clean cut Frankie and Annette types frolicking on the beach, inter-spliced with Chuck Berry's mug shots, to the tune of Surfin' USA. The next scene depicts The Rolling Stones showing up at Chess to pay homage and record some songs. The Film shows the Stones recording Muddy Water's Can't Be Satisfied followed by a DJ spinning a 45 of the record and talking about how their rendition of the song is "tearing up the charts" or some similar sentiment. Next scene is Leonard Chess talking about how all these new white performers are making big bucks from the Chess sound but Chess can't get a hit because "The Goose that laid the golden egg" (referring to Chuck Berry) is in prison and unable to record.

Here's what's wrong with that 5 minutes
-Chuck Berry's arrest for transporting a minor across state lines was in 1959. Surfin' USA didn't come out until 1963.
-The girl was a Native American he met in Mexico (i.e. not white).
-The Rolling Stones' Can't Be Satisfied was never released as a single. Which means that there was no 45 and the song never charted.
-Chuck Berry got out of prison in October 1963, and released several hit songs, including No Particular Place to Go, one of his most popular, in 1964, well before the Rolling Stones made it big stateside.

Well like I said, I just know it as a story but it was a good enough story that they decided to apply it to Little Walter. But Little Walter never personally went through that. Sonny Boy Williamson had a few Chess Records releases but I hear that he's not part of the movie. Neither is Bo Diddley and he had bigger hits than Muddy Waters. Did they bother to have Howlin' Wolf?

Rockin Rod Strychnine said:

Nah, that was really a Sonnyboy Williamson incident. And I really have no idea if it ever took place. But the story is, after the original Sonny Boy died in the 30s, a harmonica player named Rice Miller took the name...he had his own radio show (sponsered by King Biscuit Flower) while he was still living in the south and had quite a few blues hits after moving to Chigago. Rice Miller was also the same guy who went to England and was backed by the Animals and the Yardbirds which someone had the smarts to record.

But somewhere early on before any of that happened, someone else was going around doing gigs as Sonny Boy Williamson but again, it wasn't because he was trying to steal something from Rice Miller, he just had tghe same idea to take the name as the original had died in the 30s. If the guy ever was taken down by Rice Miller, I don't know.

Holy shit, you just blew my mind. I knew there were two Sonny Boy Williamsons. I did not know there were three Sonny Boy Williamsons.

Nah, that was really a Sonnyboy Williamson incident. And I really have no idea if it ever took place. But the story is, after the original Sonny Boy died in the 30s, a harmonica player named Rice Miller took the name...he had his own radio show (sponsered by King Biscuit Flower) while he was still living in the south and had quite a few blues hits after moving to Chigago. Rice Miller was also the same guy who went to England and was backed by the Animals and the Yardbirds which someone had the smarts to record.

But somewhere early on before any of that happened, someone else was going around doing gigs as Sonny Boy Williamson but again, it wasn't because he was trying to steal something from Rice Miller, he just had tghe same idea to take the name as the original had died in the 30s. If the guy ever was taken down by Rice Miller, I don't know.

I let the inaccuracies slide in order to simply enjoy the period re-creation and to listen to that music in that context. One inaccuracy that bugged the shit out of me, though, was the guy playing Leonard Chess looking like a guy from the 90s who showed up in the 50s. The other characters were dressed and coiffed appropriately, but not the main character.

It was like when Happy Days characters started having 70s hair in the late 50s/early 60s.

Speaking of historical accuracy, did Little Walter really shoot a guy who was pretending to be him?

Maybe if Beyonce had gained 60 pounds it would have been more believable. I don't think she even gained 5 pounds much less 20.

I read a ton of comic books as well but I'm not as forgiving when it comes to my rock and roll icons about inaccuricies.

I think years of being a comic book nerd has made me pretty forgiving toward historical inaccuracies in any form of entertainment. (Ever compare an issue The Mighty Thor to the actual nordic sagas? yeeeesh.) Anyways, I haven't seen it, mostly because the only press I ever saw on it were articles about Beyonce adding 20lbs of weight to play Etta James.

Since I figured it couldn't possibly be 20lbs of talent, I gave the movie a pass.

As far as Ms. James being a republican... I read her comments as coming from someone who felt disenfranchised from the entire system, as opposed to buying into one party or the other.

It kinda pisses me off when movies are inaccurate. Sometimes the first exposure I get to someones history is through film. I always feel like a jackass when I find out that I've been believing stuff to be true and it's not. I just gotta remember to do my own research. I also get pissed when I know the history and a film changes it. It may be a stupid thing to get mad about but I can't help it.

Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! It's this kind of stuff I'm talking about. I'd rather watch Dream Girls. At least evertthing there is based more on ideas of what happened (well even their timelines are kind of inaccurate but oh well) than trying to tie events to certain groups and individuals. Gas-House Gorilla said:

I finally got around to watching this movie. I actually dug it to the degree that I really enjoyed the music. That being said, this flick is so annoyingly inaccurate, it’s impossible to recommend. Much of the errors are sloppy timeline issues. Other than what has already been mentioned, one that jumped out at me is when Muddy is recording “Forty Days and Forty Nights”. After it’s recorded, there’s a push to give Little Walter a shot at a record, and they go into cutting “Juke”. The problem is that “Juke” was done four years prior to “Forty Days and Forty Nights”.

Another problem is that the film devotes way too much time to Etta James, including a fictitious relationship with Leonard Chess. This is unfortunately done at the cost of completely neglecting the likes of Bo Diddley and Sonny Boy Williamson.

Must troublesome of all though, is the film’s agenda of highlighting white musicians ripping off Chess artists. While true to a degree, the actual story doesn’t quite fit the movie’s timeline. There was in fact a huge underground blues scene in London in the early-to-mid sixties. However, it was through pop music that any widespread success was achieved during this era. It wasn’t until the emergence of the album oriented focus of acts of the late 60’s that blues was a key component of their success (Led Zeppelin, Foghat, Jeff Beck Group, Allman Brothers, etc.). And the truth of the matter is that the success of these acts helped to greatly propel Chess artists to much of the acclaim they receive today. Instead, the movie goes to great lengths to revise history. Other than the Beach Boys copping of Chuck Berry (not a blues number, btw), the film is left with fictitiously showing (as pointed out) the Stones’ hit recording of “Can’t Be Satisfied” tearing up the charts. Fact is that the Stones NEVER released a blues single in the U.S. period – completely because, despite their love of the music, they knew the blues’ appeal was too narrow to have chart success. And, to top things off, there is of course there is no mention of Willie Dixon deceitfully buying publishing rights of unknown artists, only to turn around and have them cut under his own pen; or of Muddy Waters taking liberties with songwriting credits of tunes previously released by other artists.

The final annoyance is the film’s attempt to show some sort of thread connecting the music of Chess Records to hip-hop music of today – closing with a god-awful hip-hop take of “I’m a Man”. What a sour ending.

I finally got around to watching this movie. I actually dug it to the degree that I really enjoyed the music. That being said, this flick is so annoyingly inaccurate, it’s impossible to recommend. Much of the errors are sloppy timeline issues. Other than what has already been mentioned, one that jumped out at me is when Muddy is recording “Forty Days and Forty Nights”. After it’s recorded, there’s a push to give Little Walter a shot at a record, and they go into cutting “Juke”. The problem is that “Juke” was done four years prior to “Forty Days and Forty Nights”.

Another problem is that the film devotes way too much time to Etta James, including a fictitious relationship with Leonard Chess. This is unfortunately done at the cost of completely neglecting the likes of Bo Diddley and Sonny Boy Williamson.

Must troublesome of all though, is the film’s agenda of highlighting white musicians ripping off Chess artists. While true to a degree, the actual story doesn’t quite fit the movie’s timeline. There was in fact a huge underground blues scene in London in the early-to-mid sixties. However, it was through pop music that any widespread success was achieved during this era. It wasn’t until the emergence of the album oriented focus of acts of the late 60’s that blues was a key component of their success (Led Zeppelin, Foghat, Jeff Beck Group, Allman Brothers, etc.). And the truth of the matter is that the success of these acts helped to greatly propel Chess artists to much of the acclaim they receive today. Instead, the movie goes to great lengths to revise history. Other than the Beach Boys copping of Chuck Berry (not a blues number, btw), the film is left with fictitiously showing (as pointed out) the Stones’ hit recording of “Can’t Be Satisfied” tearing up the charts. Fact is that the Stones NEVER released a blues single in the U.S. period – completely because, despite their love of the music, they knew the blues’ appeal was too narrow to have chart success. And, to top things off, there is of course there is no mention of Willie Dixon deceitfully buying publishing rights of unknown artists, only to turn around and have them cut under his own pen; or of Muddy Waters taking liberties with songwriting credits of tunes previously released by other artists.

The final annoyance is the film’s attempt to show some sort of thread connecting the music of Chess Records to hip-hop music of today – closing with a god-awful hip-hop take of “I’m a Man”. What a sour ending.

After four years, I just finally saw that Johnny Cash thing with that Phoenix guy and that thing is totally inaccurate. They're going more for the story rather than if any of it's true or not. I'll probably watch Cadillac Records in about 4 years when I have nothing better to watch.

yeah, i saw the movie. it can be good if you don't think about all the inconsistancies but those are hard for me not to see. hah.

ette james a republican?? man, i'd hope that she'd be smarter than that. oh well, she's still got them pipes, man, so i'm not worried.

Hopefully not! Else I will just have to "NOT-SEE-THAT" when I listen to her! Kevin Schneider said:

"He ain't my president"
Oh my God, is Etta James a republican? Ryan Katastrophe said:

I like Etta James saying Beyonce is gonna get her ass whipped if she keeps singing her song... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZAqKv86Clg

"He ain't my president" Oh my God, is Etta James a republican? Ryan Katastrophe said:

I like Etta James saying Beyonce is gonna get her ass whipped if she keeps singing her song... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZAqKv86Clg

Oh the gossip!
Old school mean. But understandable so... haha!

I'd somehow like to see that catfight back in the day! I guess Miss B wouldn't stand a chance, hhehehe.

...
See, know I've shot off my mouth! Darn it!

I like Etta James saying Beyonce is gonna get her ass whipped if she keeps singing her song... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZAqKv86Clg

I read that on the DVD release there is a deleated scene where Phil Chess is mentioned briefly. Also, how about the whole Willie Dixon narrative. Did he actually record any kind of oral history of the label as they show in the film's begining?

Yeah, really! It puzzles me how that seems to be an option in doing the whole thing. Like: "O.K. we really like the taste of this type of orange, looks great. We wanna make some juice out of it, looks like it will sell! But let's just give it a different paint job, light green maybe? The shape, no the shape don't work for what we have in mind. Also the juice it's just... it don't fit. We thought, maybe use an apple after all - they are so in fashion and the concentrate is soooo much sweeter!" Hahaha. Has anybody heard what Mr. Berry thought of how it all was presented? kopper said:

Wow. Amazing how they can just rewrite history for film, ain't it?

Great post. Unreal and unconscionable moving-making. I still want to see the flick - but I'll be keeping your observations in mind. I was dubious of the film when I heard there was only one Chess brother (or Cadillac brother, I suppose)...

Wow. Amazing how they can just rewrite history for film, ain't it?

YA, the movies... they "shoulda" made a second version with all the stuff accurate. In a good way. Loves me some Mos Def on screen, the guys good fun and delivers hilarious playing.

Such movies are mostly (always?) bound to trip in their attempt. But I'm glad they made it even if it turns out junk...

Thanks for the details on all that Mr. Schneider!

I also dig the pic SWT put up. The Chess sound trembles on!

Krakhaus said:

It's worth watching....just don't get too caught up in the accuracy thing. It's entertainment, and they had to cover a lotttttt of material in a short time. Great Casting and Beyonce is bootylicious of course!!!!

Agreed....It's an entertaining flick but not a historical doc, kids...go into it with that in mind and it's almost 2 hours of good tunes and decent actin' (I did not dig Beyonce as Etta....she way over did it) Yeah the only thing that really bugged me was the lack of Phil Chess and how small a part Howlin' Wolf had in the flick (one of my all time fav Chess artists)

It's worth watching....just don't get too caught up in the accuracy thing. It's entertainment, and they had to cover a lotttttt of material in a short time. Great Casting and Beyonce is bootylicious of course!!!!

Amazing. I haven't seen it, but I wonder how many more mistakes are in the other two hours or whatever.

I understand that while Leonard Chess is a main character, in the movie there's NO PHIL CHESS!

This is disappointing. I actually wanted to see the flick. I visited the old Chess Studios with my son last summer.