The movie ‘Round Midnight’ , on DVD, is a fictional account
of a friendship between a black tenor sax genius in 1959 Paris
and a young Frenchman and his daughter. Dexter Gordon
was nominated for best actor for his leading role. The movie
is wonderful; I think it’s the best and most real account of
musicians and musical genuis in cinema. Anybody who
loves music…
I love that movie, Jim. I think it’s loosely based on the lives of a number of black American expats in Paris. I’m guessing, but I suppose they would be Don Byas, Bud Powell and Dexter Gordon himself, perhaps others. There was at least one French family that played the welcoming role in real life too. If I can dig up details, I’ll post them.
Now for a moment I thought you were going to ask how to play ‘Round Midnight’ on whistle or simple system flute. 
The saxophonist has an interview with a French psychiatrist,
who asks him about his dreams:
‘I dream about music, always music. Music is my whole
life. Sometimes at the end of a performance I look down
and my mouthpiece is bloody, but I never noticed.’
The sax playing is transcendental.
And Dexter Gordon’s dramatic performance is extraordinary,
the real thing playing the real thing.
My grandfather, who played guitar primarily and fiddle secondarily, was like that about music. Literally playing till he bled.
GREAT,GREAT FILM!
Dexter Gordon is absolutely fantastic in this film-he doesn’t so much as ‘act’ but portray the real life of the Jazzman.
To Wombat’s list of contenders,I would suggest Lester Young,who of course spent time in Paris in the 50’s,before returning to New York to die (within days of his return).
I recall seeing Dexter Gordon in the early 80’s-flying in to the Newcastle upon Tyne Jazz festival from his then hometown of Copenhagen.
He was 2 1/2 hours late,as P*ssed as a fart(!)-staggering about,he proclaimed that he “was bringing the coals to Newcastle”,then played the most BLISTERING Be-Bop set that I have ever been priveleged to hear!
A totally marvelous Jazz night,which I will always remember.
Europe was a welcoming home for many Afro-American musicians from the 1920’s onwards- much to our delight and gratitude.
As far as Jazz cinema is concerned,I would also recommend Clint Eastwood’s ‘Bird’,Otto Preminger’s 'The man with the Golden arm’starring Frank Sinatra as a Junkie Jazz drummer,and ‘Young man with a Horn’,starring Kirk Douglas as a 1920’s Trumpeter (loosely based on the life of Bix Beiderbeck) -Amusingly,this film was called ‘Young man of music’ in the U.K. upon it’s 1950’s release,as it’s original title has sexual connotations in ‘Brit-speak’! 
One of my fave 'Jazz films’is a documentary on the Sun Ra ‘Arkestra’ made in the 70’s-what a fantastic band!!! (I was fortunate to see them perform two nights running in London in the early 80’s).
On the strength of the foregoing I promptly added the film to my Netflix queue. I was lucky enough to have been gifted with an appreciation of jazz, and especially bepop, by my parents; they routinely listened to music on Sunday mornings while they read the papers… depending on their mood, it would be jazz or classical; so a stack of well-loved, scratchy LPs went on the turntable..for the jazz days, it would be Miles and Gerry and MJQ and Brubeck and Oscar and and and…The turntable was replaced several times, but the speakers stayed on…monstrous boxes the size of small refrigerators (or so they seem in memory).
Oh, and the blurb for the film on Netflix mentions that the character played by Gordon is named “Dale.” Synchronicity, or utterly meaningless coincidence? You be the judge.
Later yesterday, after reading about Round Midnight, I was wondering whether I knew of any other films in which a real-life musician plays a fictional one. So far I’ve only thought of one, but it’s one of my absolute favorites and this gives me an opportunity to shamelessly plug it: Diva, a 1981 film by Jean-Jacques Beineix. In it Wilhelmina Wiggins Fernandez–an American opera singer who, it appears, garnered more notice in the press from this movie than from her operatic career–plays a fictional opera star. I can’t say enough good things about this movie, nor say them with adroit film-reviewer cleverness; suffice it to say that it’s one I have re-watched many times over the years since I first saw it and was captivated. An amusing plot that defies genre classification (no, it’s not a film just about opera, guys); lovely score; and gorgeous, moody cinematography–some of the scenes are achingly beautiful. It’s just too enjoyable a movie to languish in the art-house/foreign film ghetto. Do have a look at it if you’ve never seen it.
Saw it again. this review is good. I think
this is one of the best movies i’ve ever
seen.
ROUND MIDNIGHT
[(STAR)] [(STAR)] [(STAR)] [(STAR)]
Date of publication: 10/24/1986
For cast, rating and other information, (click here)
By Roger Ebert
In Dexter Gordon’s voice in “Round Midnight,” there is a quality that at first sounds like a great weariness. As I listened more carefully, however, I realized that there were other notes present.
Here is a man (I speak of the character, not the actor) who has gone too far and seen too much, and who knows that in one way or another his death is near. Yet he is not impatient with those who still have long to live; he takes what remains of his precious time to speak carefully with them. And when he speaks of the world around him, it is with a quiet amazement that he is still there to see it.
I mention Gordon’s voice because it plays the same notes as the music in this film. As with all great musicians, the notes that come from within are the same as the feelings from within. Musicians who use breath to play their instruments - those who play the various horns - arrive sooner or later at a point where they play and speak in the same voice. Gordon makes it easy to hear that; the music that comes from his saxophone is sad and tender, and so are his words.
In “Round Midnight,” he plays Dale Turner, an American jazzman who goes to Paris in 1959 to play at a club called the Blue Note. Turner is about 60, an alcoholic and drug user whose pattern has been to pull things together for a while and then let them slide. Each slide is closer to death.
He is on the wagon in Paris, watched over by a ferocious landlady and a vigilant club owner, who want him sober so he can get his job done. In the smoky little club every night, he plays the new music of Monk and Bird, the standards of Gershwin and Porter, and songs that come up spontaneously while they are being played.
Outside in the rain one night, a young Frenchman stands by a window, listening to the music, not caring if he gets wet. He believes Turner is the greatest sax player in the world, but he doesn’t have enough money to go inside to hear him. One night he follows the old man out of the club and is able to see without much trouble that Turner needs help. So he offers it.
Turner is the most hopeless kind of alcoholic, the kind who tries to stay dry by depending on his own willpower and the enforcement of others. Sooner or later, his willpower will advise him to drink, and sooner or later the others will not be there, so sooner or later he will be drunk. The young Frenchman senses this, and also senses the overwhelming loneliness of Dale’s life, and invites him home for food and talk.
That seemingly very slight gesture - a fan trying to help the man he admires - is the heart of “Round Midnight.” This is not a heavily plotted movie, one of those musical biographies weighted down with omens and light on music. It is about a few months in a man’s life, and about his music. It has more jazz in it than any other fiction film ever made, and it is probably better jazz; it makes its best points with music, not words.
Gordon plays the central role with an eerie magnetism. He is a musician, not an actor, and yet no actor could have given this performance, with its dignity, wisdom and pain. He speaks slowly, carefully considering, really making his words mean something, so even commonplace sentences (“Francois, this is a lovely town you have here”) are really meant. He calls everyone “Lady” in the movie, and doesn’t explain it, and doesn’t need to.
The music was recorded live. The director, Bertrand Tavernier, has said that in earlier jazz films, the audience could sense that the actors were not really playing; that you could see in their eyes that they were not listening to the other musicians onstage with them. In “Round Midnight,” the music happens as we hear it, played by Gordon, Herbie Hancock on piano and others such as Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Ron Carter and Billy Higgins, with Lonette McKee on vocals. You do not need to know a lot about jazz to appreciate what is going on because, in a certain sense, this movie teaches you everything about jazz that you really need to know.
There are side stories: Dale’s old loves, new possibilities, painful memories, battles with drink, and his suicidal decision to return to New York (where he is awaited by a slick agent and a patient, fatalistic heroin dealer). They all add up to the story of the end of a life. The story needs a song, and the movie has the song, “Round Midnight.”
Very true words scottielvr,
Diva is a great film which should be on everybodys must see list.
One of those films that gets better which each viewing,not to mention a magnificent soundtrack…, Bliss.
Slan,
D.