Honeydripper (2007)

1950. Rural Alabama. Cotton harvest. It's a make-or-break weekend for the Honeydripper Lounge and its owner, piano player Tyrone "Pine Top" Purvis. Deep in debt to the liquor man, the ... See full summary »

Director:

John Sayles

Writer:

John Sayles

Stars:

Danny Glover, LisaGay Hamilton, Yaya DaCosta

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Danny Glover	...	Tyrone Purvis
LisaGay Hamilton	...	Delilah
Yaya DaCosta	...	China Doll
Charles S. Dutton	...	Maceo
Vondie Curtis-Hall	...	Slick
Gary Clark Jr.	...	Sonny
Mable John	...	Bertha Mae
Stacy Keach	...	Sheriff Pugh
Nagee Clay	...	Scratch
Absalom Adams	...	Lonnie
Arthur Lee Williams	...	Metalmouth Sims
Ruben Santiago-Hudson	...	Stokely
Davenia McFadden	...	Nadine
Daryl Edwards	...	Shack Thomas
Sean Patrick Thomas	...	Dex

Storyline

1950. Rural Alabama. Cotton harvest. It's a make-or-break weekend for the Honeydripper Lounge and its owner, piano player Tyrone "Pine Top" Purvis. Deep in debt to the liquor man, the chicken man, and the landlord, Tyrone is desperate to lure the young cotton pickers and local Army base recruits into his juke joint, away from Touissant's, the rival joint across the way. His plan to hire a guitar legend go awry and Tyrone is forced to take drastic action in a final scheme to save the club.

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Plot Keywords:

alabama | 1950s | jim crow | written and directed by cast member | scene before opening credits | 

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Taglines:

This better be some Saturday night!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | History | Music | Musical

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief violence and some suggestive material

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 May 2008 (UK)

Also Known As:

Honeydripper - Do Blues ao Rock

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,863, 30 December 2007

Gross USA:

$267,880

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$544,925

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anarchist's Convention Films, Honeydripper Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the scenes in which Tyrone Purvis (Danny Glover) is playing the piano, the close-ups of his hands were performed by Henderson Huggins, a Tuscaloosa, Alabama-based pianist and piano tuner. Huggins, who has been blind since childhood due to glaucoma, got the job when the movie's director and producer team of John Sayles and Maggie Renzi received a tape of Huggins from the Alabama Blues Project, a Tuscaloosa organization dedicated to musical education and the preservation of the history of Alabama Blues.

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Goofs

Danny Glover is wearing invisible teeth braces throughout.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Bucket List/The Orphanage/The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep/There Will Be Blood/Honeydripper/Persepolis (2008)

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Soundtracks

Move It on Over
Written by Hank Williams
Published by Sony/ATV Acuff Rose Music (BMI)
Performed by Hank Williams
Courtesy of Mercury Nashville Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

pivot between eras

John Sayles, never one to avoid a political focus in movies, now brings us "Honeydripper". The movie is set in 1950 Alabama. The Jim Crow laws are still in effect, and black-white relations are limited to African-Americans performing only the most menial jobs: a number of people work in a cotton field for practically nothing (slavery has risen again!). Tyrone "Pinetop" Purvis (Danny Glover) owns a restaurant and often has singers come and play. Business hasn't been doing too well recently. Pinetop has worked hard his whole life and barely gotten by...but the possible arrival of a New Orleans singer might change things.

Aside from the great music, one can also see this movie as a look at the pivot era in the South. It's set during the Jim Crow era, around the start of the Korean War, just a few years away from the civil rights movement. One notices that even though this is still the age of institutionalized racism, many of the characters do what they can to try and have civil relationships with white people: Sheriff Pugh (Stacy Keach) is on pretty good terms with Pinetop, and Pinetop's wife Delilah (Lisa Gay Hamilton) manages to carry on a conversation with her employer (Mary Steenburgen). The music, of course, is really the best part. I certainly recommend this movie, as I have recommended every John Sayles movie that I've seen.

Also starring Yaya DaCosta, Charles S. Dutton, Vondie Curtis Hall, Keb' Mo', Kel Mitchell and Gary Clark Jr. I think that I saw John Sayles in a bit part.