ianlouisiana Review of Pete Kelly's Blues

Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)

An astonishingly accomplished piece of work.

[8/10 · 13 December 2005]

It was Teddy Buckner playing the trumpet in the funeral scene that first turned me onto this film back in 1957.A Louis Armstrong - inspired trumpeter.(hear his "West End Blues" on the Goodtime Jazz album "Dixieland Jubilee")he totally outshone the eponymous Pete Kelly's playing throughout.(believed to have been ghosted by Jimmy McPartland). Ella Fitzgerald had a minor hit with a 78 of "Hard Hearted Hannah" b/w "Pete Kelly's blues".Although nearly half a century old,Webb's movie remains the best "jazz film" ever made.It was 100% fiction whereas "Bird" was 80% fiction presented as fact.Not that I'm knocking Clint Eastwood - it wouldn't have been made without his clout and it certainly served as an introduction to Charlie Parker's music. I absolutely agree with the people on this site who consider Jack Webb's contribution to films due for a revision."The D.I." is far better than it's reputation suggests and until F.Lee Ermey came along remained the ur USMC movie. "Pete Kelly's Blues" is an astonishingly accomplished piece of work. Mr Webb gets fine performances from veteran and tyro alike(although I am a dissenter in the "Peggy Lee for an Oscar" debate),she does well for a singer playing a singer but was wise not to give up her day job. The "Wild Party" scene is brilliantly orchestrated and never allowed to spiral out of Mr Webb's control.The complex relationship between gangster,jazz musician and cop is given the attention it merits and reflects the reality of the time. Pete Kelly himself is given verisimilitude by a marked physical resemblance to dixieland trumpeter Muggsy Spanier who would have been around at the same sort of time. In an era full of method actors over-emoting,Jack Webb could be said to be internalising his characters - or,on the other hand,you might think he was monolithic.Whichever,it made him stand out amongst his fellow thesps in an era when it wasn't considered the mark of a man to shed an easy tear. In the "Not a lot of people know that" dept.:- the solo banjo player is Harper Goff,member of the "Firehouse Five",a band formed by Walt Disney artists in the early fifties. You don't have to be a jazz lover to enjoy "Pete Kelly's blues",but if you watch it you might end up buying the sort of records your grandma used to dance to.