Monday: Hamilton: The Movie

This film of the original Broadway play became available  for television viewing  Friday, just in time for the Fourth of July.   It had been scheduled for theatrical release in October 2021, but nobody knew if movie theaters would re-open by then or if audiences would be willing even to go to theaters.

So the film opened on Disney+, the entertainment giant's new streaming effort.  No, you cannot watch it on one of those free trials that Hulu and other services offer.  But look at it this way: A month or three of streaming is much, much cheaper than a ticket to the play ever was.

I saw the Hamilton in New York in late 2015 with the same cast and loved it.

But I was wary of this filmed version.  I wondered whether it could convey the enthusiasm that Hamilton generated in Broadway audiences.  In fact, it can't.  But what makes up for that is a three-camera production that shares all the full-stage scenes and also close shots of actors' faces in key moments.  And the actors in this are great.

We all know the story.  If you want detail, you can read my discussion or, better, Ron Chernow's  absorbing biography, Alexander Hamilton.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, a Puerto Rican immigrant, read that book and made the material his own by writing this play, scoring it with hip-hop songs and nods to operatic recitative dialogue, and then casting African American, Hispanic and Asian actors in the key roles.  The effect is so powerful that it is impossible to imagine Hamilton with a white cast. 

Think of it as a huge 21st-century expansion of the idea of Woody Guthrie's song, "This Land Is Your Land."  Most Americans can trace their ancestry to immigrants or Native Americans who were treated badly or worse, but the message we have for each other now is this:  This land belongs to you and me -- to all of us.

It's a generous theme, and I hope we will keep it in mind as a pandemic foments emotional  frustration and rage, and, worse, anarchy by people aiming to burn down the whole foundation without offering a better alternative.  This too shall pass.

Meanwhile, watch Hamilton.  It's just right for this moment.


Notes

If you are under the age of 30, you probably know the Hamilton score by heart.  If not, this highlights video will bring you up to  date.

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Hamilton creator Miranda was one of those high school theater kids (musical theater in his case), and he has said that he knew from an early age that if he wanted to make a career of his passion, he needed to come up with new productions that told stories about people like him.  His first play, In the Heights, set in the neighborhood where he was raised, was very popular in New York theaters and has been made into a film that is waiting to be released.

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7/11/2004 -- Today is the 196th anniversary of the Hamilton-Burr duel. Last week, David Crow at Den of Geek examined the antagonism between the two men and what was at stake and asks whether Hamilton really did "throw away my shot." 

Compton, Movie and City

The hottest movie release this weekend is "Straight Outta Compton," a musical biopic of the group N.W.A. -- Niggas Wit Attitudes -- and named for NWA's 1988 breakout album.  The album moved the epicenter of hip hop from its New York roots to the West Coast and established gangsta rap as the sound of its moment.

The themes of the album remain current: inner-city violence, black anger and minority alienation from the broader culture.  One famous song is "Fuck tha Police." 

Almost two generations have grown up listening to rap, a subset of the broader hip hop movement, and so the potential "Compton" audience is expected to be large enough to make the film this weekend's box office winner.  (It doesn't hurt that the other major release, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", is a reboot of a long-forgotten television program from the 1970s.)

Universal Studios has promoted the hell out of "Compton" and is footing the bill for extra security at its screenings.  Reviews are generally very positive, but California critics who know something about rap and Compton are a teensy bit less effusive.  Some samples: 

      "Alternately riveting and wearying, up-to-the-minute relevant as well as self-
      mythologizingly self-indulgent — as much of a heroic origins story as anything 
      out of the Marvel factory — 'Straight Outta Compton' ends up juggling more 
      story lines and moods than it can handle."

                                                                         Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times 

      "A conventional music-world biopic in outline, but intensely human and 
      personal in its characterizations and attention to detail, director F. Gary Gray’s 
      movie is a feast for hip-hop connoisseurs and novices alike as it charts the West 
      Coast rap superstars’ meteoric rise, fractious in-fighting and discovery that the 
      music business can be as savage as the inner-city streets."
                                                                                           Scott Foundas, Variety

      "By the time Tupac and Snoop bop past in seconds-long cameos, it's clear 
      that 'Straight Outta Compton' is at once too padded and too thin.  It's as if the 
      story of these real-life legends was so unruly and dangerous that the 
      filmmakers became the cops, forcing it into submission." 
                                                                                    Amy Nicholson, LA Weekly

      "But the sheer force of "Straight Outta Compton" steamrolls its flaws. Director Gray, 
      who is from Compton and made a name for himself directing some of hip-hop's 
      best music videos, has given us a movie that feels honest and urgent. Yes, 'Compton' 
      is told from the point of view of those who come out looking the best in the end. 
      But even if it is a somewhat one-sided story, it is still a vital one that's well-told."
                                                                       Tony Hicks, San Jose Mercury News



Black Musicians and Biopics

The rich vein of African American struggle has been paired with the achievements of major black musicians in some pretty good movies.  The first of these, "Lady Sings the Blues", starred Diana Ross as Billie Holliday and was a big hit in 1972.  The pace of releases picked up in the late 1980s.

"Bird", a 1988 Charlie Parker biopic by jazz fan Clint Eastwood, was well reviewed even if it did not sell tickets in huge numbers.

In 1993, Ike and Tina Turner's personal problems and musical triumphs were the focuses of "What's Love Got to Do with It".

"Ray," a 2004 bio of the legendary Ray Charles," was actor Jamie Foxx's own star turn.

Rap star Notorious B.I.G., ne Christopher Wallace, who was shot dead in 1997, was the subject of "Notorious" in 2009. 


Compton, Then and Now

Compton is a city of about 96,000 residents located on 10 square miles in the southern part of Los Angeles County.

When the "Straight Outta Compton" album was released, the city was was majority African American, and it was regarded as one of the most violent in the country. Today the population has shifted.  Compton now is two-thirds to three-quarters Hispanic (estimates vary), but it still is a dangerous place.

Official statistics show a crescendo and then small decline in crime beginning 35 years ago.  

                                        Murder/                                Violent
                                      Manslaughter                       Crime Total
                     
                     1980                56                                     2,192

                     1985                57                                     2,532

                     1990                82                                     3,143

                     1995                79                                     1,525


Murder rates have continued to decline, but Compton remains far more dangerous than most cities. 

Virtually all the victims are shot to death.  

Aggravating the situation is the sad fact that most of Compton's homicides -- 59 percent on average in recent years -- are not "closed."  There are seldom legal consequences for murder.

Investigating detectives have said their work often is frustrated by the longstanding local culture, a code of silence that makes it hard to identify and prosecute murderers. 

 "It’s one of those frustrating cases out of Compton; it’s the same in South L.A.,” a detective told a reporter in an interview about a killing earlier this year. “You don’t get a lot of cooperation. Nobody talks to the cops. My partner and I walked up and down the street, around the corner, trying to drum up information, leaving fliers.  Nothing.”

Still, there are reasons for hope.  The city's old, ineffective and possibly corrupt government was shaken up in 2012 with the election of Aja Brown, who holds two degrees in governance and urban policy. She has set high goals for her hometown, suggesting recently that if Brooklyn, NY could make a comeback, surely Compton could do the same.

Compton was teetering toward bankruptcy before Brown's election, but her first budget resulted in a surplus and the city has begun to pay down debts.  An e-commerce project that includes jobs and training programs is planned.  Property values have increased, based at least in part on Compton's proximity to LA's burgeoning downtown and Los Angeles International Airport.

And Brown has recruited Dr. Dre, one of musicians profiled in the new movie and a very wealthy man since the sale of his headphone company, Beats by Dre, to Apple for $3 billion. Dre, like Compton, has a past he prefers to forget -- specifically the brutal beating of a female journalist that did not make it into the film, or at least into its final cut. 

But he remembers his roots.  He has pledged to donate the profits from his new album, ("Compton"), to arts programs for children in the city that launched him.