Kansas City is a 1996 film, directed by Robert Altman, and featuring numerous jazz tracks. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, and Steve Buscemi starred. The film was entered into the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.
Plot
A kidnapping goes down in 1934 Kansas City. Blondie O'Hara's petty thief husband Johnny is taken by gangster "Seldom Seen" and held prisoner at the Hey Hey Club, one of the hot spots of the Kansas City jazz scene. Blondie herself kidnaps Mrs. Stilton, the wife of a local politician, played by Michael Murphy. She wishes to blackmail the man into helping to free Johnny.
Despite the risk to his re-election campaign, Mr. Stilton does everything he can in order to free his wife by saving Johnny. Meanwhile, Mrs. Stilton comes to befriend Blondie. She is impressed by Blondie's devotion to her husband, contrasted to her own loveless marriage.
Cast
Jennifer Jason Leigh - Blondie O'Hara
Miranda Richardson - Carolyn Stilton
Harry Belafonte - Seldom Seen
Michael Murphy - Henry Stilton
Dermot Mulroney - Johnny O'Hara
Steve Buscemi - Johnny Flynn
Brooke Smith - Babe Flynn
Jane Adams - Nettie Bolt
Martin Martin - 'Blue' Green
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was produced by Hal Wilner and Steven Bernstein and featured several contemporary musicians playing the roles of famous jazz musicians from the 1930s. For example, Craig Handy plays the role of Coleman Hawkins, Joshua Redman plays Lester Young, and James Carter plays Ben Webster.
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