The Josephine Baker Story

I enjoyed this movie but felt there was one major problem that prevented it from being an even better film. Even though Baker was VERY famous for her semi-nude dancing in France in the early 20th Century, showing these nude dances in the film make this a poor choice to show kids. And, the problem is, this is EXACTLY the audience that could really benefit from learning about Miss Baker. In other words, how can kids learn about a great African-American if their parents tell them they can't see the film because of its "high boobie quotient"? If they had used a few photographic techniques, they could have made this a PG movie and appropriate for all.

Apart from this, the movie is very competently made. The acting and direction are fine. Give it a try and then try to get a copy of ZOU ZOU--a film actually starring Josephine Baker. Then, you can compare the bio with the real lady.

Rags to riches, in which Lynn Whitfield's exhibitionism rivals that of the woman she portrays. Whitfield fills her character with purpose and determination, and her feud with Walter Winchell is well done. However the routine showbiz bio formula is hard to enliven. I love the stuff about her adopted children (what a great way to spend a fortune!) but it was more touching as described in the documentary "Chasing a Rainbow."

In continuing to review African-Americans in film in chronological order for Black History Month, we're now at 1991 with HBO's biographical movie, The Josephine Baker Story. Before going on with my comment, I'd like to mention that star Lynn Whitfield is a native of the city I now live in, Baton Rouge, La. As the title indicates, this TV film chronicles the life and career of Ms. Baker, who rose from poverty in St. Louis to become the toast of France. In between, she tries and fails to integrate the U.S. (at least outside of her shows) and adopts lots of multicultural children to the consternation of her second husband. That husband-band leader Jo Boullion-was played by the late David Dukes who I remember first seeing as the man who attempted rape on Edith Bunker on "All in the Family". Other familiar faces that appeared here were Kene Holliday-who I remember as Baker on "Carter Country"-as musician Sidney Bechet, Louis Gossett Jr. as army leader Sidney Williams, Ruben Blades as Count Giuseppe Pepito Abatino-Baker's first husband, and Craig T. Nelson-who I first saw in Poltergeist-as columnist Walter Winchell who contributes to Baker's decline in the U.S. I'd also like to note Vivian Bonnell as Jo's mother, Mayah McCoy as Baker at 8, and Ainslie Currie as Baker at 13. All these performances and especially Ms. Whitfield's are excellent throughout. The director was the late Brian Gibson who briefly married Lynn and later guided Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne to Oscar nominations as Tina and Ike Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It. Like that movie, this one ends with real-life documentary footage. It's of Ms. Baker's funeral with her adopted kids attending. While I'm sure some liberties were taken in the depiction of Josephine Baker's life, the story flows so smoothly that one doesn't notice where those spots might be unless some viewers had read some of the books about her. So on that note, I highly recommend The Josephine Baker Story.

This is not a great movie, it's barely a good movie, just scraping across the average line. However, mainly in part to a fantastic leading performance from Lynn Whitfield makes this an enthralling, if very abbreviated, encapsulation of Josephine Baker's life. Baker is not a performer I have much knowledge of so this was massively educational as well as entertaining. It certainly makes me want to find out more about Josephine and delve into her back catalogue of music and film. The story telling is disjointed and some of the characters seem unrealistic even though they are on actual persons. Thankfully, the performances of the stunning Lynn Whitfield and Louis Gossett Jr make this a great watch and one I will return to again in the future.

Some outstanding performances here by Whitfield, Blades, Gossett, and others in this overly long biography of an important, outspoken, and controversial African American woman, who was years ahead of her time. It was quite a revelation to see how African Americans were treated in St. Louis and in New York in the decades before the civil rights advances of the 50's and 60's. We all know about the history of the South, but in many places up North, things were nearly as difficult for minorities in the 1930's and 40's.

The story of Josephine Baker had to be told since so many of us are not familiar with her achievements. And HBO and the cast did an outstanding job doing so. The movie was entertaining and sexual, eye-opening and thought provoking. It covered American society as well as French and even gave us some insights into Josephine's heroics and patriotism during WWII and her push for equality of the races in the U.S. military. I would have preferred to see the movie end while Josephine was at the top and still young, rather than drag on with her numerous adoptions and comeback attempts. That's why it was not a major motion picture.....too long and drawn out for theater audiences.

A good movie to watch at home while putting away the laundry or brushing the dog.