Ray

Films/DVD Asylum

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I finished watching this film last night. For the one or two people who do not know about the subject, it is based on the life of Ray Charles. Taylor Hackford directs. As everyone knows, Jamie Foxx stars as a Ray Charles, and turns in a very good performance. Certainly better than I would have expected based on his prior work. He perfectly straddles the line between reality and caricature. Watching Ray Charles' mannerisms, both in real life and at the piano, it would have been very easy to overplay him. Foxx does a perfect job of playing Charles without turning those eccentricities into parody. I believed that I was watching Charles. This is another of those performance that before I saw the film, I would have doubted any actor could realitically play Charles. Now I doubt that any actor other than Foxx could play Charles.
Hackford surrounds Foxx with some strong, albeit unusual character actor choices. For example, Curtis Armstrong plays Atlantic Records owner Ahmet Ertegun. I have not seen Ertegun in real life, and so cannot say whether Armstrong accurately portrayed him. I can say that my favorite previous Armstrong work was in Revenge of the Nerds (he played Booger), and it took me awhile to realize where I had seen him before. Once I did, I was shocked that it was the same person.
Obviously, the music is great. The one thing that cannot be duplicated is Charles voice. It is my understanding that the vocals were dubbed. As I watched the film, I did not understand how that could be done, given that many of the scene involving singing seemed not to be replications of known concerts, but rather performances in small clubs where I presume that recordings of those venues does not exist. Then I learn in the special features that Ray Charles was involved in making the film, and recorded those parts for the film. But Foxx does a good job of convincing the viewer that he is actually performing the parts. His performances do not resemble music videos.
The film does not good job of showing his life until about 1965, with a brief 1979 event when Georgia formally apologized for banning him from performing in the state as a result of his refusal to play to a segregated audience. We are provided a theory for his heroin use. We learn that he was a successful womanizer. Successful because he was able to maintain his marriage and family despite his wife's full knowledge. He was apparently adamant that his road life remained on the road. We learn the flak that he took from many evangelicals when he took traditional gospel tunes and made them blues tunes.
We learn how his blindness gave him the skills to be a better musician. I did not realize how much of an astute businessman he was. Atlantic records saved him from a small, local label where he was going nowhere. He then blossomed under their tutelage. At a time when musicians, and entertainers generally, were at the mercy of the entertainment corporations, Charles negotiated a contract with ABC Paramount that Ertegun commented was better than Sinatra had. He negotiated a deal that paid him 75% of the album sold, ownership of his masters, and the ability to do any material he wanted.
Much of the material he created he did so despite reluctance from the records companies that the material would not sell. A good example was the country material. Well, he was right.
The film is two and one half hours long, and flies by. There is not a wasted second. Many songs are performed in their entirety. There are flashbacks to his younger days, but only events that molded his career and later life are shown.
Very recommended for Charles fans in particular, and also for fans of the 50's and 60's music era.

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Topic - Ray - jamesgarvin 09:01:43 03/15/05 (2)

As a big RC fan, I say "Amen, Brother!"... - jonbee 13:41:21 03/18/05 (1)

I'm gonna miss him...thank god we got him ,forever.(nt). - warrenh@optonline.net 03:17:12 03/20/05 (0)

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