For it's two hour run time, the film is an insightful if somewhat one-dimensional look at blues musician Huddie Leadbetter, nicely portrayed by Roger E. Mosley. I can't imagine what type of reception the picture would have attracted back in 1976, I was around back then and have never heard of the film until running across it on one of the cable channels recently. I would have been interested in seeing how Leadbelly's career progressed following the events portrayed in the picture since most of the story had to do with him getting in and out of prison for serious crimes, and there certainly had to be more to the man than what was revealed here. Aside from that, a nice draw for the movie is the music, a series of blues numbers interspersed throughout that add poignancy to the singer's troubled life. A few you'll recognize, like 'Cotton Fields Back Home', 'Rock Island Line' and 'Midnight Special', though the story doesn't reveal if Leadbelly originated any of the songs or merely sang them. Stuff like that I'd like to know.
Review of Leadbelly
