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Whistle Stopper - Pete Kelly's Blues
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List Price: $19.97
Our Price: $12.07
Your Save: $ 7.90 ( 40% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Starring: Jud De Naut, John Dennis, Andy Devine, Herbert Ellis, Nick Fatool
Directed By: Webb, Jack
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0883929003280
Format: Color
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-07-22
Running Time: 95
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1955-07-31
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A 50s favorite!
Comment: Saw it new as a child, loved it for some strange reason - music, acting, Peggy Lee, Ella, Andy Devine, Lee Marvin, Jack Webb's crewcut? I dunno, but I've seen it a dozen times in my life and still treasure it as one of my all-time 50s favorites!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Webb's Pete based on another Pete?
Comment: Apparently, when Jack Webb was creating PETE KELLY he would regularly watch Hollywood-based cornetist PETE DAILY and his band to assimilate the mannerisms and attitudes of a similar musician. Recordings by Matty Matlock's band were so popular that the group made concert appearances billed as PETE KELLY'S BIG SEVEN supported, ironically, by PETE DAILY'S DIXIELANDERS!Great to have PETE KELLY'S BLUES on DVD after all these years, in any format. Now what about re-releasing the PETE KELLY BIG SEVEN recordings? Not to mention those infectious PETE DAILY & HIS CHICAGOANS tracks.
Customer Rating:
Summary: la carendi le me cantos!
Comment: of course jack webb is master of monotone one liners, yes janet leigh carries him,yes he's not much of an actor, but story and nostagia make this par excellance. with webb's impeccable timing and imagination for those one liners makes the movie move on. o yea, give ella bout a dozen kisses!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Dixieland Jazz
Comment: PETE KELLY'S BLUES has finally made it to DVD and a fairly enjoyable issue it is too mostly because of the music - which I'm sorry to say -
there isn't an over abundance of. From a lean enough screenplay by Richard L. Breen it was, nevertheless, well directed by the star of the picture Jack Webb. The light plot has cornetist Pete Kelly (Webb) -
leader of a Dixieland jazz band in 20's Kansas - going up against racketeer Fran McCarg (Edmond O'Brien) who wants a "piece" of the band.
Trouble ensues when Kelly's drummer Joey Firestone (Martin Milner) objects
and pays for his objection with his life. In classic old Warner gangster movie style he is mowed down in a back alley in the teeming rain by Tommy Gun from a passing limousine. A stoic Webb tells Rudy, the night club owner, "get someone to bring Joey in - it's raining on him". The picture
ends with Webb taking on the gangsters in a well executed shootout in a
deserted ballroom.
In between all the drama and gunfire there are some fine jazz numbers
"played" by the on-screen band ghosted on the soundtrack by popular jazz
band of the day Matty Matlock's Dixieland Jazz Band. Matlock himself ghosted for Lee Marvin on clarinet while Dick Cathcart doubled for Webb on
cornet. It is reputed that Webb - an avid jazz fan - based the band in the
movie on his favourite group Eddie Condon's Dixielanders. But the jazz
aspect of the picture is somewhat disappointing in that there isn't enough numbers played in the film. We could have tolerated and endured
quite a few more of them from Matlock's great band.
However to compensate in some way there are also some terrific songs in the film. The great Peggy Lee gives us her wonderful and unique renditions
of such standards as "Sugar" and "Somebody Loves me". Then there's a
marvellous cameo by the First Lady Of Jazz herself the inimitable Ella
Fitzgerald belting out "Hard Hearted Hannah" and the title tune "Pete
Kelly's Blues". Interestingly Peggy Lee won an Acadamy Award nomination
for her fine portrayal of McCarg's drunken Moll.
Not too bad a movie really saved mostly - as I've said - by the music.
But it is stylishly photographed in Cinemascope and colour by Hal Rossen
and has some clever rapid-fire dialogue. Thanks to Webb's expert direction
he embues the film with an exceptional jazz-era atmosphere and his knowledge of Dixieland jazz helps it along. Dixieland jazz was the pop
music of yesteryear, hearing it here and in the light of what we have to
contend with today - it's a great pity it still isn't. Hmm!
Now a word about the DVD! Although it is in a well defined 2.35 widescreen
format I must say I am hugely disappointed in Warner's presentation of
PETE KELLY'S BLUES! There are no extras to speak of! Just a silly short about the early days of motoring and a Looney Tunes cartoon. Surely they
could have scraped up from their archives some short about jazz or at least something jazz related. No?? Also why was there no attempt to have a commentary? And to add salt to an already blistering wound - guess what-
there isn't even a trailer. For shame Warners!
However, classic line from PETE KELLY'S BLUES......The deadpan Webb in a
confrontation with gangster O'Brien "I've heard about you McCarg - down
South they say you've got rubber pockets so you can steal soup".
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just viewed this and it is indeed widescreen
Comment: I had never heard of this film before, but I knew I wanted a DVD copy of "Blues in the Night", so I went ahead and ordered this one too. I had been hearing the rumors that it was fullscreen, but when I saw it advertised on TCM they showed a widescreen clip, so I took a chance.
Rest assured, it is indeed widescreen. It sounds great, and it looks great with a couple of numbers by Ella Fitzgerald. However, this is not anything close to a musical. Rather it is a 20's gangster tale that involves Pete Kelly (Jack Webb) and his band. For those of you who remember Dragnet, Webb's narration might have you thinking of Dragnet just a little too much. Webb also directed this film, and he did a great job of giving it a real 20's feel. You don't feel like you're looking at a bunch of people from the 50's dressed up for a 20's costume party.
The only thing bad I can say about it is I had a hard time figuring out Pete Kelly's motivation. A person close to him is killed, and he is ready to give in to the gangster responsible and forget the whole thing ever happened. He finds out another person he barely knows has been killed by the same gangster and he's ready for war. He tosses an eager and beautiful Janet Leigh out of his room in one scene, and in the next scene he's overjoyed to see her to the point of wanting to marry her. The clinical acting style that worked so well for Webb in Dragnet just left me a little confused here. Still, overall, I would recommend it.
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Editorial Reviews:
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A Kansas City singer and his jazz band bow down to pressure from a local gangster and take on the thug's alcoholic girlfriend as a singer.Running Time: 92 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/CLASSICS UPC: 883929003280 Manufacturer No: 1000035849
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