Mo' Better Blues

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Mo' Better Blues

Directed by	Spike Lee
Produced by	Spike Lee Monty Ross
Written by	Spike Lee
Starring	Denzel Washington Wesley Snipes Spike Lee
Music by	Bill Lee
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	August 3, 1990
Running time	129 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$10,000,000
IMDb profile

Mo' Better Blues is a 1990 drama film starring Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, and Spike Lee, who also directed. It follows a period in the life of a fictional jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam (played by Denzel Washington) as a series of bad decisions result in him both jeopardizing his relationships and playing career. The film focuses on themes of friendship, loyalty, honesty, cause-and-effect and ultimately salvation. It features the music of the Branford Marsalis quartet plus Terence Blanchard on trumpet.

[edit] Cast

Denzel Washington — Bleek Gilliam
Spike Lee — Giant
Wesley Snipes — Shadow Henderson
Giancarlo Esposito — Left Hand Lacey
Robin Harris — Butterbean Jones
Joie Lee — Indigo Downes
Bill Nunn — Bottom Hammer
John Turturro — Moe Flatbush
Dick Anthony Williams — Big Stop Williams
Cynda Williams — Clarke Bentancourt
Nicholas Turturro — Josh Flatbush
Jeff 'Tain' Watts — Rhythm Jones
Samuel L. Jackson — Madlock
Leonard L. Thomas — Rod
Charlie Murphy — Eggy

[edit] Trivia

It was referenced to in the Simpson's episode A Star is Burns. In a film festival, instead of Mo' Better Blues, it was Moe Better Booze.
Trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who played on the soundtrack, later suffered from embouchure problems similar to those of the main character of the film.
The scene between Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes where they are discussing the current state of African American culture is excerpted, and plays a major part of the first track in the hiphop group The Roots' album Things Fall Apart.