[Dixielandjazz] Sweet and Lowdown

[Williams, Bob]

In all fairness, I think it's unreasonable to expect Sean Penn to do a
flawless job of keeping up with Howard Alden.  Have you ever seen Howard
play?  Heck, if it were easy, he wouldn't be making the big bucks.

Sure, it's offputting if you're a pro, or familiar with the instrument,
but I think Penn did a great job under the circumstances.  Funny that
it's mostly musicians who notice the near-accuracy, but complain that
it's not preCISE.  I actually appreciate that Allen and Penn at least
made an effort - the Great Unwashed couldn't care less.

We trombonists are especially susceptible to actors who haven't bothered
to learn the positions, or even which direction to move the slide to
make the pitch lower (it's "away").  Yet we are the only ones to
complain, and who listens?

I think a meatier thread would be a discussion of the silliest movies
depicting musicians.  I vote for "Pete Kelly's Blues."

Bob Williams
Trombonist Extraordinaire and 
The Worlds's Most Modest Man
mailto:slushpump1 at comcast.net


-----Original Message-----
From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of
Tramette89 at aol.com
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 12:39 PM
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Sweet and Lowdown


I saw Sweet and Lowdown a couple years back.

Decent movie, but (I hate to say it) Sean Penn's fake guitar playing
really 
isn't up to snuff. Maybe he should paid closer attention when Howard
Alden was 
trying to teach him....

The music's great though, and the falling moon scene is a riot. (Vince 
Giordano also makes an appearance, as the bassist in Penn's band at the
beginning of 
the film!)

Are there any films out there where the actors portraying musicians
actually 
do a good job at faking playing their instruments? If there are, I sure 
haven't seen any of 'em.

Lily Korte
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