I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Great Film overall

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

****SPOILERS*** Jack Webb riding high in his "Dragnet" TV series fans out here as a "Just the Music Mame" clarinet jazz musician Pete Kelly coupled as a crime fighter, like his Sgt. Joe Friday, in battling the mob headed by the whale like mobster Fran "Francis" McCarg, Edmond O'Brien. It's McCarg who's attempting to take control of Kelly's "Big Seven Band" working out of "Rudy's Speakeasy" in downtown Kansas City as well as all the other big bands in the Mid-West. That by McCarg forcing him to pay, 25% of the take, homage to him and his homeboys or else get his arms & legs broken. Acting at first like a tough cop instead of a sensitive clarinet player Kelly change his act when his drummer boy Joey Firestone, Martin Milner, who refuses to give into Mcarg's demands is gunned down by his boys one rainy evening leaving "Rudy's" to dry out after an all night binge of heavy boozing.Kelly now giving into McCarg's demands has his entire band start to check out on him for better pastures, or gigs, in the east which includes his fellow clarinet player Al "Gunny" Gunnaway, Lee Marvin. It's Gunnaway who takes Kelly's lucky mouthpiece, in revenge for breaking up that band of his, for his clarinet that he once gave him as a present.Living in limbo with no futures in the music or band business to speak of by being controlled by McCarg Kelly gets his big break when McCarg slips up by beating his girlfriend singer Rose Hopkins, Peggy Lee, almost into a coma. That by Rose, who was too drunk, being unable to belt out a song at the nightclub she was preforming in making him, who kept saying what a big hit she is, look ridicules.***SPOILERS*** Kelly soon finds out that Rose now mentally damaged with the mind of a five year old has information about Firedtone's murder that can send McCarg, who ordered it, straight to the electric chair! The ending is something like a scene out of "Gunfight at the OK Corral" with Pete and his girlfriend ivy, Janet Leigh, who just came along for the ride confront McCarg and his henchmen in this empty ballroom for a final dance. It's interesting to see how Jack Webb can pull all this off going from a crime fighter in "Dragnet" to a jazz clarinet player in "Pete Kelly's Bules" and does a fairly good job in doing it. It's just that the public warn't ready to see Webb change horse in mid-stream which had him go back to playing Sgt. Joe Friday for the rest of his career until the early 1970's with only one film "-30-" in between!.

A well shot film as others have noted. Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee are given almost one take performances.Note that Webb twice stands by material objects that may point self mockingly to his acting style- the cigar store Indian in the roadhouse where Ella sings the first time and,in the next occurrence,a cardboard cut-out of Pete.Janet Leigh gets to wear some great outfits- the hat in her car.Excellent quality on the DVD including the sound.The opening scene is a great New Orleans tribute with local talent in the choir and the trumpet Teddy Buckner.

I was eager to see this film, as it was a rare chance to see Jack Webb star and direct a film where he does not play a cop. While the topic of the film (jazz) might surprise some, it didn't catch me by surprise as I have read a biography about Webb and know he adored jazz. He had one of the best record collections anywhere and in the 1950s and 60s, he was responsible for many collections of jazz recordings. Apart from playing a cop, jazz was Webb's love.Webb plays the title character--a cornet-playing band leader in the 1920s. His band has a moderate amount of success when they are approached with an 'offer' from a mobster (Edmund O'Brien) who wants to be the band's agent...and collect 25% of their take. The bottom line is that they must work with this cheap hood or, if they are lucky, just have their heads kicked in! Well, through some bad choices, one of the more headstrong members of the band is killed and Webb just walks away---forming a new band and knuckling under to O'Brien's thuggish tactics. But, despite swallowing his pride, deep within Webb's conscience is eating at him...as he has trouble sleeping with this devil.The film is very interesting for its look and sound. While I am no fan of jazz, I really liked the cool jazz sound and it gave the film a great ambiance. Webb chose his selections well. I also liked all of the characters...save one. Webb was just too laconic--too stiff. While this worked well when he played Joe Friday on "Dragnet", here he seems too wooden--at least until the end. He wasn't bad...he just wasn't as good as he could have been. Otherwise, some fine performances by Janet Leigh, Rosemary Clooney (in a pretty tough role) and O'Brien. Despite the lovely Warner Brothers color, the film played a lot like film noir with its gritty dialog and heavies. An interesting film--and one well worth seeing even with its faults. Plus, despite his oddly controlled acting, Webb directed this film very well--keeping it taught and entertaining throughout.By the way, you gotta love that scene with the disco ball. When you see it, you'll know what I mean.

This is a movie that satisfies on so many levels and even manages to overcome a less than perfect print (I have long coveted this title and mentioned it to the guy in Norway who has been so generous in supplying me with French Classics: he located a print which, bizarrely is dubbed into Spanish whilst RETAINING the original English soundtrack). It also has to overcome Jack Webb's wooden acting and my personal aversion to Janet Leigh and it does this in Spades. On the first level it's a wonderful mixture of the visual and oral with Webb's eye for detail, period and otherwise, perfectly complemented by Richard L. Breen's brilliant screenplay liberally laced with faux-Chandler narration and dialogue (Webb in voice-over setting the scene, a brownstone in KC where his band is resident: It used to belong to a dentist but he moved to Chicago to get a piece of the flu epidemic. This line is so good that it doesn't really matter that the great flu epidemic was in 1928, one year later than the setting of the film. Later, when the hot-headed drummer Joey Firestone, is gunned down in front of Webb in torrential rain in an alley outside the club, Webb goes back inside and addresses Rudy, the owner: Webb: Get someone to bring Joey in. Rudy: Why? Webb: It's raining on him.Webb may have been wooden but he sure knew how to tell a story cinematically with touches like the one where he comes off the stand after a set, walks to the bar, leans against it, facing away from it, stretches a hand backwards into which the bartender places a towel, with which Webb (Pete Kelly) proceeds to wipe his brow. The movie is replete with touches like this, note, for example, the recurring motif when the band are relaxing in the kitchen in between sets and each time the door opens it creates a draught in the pizza oven. The beauty of this is that it ISN'T a plot point and no one remarks on it, it's just wonderful attention to detail. I could go on and on citing visuals like this and low-key dialogue because this movie is so rich in both. In a rare sympathetic role Lee Marvin is outstanding as Al Gannaway, the clarinet player and longest serving member of Pete Kelly's Big Seven, world-weary and tired of trouble, who leaves the band and returns again. Equally outstanding is Edmund O'Brien's Fran McCarg, a local gangster who offers the band both 'protection' and the services of a singer, his alcoholic girlfriend, Rose Hopkins, a truly outstanding performance by Peggy Lee. The final shootout is very reminiscent of Orson Welles, with one of McCarg's heavies lurking in the rafters above the glitter ball in a ballroom and Webb's camera shooting from above the man and looking down through both rafters and ball. Add Ella Fitzgerald to the mix plus some fine Dixieland Jazz (Dick Cathcart played cornet for Webb) and this is a true neglected gem.