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The Cotton Club

Play trailer Poster for The Cotton Club R 1984 2h 7m Drama Music Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
76% Tomatometer 33 Reviews 57% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
The lives of various characters intersect at Harlem's renowned Cotton Club. Handsome horn player Dix Dwyer falls for Vera Cicero, the stunning girlfriend of famous gangster Dutch Schultz. Meanwhile, Dix's brother, Vincent, falls in with Schultz's crew, while Owney Madden, the jazz venue's proprietor, has his own mob ties. Although Dix goes on to become a Hollywood actor, his life doesn't get any less complicated or dangerous.

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The Cotton Club

The Cotton Club

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Critics Consensus

Energetic and brimming with memorable performers, The Cotton Club entertains with its visual and musical pizazz even as its plot only garners polite applause.

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Critics Reviews

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Pauline Kael The New Yorker 09/13/2023
Coppola, with his staccato imagery fragmenting the songs and dances, knocks the life out of the performers. Go to Full Review
Tom Milne Sight & Sound 02/10/2020
For all its visual pyrotechnics, [the film] probably adds up the sum of its parts to nothing more significant than the largely empty stylistics of One From the Heart, The Outsiders and Rumble Fish. But at least those parts are consistently attractive. Go to Full Review
Dolores Barclay Associated Press 10/22/2018
The Cotton Club is an expensive fiasco that meanders through the '20s and '30s with flimsy characters and a pointless plot. Go to Full Review
John Marriott Radio Times 04/01/2025
3/5
Bob Hoskins as the club owner and Fred Gwynne as his henchman certainly make their mark, while the Duke Ellington soundtrack is sheer bliss. Go to Full Review
Megan Fisher Loud and Clear Reviews 01/11/2025
The Cotton Club is basically The Godfather with tap dancing. Go to Full Review
Peter Sobczynski The Spool 04/20/2021
The original theatrical version of The Cotton Club was a mess, but it was never a boring mess... But Encore is simply a better film, transforming a collection of moments into a strikingly concise whole. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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thiago S @Thiagostone 6d Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom See more Aileen D @RT17276951 02/18/2025 I thought the film was brilliant. First, it was all about the music of Harlem in the 1930s. It showcased its songs, dancing and the stars. The secondary theme centered around the gangsters. You weren’t supposed to expect great drama, although Bob Hoskins was especially enjoyable in his role. It was a crazy time of glamour and violence, but it was the music that fed the subplots and, ultimately, tied everything together. In short, if you dug the music, you dug the film. Richard Gere played a fine cornet, by the way. See more Rex W @RT28578097 01/09/2025 The dancing was outstanding. However, the story, direction, and especially the acting was terrible. Richard Gere was miscast as the cornet blowing, good-looking, "Mob Boss." He performed with his usual, high-energy nervous tics. The rest of the cast look as though they were rehearsing instead of acting. They all made illogical decisions all through the movie. This had potential, but it was unfocused and poorly staged. See more Robert c @RT44099456 09/11/2024 Atmospheric, 30s-adjacent, and endlessly entertaining. Gregory Hines displays underrated acting ability that builds on his incomparable dancing skills. Coppola's most overlooked directing achievement? See more Horror fan 4 @Horrorfan4life 08/08/2024 Very well made. Coppola's direction was great. The music was amazing. Tim Treakle See more Karl O @GalwayK 10/09/2022 On rewatching after thirty plus years I was reminded that this is the movie equivalent of jock itch. I need powder. See more Read all reviews
The Cotton Club

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Movie Info

Synopsis The lives of various characters intersect at Harlem's renowned Cotton Club. Handsome horn player Dix Dwyer falls for Vera Cicero, the stunning girlfriend of famous gangster Dutch Schultz. Meanwhile, Dix's brother, Vincent, falls in with Schultz's crew, while Owney Madden, the jazz venue's proprietor, has his own mob ties. Although Dix goes on to become a Hollywood actor, his life doesn't get any less complicated or dangerous.
Director
Francis Ford Coppola
Producer
Robert Evans
Screenwriter
William Kennedy, Francis Ford Coppola
Distributor
Orion Pictures
Production Co
Zoetrope Studios
Rating
R
Genre
Drama, Music
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 14, 1984, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 1, 2016
Runtime
2h 7m
Sound Mix
Surround
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)