Kansas City (1996)

Kansas City (1996) (DVD) (*)

~~$20.99~~ $14.97

Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Spanish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Spain ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
111 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 1996 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Robert Altman

Written By:
Robert Altman
Frank Barhydt

Actors:
Jennifer Jason Leigh ..... Blondie O'Hara
Miranda Richardson ..... Carolyn Stilton
Harry Belafonte ..... Seldom Seen
Michael Murphy ..... Henry Stilton
Dermot Mulroney ..... Johnny O'Hara
Steve Buscemi ..... Johnny Flynn
Brooke Smith ..... Babe Flynn
Jane Adams ..... Nettie Bolt
Jeff Feringa ..... Addie Parker
A.C. Tony Smith ..... Sheepshan Red (as A.C. Smith)
Martin Martin ..... 'Blue' Green
Albert J. Burnes ..... Charlie Parker
Ajia Mignon Johnson ..... Pearl Cummings
Tim Snay ..... Rally Speaker
Tawanna Benbow ..... Rose

Synopsis:

The jazz world of 1930s Kansas City serves as the backdrop for an offbeat story of kidnapping, political corruption, and organized crime in director Robert Altman's loving but unsentimental look at his childhood hometown. The film's intricate story is triggered by petty thief Johnny O'Hara (Dermot Mulroney), who aims for a big score by trying to rob notorious crime boss Seldom Seen (Harry Belafonte), only to end up Seen's captive. In fear for her husband's life, Johnny's wife Blondie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) decides to take action. Following an eccentric personal logic, she takes as a hostage the wife of a prominent local politician, in hopes of getting the woman's husband to help; unfortunately, he is on the road with an upcoming presidential campaign, putting a major hitch in Blondie's plans. The film moves freely among its idiosyncratic characters in an overt attempt to mimic the improvisational structure of 1930s jazz. Indeed, many of the film's most important sequences take place in Seldom Seen's club, with contemporary jazz greats imitating the period's master musicians and Harry Belafonte shining as the magnetic, menacing Seen. The central narrative never achieves the seemingly effortless integration of Altman's greatest works, but those who share Altman's obvious passion for the period and its music will find much to admire.

In 1934, while the rest of the country was mired in the Depression, Kansas City thrived with gambling, prostitution, and jazz-filled nightclubs flourishing under the rule of city bosses and organized crime. On the eve of the municipal elections, a scrappy telegraph operator, Blondie O'Hara, has kidnapped wealthy Carolyn Stilton, a drug-addicted socialite wife married to an advisor to president Roosevelt. Blondie plans to swap Carolyn for her small-time gangster husband Johnnie who has been taken hostage by big-time gangster and club owner Seldom Seen. Robert Altman's riff on race, class, and power cross-cuts between the two kidnappings and the background of corrupt politics and virtuoso jazz music.

Robert Altman's jazz-scored film explores themes of love, crime, race, and politics in 1930's Kansas City. When Blondie O'Hara's husband, a petty thief, is captured by Seldom Seen and held at the Hey Hey Club, she lauches a desperate plan to release him. She kidnaps the wife of a powerful local politician in an attempt to blackmail him into using his connections to free Johnny. Despite this being election time, he risks exposure by putting the political machine into action to free Johnny and thereby save his wife. Mrs. Stilton, meanwhile, has befriended Blondie and is impressed by her love and devotion to Johnny, especially in contrast to her own loveless marriage.

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 10 August, 2020.