Kansas City (film)
6.4 /10 1 Votes
63% Rotten Tomatoes 57% Metacritic Genre Crime, Drama, Music Duration Country United States | 6.3/10 IMDb 3/4 Roger Ebert Director Robert Altman Music director Hal Willner Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Writer Frank Barhydt , Robert Altman Release date August 16, 1996 (1996-08-16) Screenplay Robert Altman, Frank Barhydt Cast 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)Similar movies Democracy Is ... , The Masters of Terror , Limitless , RoboCop , Thank You for Smoking , Salt Tagline Kansas City, 1934. Anything could happen here. One night it did. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kansas city 1996 trailer
Kansas City is a 1996 crime film, directed by Robert Altman and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, Michael Murphy and Steve Buscemi. Kansas City is also notable for its musical score being integrated into the film, with modern-day musicians recreating the Kansas City jazz of 1930s.
Contents
The film was entered into the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.
Plot
A kidnapping goes down in 1934 Kansas City. Blondie O'Hara's (Leigh) petty thief husband Johnny is taken by gangster "Seldom Seen" and held prisoner at the Hey Hey Club, one of the hot spots of the Kansas City jazz scene. Blondie herself kidnaps Mrs. Stilton, the wife of a local politician, played by Michael Murphy; Mrs. Stilton is addicted to laudanum (an opium liquid) and has secrets of her own. Blondie's plan is to blackmail Mr. Stilton into helping to free Johnny.
Despite the risk to his re-election campaign, Mr. Stilton does everything he can in order to free his wife by saving Johnny. Meanwhile, Mrs. Stilton comes to befriend Blondie. She is impressed by Blondie's devotion to her husband, contrasted to her own loveless marriage.
A subplot concerns political fixer Johnny Flynn (Buscemi) paying vagrants and addicts to vote in the upcoming election and sway the outcome.
Reception
Kansas City received mixed to positive reviews from critics, as it holds a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 35 reviews.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was produced by Hal Wilner and Steven Bernstein and featured several contemporary musicians playing the roles of famous jazz musicians from the 1930s. For example, Craig Handy plays the role of Coleman Hawkins, Geri Allen plays Mary Lou Williams, and James Carter plays Ben Webster.
References
Kansas City (film) WikipediaKansas City (1996 film) IMDbKansas City (1996 film) Rotten TomatoesKansas City (1996 film) Roger EbertKansas City (1996 film) MetacriticKansas City (film) themoviedb.org