The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)

Some films are like that. It is not as if this is a masterpiece but perhaps there is some truth within the film, the acting or the relationships between the actors? Who knows.. But i do feel that films that one can revisit, even if there is nothing new to see but somehow touch you deserve a lot more than an 6.8.

What was really surprising about "The Fabulous Baker Boys" (a pleasant one) is that Michelle Pfeiffer can actually sing. Everyone knows this movie for her slinky performance on Jeff Bridges' piano, but I'd always just assumed she was dubbed over. She's got a nice voice. And going beyond just that scene, Pfeiffer has never been such a head-turner as she is here. My god, she is sexy in this movie.It's not an easy movie to sit through, seeing as it details the ark side of show biz. Tensions show themselves from minute one, and just bubble throughout until they come to a head. Twice. There are two altercations in the story that are just painful (between Jeff and Michelle, and then Jeff and Beau). Speaking of the brothers Bridges, if that counts as stunt casting, then it's necessary. I don't think you could tell this story with unrelated actors. The real-life siblings bring a realism to this that heightens the emotion.Rough movie, but a beautiful family story. Bittersweet to the end.8/10

The late Mr Tedesco was the doyen of West Coast session musicians for many years,spending much of his life playing fairly mundane if sometimes technically demanding music for TV shows,movies,jingles,pop records etc.then leading his own jazz group in small L.A.clubs when he was off the clock.In much the same way,Jack Baker(Mr J.Bridges) endures rather than enjoys his day job as one half of a piano duo with his brother Frank(Mr Beau Bridges)and is able to satisfy the more creative side of his nature by playing jazz in his spare time. After 15 years,the act is getting stale and the brothers hire a singer (Miss M.Pfeiffer) to give it some much needed pizazz. Cue a renewed surge of creative energy from Jack and Miss Pfeiffer's outspoken opinions causing friction between the brothers. "The Fabulous Baker Boys" is perhaps a little too incessantly downbeat to succeed in the mainstream but is an accurate picture of life at the less glamorous end of the music business. The brothers' rather mundane act is immediately transformed by the addition of Miss Pfeiffer who is going places,but will they be able to keep up? There are outstanding performances by all three headliners,some wonderful music that made me want to get out my old George Shearing albums. The whole film is made with painstaking care,perfectly cast and is clearly a labour of love. If you like grown - up music,movies that take time to develop characters,consummate acting and the whole package faultlessly produced look no further.

This could have been a gimmick that didn't work. Just because two actors are actual brothers doesn't mean they can convey the particular fictional brothers of the film. And this film was about the two men, with a mutual affection and dependency that they never had to articulate, until the need for a "girl singer" became evident.And what a singer they got in Michelle Pheiffer's Susie Diamond. The hard boiled prostitute with a heart of gold is a well worn cliché in films, that takes some genuine writing and acting talent to transcend. Pheiffer did this with a seeming effortlessness that defined Susie as a unique individual.Unlike most successful films this one's achievement lies in its very moderation, its telling only enough of each character's life to make them real. So we never meet Beau's family, even though Jeff has a key scene in his basement. It would have only been diverting at this stage of the film.The relationship between Susie and Jeff Bridges, Jack Baker was also just as much as we needed to know. The mixed feelings of their first sexual liaison as a trade off of a good business relationship for a long shot love affair was perfectly demonstrated in both of them in their own rooms expressing with the same tone, "shit!" I saw this film on TV after seeing it first at a theater some two decades ago. Perhaps, I'm older, or I've seen too many less skillfully crafted films in the interim, but I appreciated it even more this time.This is both a quality film, and damn enjoyable evening's entertainment.