rodrig58 If you love jazz music, Paris, Paul Newman, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Poitier and Joanne Woodward, then this movie is perfect. The story is very simple and very stylish and ingeniously filmed. All the merit of Martin Ritt, the director, and Christian Matras, cinematographer. Music by Duke Ellington, who is the true pianist, along with eight other non-credited musicians.

wes-connors Handsome American jazz musicians Paul Newman (as Ram Bowen) and Sidney Poitier (as Eddie Cook) have relocated to Paris, where they blow "Paris Blues" for trendy crowds. When beautiful vacationing schoolteachers Joanne Woodward (as Lillian Corning) and Diahann Carroll (as Connie Lampson) arrive in the "City of Love," you know what happens. Mr. Newman must consider giving up his promiscuous Parisian lifestyle to settle down with Ms. Woodward. And, Mr. Poitier must consider returning to the more racist United States with the desirable Ms. Carroll. Director Martin Ritt, four very attractive stars, a drug subplot, real musician Louis Armstrong, and a jazzy soundtrack in Paris add up to significantly less than you're expecting.**** Paris Blues (9/27/61) Martin Ritt ~ Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Joanne Woodward, Diahann Carroll

PWNYCNY What a great movie. Joanne Woodward is at her very best. She is the star, the player that makes this movie happen, the actress whose performance raises this movie from merely good to great. Far from being corny, this movie offers a powerful, coherent and plausible story about people who meet, form intense attachments and then must make decisions that will effect their relationships and their lives. The movie has a tremendous all-star cast, with Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Diahann Carroll and Louis Armstrong, in addition to Ms. Woodward, and a great setting, Paris circa early 1960s, minus the tourists. This movie grabs and keeps one's interest as the characters meet, interact, and reveal their innermost thoughts, and does do in a straightforward manner that is neither corny nor trite. This movie is wonderful.

Nazi_Fighter_David The story is about two young jazzmen Newman and Poitier who live in Paris…Newman is after a serious musical career… Poitier enjoys the tolerant atmosphere and the freedom from U.S. racial tensions… They work at a Left Bank cub owned by Barbara Laage who is having a casual affair with Newman… Serge Raggiani a gypsy guitarist who is a narcotics addict, and Louis Armstrong a trumpeter, are among their friends… Newman and Poitier meet a couple of American tourists, Joanne Woodward and Diahann Carroll who are visiting Paris on a two-weeks vacations… A romance develops between Poitier and Carroll… Woodward and Newman also find that a feeling is growing between them… Woodward wants him to return with her to the U. S., but Newman believes that marriage would interfere with his career, and decides to remain… As in "The Hustler," Newman plays a man whose devotion to making his talent better than second-rate prevents love… But he was natural as the pool player, and convinced us—through his movements, dialog and expressions—of his feelings for the music…Woodward is more aggressive than Newman… Moved by his music, she displays genuine emotion, but Newman is so defensive, egocentric and selfish that he becomes hostile, stubborn, unpleasant and offensive… Woodward is determined to make something more of it, but he remains uninfluenced—willing to show slight affection but incapable of being sincerely tender… In their final bedroom scene, the two superb1y perform a progression from spontaneous domestic affection, to growing alienation, to his indifferent rejection of her love… Legend Louis Armstrong shines in one flamboyant jazz interlude