Honeydripper (2007)

The Honeydripper is the name of Tyrone Purvis’ Lounge. Tyrone, played by Danny Glover, owes money to everyone and he needs a big show to get him out of the hole or he is in danger of losing his club.

The best thing about the movie is the music. It is an exploration of the early 1950’s music that was circulating in the black clubs down South that Elvis and Pat Boone and others got famous on. The transition from blues to rock and roll can be seen on the stage at the Honeydripper.

One thing that I really like about John Sayles is that he is more interested in presenting a realistic version of what happened rather than presenting something dramatic. He is willing to sacrifice drama for reality. For some, this makes the movies slow and dull, for me it makes the movie much more interesting.

There are some great depiction of 1950’s black life. There was very little interactions with whites – both groups kept to themselves. The exceptions were when blacks worked for whites or were drafted to work for whites. Sonny had trouble finding a job, so the sheriff arrested him as a vagrant because he didn’t have a job. He was then forced to work for free for a friend of the sheriff’s.

The movie showed a place and a time in U.S. history that needs to be shown. The movie also does a good job of revealing the real roots of rock and roll.  The music in the movie was really, really good. The story was just OK, but overall I thought the movie was very good, well worth seeing.