I wanted to but couldn't!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Filmmaker/jazz buff Bertrand Tavernier's story of an aging, alcoholic tenor sax man living in Paris works best when sticking to the music and steering clear of the jazz lover's anguished adulation. At the heart of the film is a compelling amateur performance by Dexter Gordon, a jazzman himself just doing what comes natural, playing a musician grown "tired of everything except the music." Gordon's ragged, melancholy voice and lazy mannerisms hold the episodic non-plot together, providing a measure of quiet relief from the histrionic outbursts of his number-one fan François Cluzet, who is forced to pour his heart and soul into lines like, "He is a great musician! A genius!" and, "Your music changed my life!" It may not hold much interest to anyone not already inclined toward the music of Bud Powell and Lester Young (to whom the film is dedicated), but die-hard aficionados will (like François) find it a small slice of jazz heaven.

It is perhaps telling that the two greatest non - American jazz musicians(Django Reinhardt and Michel Petrucciani)were both French because of all the European nations,France was the quickest to "get" jazz and recognise its validity as an art form,laud and give sanctuary to it's black pioneers.Certainly up until the early 1960s racism was fairly rare in France and many black musicians with international reputations took up residence in that country,happy to leave "Jim Crow" behind.From the mid 1930s there was a twenty year ban imposed by the Musicians' Union against American jazz musicians playing in the UK. Ludicrous when you consider that 20 miles away some of the best of them were performing every night. So when Dale Turner(Mr Dexter Gordon) begins his self-imposed exile in Paris he is following a well - established trail. A compassionate,sensitive and intelligent man,Turner has addiction issues that he is trying to address,but working in clubs is not the best environment for someone with his problems. But,above all,Turner has a God - given gift for playing the saxophone. Tired and worn out as he is,he is still capable of making music of great beauty.Respected by fellow musicians and revered by his admirers,"Round Midnight" tells of Turner's stay in Paris,and is a movie that loves jazz and loves the people who play jazz. Mr Dexter Gordon slips seamlessly into the Dale Turner persona,never quite drunk,never quite sober;in the end only wanting to play his saxophone,his whole life encapsulated in notes that sometimes seem to be more than mere music.He is clearly not acting,this is himself brutally exposed,a man almost but not quite beaten by life. People who love him try to save him from himself,but he is determined to go his own way.Jazz musicians do not,as a rule,have easy lives. Constant touring,at the mercy of different rhythm sections every night, always the "fan" with a connection...........it is not a recipe for longevity.In the end Dale Turner returns to America,reverts to drug use and dies soon after.Whether he would have survived had he stayed in Paris is problematic.I think in the final analysis it was just his time."Round Midnight"is very sad yet it celebrates the most life-affirming form of music on earth.Mr Gordon made an album for Blue Note entitled "Our Man In Paris";in it you will hear Long Tall Dexter at his muscular best,far different from the slightly halting playing of his later years. Never mind the moon landings,never mind the Internet or Henry Ford or Bill Gates,jazz is America's greatest gift to the world."Round Midnight" is France's way of saying "Thank you".

A vivid portrait of a Bud Powell/Lester young type who, like the vast majority of American jazz artists, receives more appreciation and love for his art overseas than here in the U.S. even though this is where Jazz was born.It saddens me every time I watch it because jazz is still so under-appreciated in this country. And we can largely thank commercial radio for that.

The one thing I remember about this film is Dexter Gordon's voice. Weary, sad, and wry. It's a voice that has played a lot of sad songs and smoked a lot of cigarettes, and it's a beautiful instrument in its own way. Gordon plays Dale Turner, an expatriate jazz musician in Paris and a recovering heroin addict. This film is the story of his time in Paris and his eventual return to New York City. This film slightly parallels Gordon's own life - he too was a former heroin addict who spent much of his career in Paris, eventually returning home to New York City. A very touching and lovely ode to the beauty of jazz music, and a film that gave Dexter Gordon a deserved career comeback late in his life. Not to be missed.