The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)

Steve Kloves 'The Fabulous Baker Boys' is indeed a Fabulous film, with a terrific screenplay as it's trump card. A story of two brothers struggling to make a living as lounge jazz pianists in Seattle. In desperation, they take on a female singer, who revitalizes their careers, causing the brothers to re-examine their relationship with each other and with their music.

'The Fabulous Baker Boys' has everything going for it, the direction by Kloves is simply outstanding. He keeps hooked all the time, in fact it's amongst the best I've seen from the 80's. Michael Ballhaus's cinematography is remarkable, so is William Steinkamp's editing.

Coming the to acting department, Jeff Bridges steals the show. He's fantastic, as always. Michelle Pfeiffer is excellent, this truly is amongst her best works. Beau Bridges is great, so sad no one has seen much of this gifted actor.

On the whole, this one's a must watch. Strongly Reccmended!

Fmovies: Possibly the best ensemble acting since the Hawks, Bogart and Bacall version of "The Big Sleep". There aren't many films of the eighties that match the sheer class of the best studio pictures of the thirties, forties and fifties. This one does. Watch the scene where Jeff Bridges lights Pfeiffer's cigarette for a few seconds' vignette of perfectly restrained and utterly revealing acting. But then, almost every scene in this movie is at or near this standard. It's a film in a thousand, if that, that makes you believe you are seeing a glimpse into real life at a particular place and time. The Fabulous Baker Boys is three people's intersecting lives in Seattle in the late eighties. As real as if you had been there? No. As right as if you had been there? Yes.

I consider Baker Boys the best film on music because it is one of the finest noir stories ever written on the subject. It is an important film because of the subject matter: an expose of musical art married to entertainment. It is a subject rarely revealed in American media.

Most people think of "musical art" as something found at the classical music concert or the college music department. The other stuff we hear is entertainment, right? Well, sometimes it just isn't that simple. Baker Boys is a story based on those cases of mixed marriage when the talented artist finds himself locked into an employment situation that hampers his artistic ability. It may come as a surprise to Jazz and commercial music lovers that such music artists really do exist beneath the glamorous facade of their favorite music acts (not to mention films). The story of Jack Baker means to reveal this dark underbelly of the entertainment business.

It is well for the public to understand how and why such musicians exist. The distribution of a film such as Baker Boys is but one step toward this end. While most people saw the film as a romance involving the swing music genre, what they didn't seem to recognize is the more important underlying contextual theme. This issue - of undiscovered musical talent - is not popular. Unfortunately the average layperson is not familiar enough with music to understand or care about why a musician would be unhappy with his job. It is easy to see why most people avoided this, the main theme of the film - it's too dark - and instead focused on the romance and the style.

In the end, Baker Boys is a story of one Jack Baker, an entertainer who was finally bold enough to make the transition to Jazz artist. It is a story of passive resistance to what Blake Edwards immortalized as that "other" part of the entertainment industry known behind the scenes as S.O.B. (Standard Operating Bullshit). It is but one fictional story that represents many, many similar true-life cases of successful failure.

The Fabulous Baker Boys fmovies. After seeing the rating for this movie, I'm convinced about one thing: the average viewer doesn't want good movies, all they are interested in is some cheap entertainment with big explosions, a lot of violence and shooting and if possible even more car chases. How else could you explain the fact that movies like "Batman Begins" or "Spiderman" and yes even the "The Lord of the Rings"-trilogy make it to the top 250, but a movie like this one doesn't even get a 7/10 (The actual rating is 6.6/10 after 4,563 votes). Am I saying that this movie belongs in that list too? No, I'm not, because it is a very good movie, but there are plenty of better ones. It's just the fact that I don't understand why people no longer seem to appreciate some very good acting and a fine story anymore.

"The Fabulous Baker Boys" tells the story about two professional musicians, Frank Baker and his younger, less committed, but more talented brother Jack, who have been playing as a piano duo in bars and hotel lounges for many years, but who seem to have lost much of their appeal to the audience. They aren't asked for new performances and they realize that something has to be done. They decide to hire a new female singer. During the auditions there isn't one who can sing or keep tone and they are convinced that they will never find one either. But then Suzie Diamond comes stepping in. She's 1.5 hours late, has a big mouth and hasn't got the right 'entertainment' experience (she has worked as an escort girl). But they give her a chance and they are astonished by her qualities. Together they make the act successful again, but when the relation between Suzie and Jack briefly becomes more than professional, tension between all three builds up and forces the band to break up...

Although I didn't know the name of the director, Steven Kloves, I was convinced that this could be a very good movie. The reason for that was because I knew that Sydney Pollack was one of the producers. That's no guarantee for success of course, but it sure helped me to get some confidence in this movie. And it has to be said. Kloves has done a fine job in writing and directing this movie. I'm sure that it will not appeal to a large audience because it isn't very spectacular, but what he has done with it certainly proves that the man has talent. He has written a solid, effective, but simple story without too many extra's and I really appreciate that. Also in his direction he has kept everything quite sober. This is 'just' a love story involving a small band, but it works and that's all that matters.

Of course he has been helped by his excellent cast. Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges are really very good in playing the two pianists, but it was Michelle Pfeiffer who had me completely in her power. Not only does she look and act very sensual in this movie, she sings like an angel. I knew that she was a very talented actor, but that she could sing that well, really was a big surprise to me.

Overall this movie deserves to be seen by a bigger audience, although I'm convinced that it will never happen. It lacks everything to draw in a big crowd and even when they give it a try, they will probably not like it because it's nothing special in their opinions. Personally I liked it a lot. A good story, some very fine acting, very good directing,... make me believe that this movie doesn't deserve a rating lower than a 7.5/10.

This movie is one of my favourites, probably because I'm a true Jeff Bridges-fan. I think most people are familiar with the story. It's about 2 brothers playing piano in hotel lounges and bars etc. Beside the Bridges-brothers, Michelle Pfeiffer is also in this movie. She is the star of the show and gives one hell of a performance too. The story isn't unique. There are probably more movies made like this, trying to tell the same thing, but for me it really worked. I love every scene of this movie. I love piano's, beautiful women, Jeff Bridges' acting and great performances in general. "The Fabulous Baker Boys" has it all.

It think it truly deserves a better rating. 6.6 is way too low. I should at least reach the level of 7/10. I personally would give this movie an 8 or 8,5, but to compensate the underrating a little I will give it a 9. I can't think of any reason not the see this movie. It isn't a psychological drama. It's a drama with a fine story, great performances and a wonderful cast. Michelle Pfeiffer deserved the awards she won for her performance. To me, it became kind of a classic. See this movie! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

9/10

Oh, this movie is the best. An absolute must-see. It's dreamy and romantic, yet cynical, so it's like having your cake and eating it, too. The Brothers Bridges are excellent (I wonder how much of their real-life relationship crept into their on-screen relationship) and Michelle Pfeiffer is absolutely perfect as Suzie Diamond. This is the movie in which Ms. Pfeiffer transcends, completely and irrevocably, the realm of mere mortals and achieves goddess status. She's smart, tough, funny, and sexy--all at the same time! When she stretches out on a piano to sing "Makin' Whoopee", she is radiant and reminds one of the greatness and the glamour of old Hollywood.

RENT THIS MOVIE TONIGHT!!!!