Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Kansas City Blu-ray Movie Review

The Rayon Club?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 3, 2020

Occasionally the internet actually can provide something that turns out to be educational or at least informative. In revisiting Kansas City in preparation for writing this review, and perhaps influenced by the fact that I relatively recently reviewed The Cotton Club Encore, I began to think about the correspondences between the two projects, with two iconic directors who arguably first came to wide public consciousness in the 1970s attempting to fashion stories out of “real life” jazz haunts and some criminal intrigue, with each of their efforts at least perceived not to have completely registered favorably with either critics or audiences. In doing a bit more background research, I was kind of gobsmacked to stumble across this article from the American Film Institute which gets into the production history of The Cotton Club and which overtly mentions that Robert Altman was originally announced as that film’s director, a datapoint I must have forgotten if I ever knew it in the first place. There are undeniable connections between Altman’s Kansas City and Francis Ford Coppola’s Cotton Club (Encore or otherwise), and in a way it may be a fun “thought experiment” for some fans of either or both director(s) to imagine what might have transpired had they switched projects.

In a way it may be instructive to compare some of the Altman films which came either shortly before or shortly after Kansas City with this particular film, in order to not just “deconstruct” it but perhaps to understand why it’s never registered particularly strongly with many people. Altman of course made part of his reputation on films featuring ensemble casts, where (typically with films where Altman had a hand in the screenplay, as he did on Kansas City) there’s almost a Slacker-esque “wandering” between various characters’ stories and subplots. In that regard, it’s notable to remember both The Player and Gosford Park, two films not written (or co-written) by Altman which featured rather large casts, but which may arguably have a more focused narrative approach. Kansas City is a “traditional” Altman affair with regard to its kind of loosey-goosey structure which tends to ping pong a bit randomly at times, but which ultimately does weave together various strands taking place in early thirties’ Kansas City (where Altman grew up).

The “main” story deals with the unlikely “partnership” between a kind of hardbitten floozy named Blondie O’Hara (Jennifer Jason Leigh, in a performance I’m personally not sure is helpful to the film) and a laudanum addicted socialite named Carolyn Stilton (Miranda Richardson), whom Blondie more or less kidnaps in a mad attempt to free her own captured husband, a two bit thug named Johnny (Dermot Mulroney). Johnny has run afoul of local gangster Seldom Seen (Harry Belafonte), and Blondie is convinced that Carolyn’s political boss husband Henry Stilton (Michael Murphy) can get Johnny freed. That’s the basic underlying premise here, but Altman stuffs this film full of all sorts of sidebars, and some may feel the “tangents” are actually more inherently interesting than the ostensible focal tale.

Among these perceived “additions” are a number of standout sequences featuring a number of superb performances by the likes of Joshua Redman, Craig Handy and James Carter as jazz greats (based on real life titans Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster) hanging around the Hey Hey Club. This is one way in which Kansas City may remind many of The Cotton Club, in that film only really springs to vibrant life in some of the musical sequences, while the interstitial dramatic moments can come off as intermittently turgid. Another subplot deals with a young pregnant African American girl named Pearl (Ajia Mignon Johnson) who has an unlikely meeting with a young kid named Charlie Parker (Albert J. Burnes), in one of the film's more fanciful uses of a real life character.

Altman often liked to rip the scab off of what he perceived to be the "wound" of The American Dream, and some of his barbed perspective gives Kansas City a definite kick. But Altman might be accused of sometimes letting his performers have a bit too much leeway in some of his films, and my hunch is even those with a certain fondness for Altman and his eccentricities may find Jennifer Jason Leigh in particular a bit much to handle in this film. The production design (by Altman's son Stephen) and the soundtrack are beautifully wrought, however, and may help to balance things for some fans.

Kansas City Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kansas City is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Arrow's insert booklet really doesn't provide a whale of a lot of info on the transfer, stating only that:

Kansas City is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio with 2.0 and 5.1 audio. The 2K master was delivered to Arrow Films by MK2.

This is generally a very nice looking transfer, one that boasts good detail and fine detail levels on everything from the smudged surfaces of saxophones to the sometimes rather "heavy" looking clothing a lot of the characters wear, some of which has ornate patterns which resolve very well. I found the palette to be just a trifle dowdy looking at times, perhaps at least partially by design, something that is perhaps exacerbated by a glut of rather dark lighting conditions that permeate the film. That said, more burnished tones in the brown and gray territory look reasonably vivid, and the latter part of the film which has some better lit, daylight, material pops considerably better than some of the dark interior or nighttime material. Grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation and aside from some recurrent crush in some of the darkest scenes I noticed no glaring compression anomalies. My score is 4.25.

Kansas City Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kansas City's soundtrack is one of its undeniable assets, and both the LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks on this disc offer nice support for the film's musical elements in particular. The surround track opens up not just the actual music but some of the other elements like folks talking in the background in the club scenes. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and I noticed no problems whatsoever with regard to distortion, dropouts or other damage.

Kansas City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Robert Altman


• Geoff Andrew on Kansas City (1080p; 25:20) features the critic's thoughts on the film, but also on Altman's entire career.


• Luc Largier

  Introduction (1080p; 3:49) is in French with English subtitles.

  
  

  Gare, Trains and Deraillements (1080i; 15:56) is a visual essay by Largier. In French with English subtitles.

• Electronic Press Kit

  Robert Altman Goes to the Heart of America (1080i; 8:45)

  
  

  Kansas City: The Music (1080i; 9:20)

  
  

  Interviews

  Robert Altman (1080i; 2:23)

  
  

  Jennifer Jason Leigh (1080i; 2:50)

  
  

  Miranda Richardson (1080i; 2:34)

  
  

  Harry Belafonte (1080i; 3:33)

  
  

  Joshua Redman (1080i; 2:06)

  Behind the Scenes (1080i; 2:20)

• Trailers and TV Spots

  International Trailer (1080p; 2:25)

  
  

  US Trailer (1080p; 2:27)

  
  

  French Trailer (1080p; 1:38)

  
  

  German Trailer (1080p; 1:38)

  
  

  US TV Spots (1080i; 1:06)

• Image Gallery (1080p; 4:20)

Kansas City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Altman completists will certainly want to check out Kansas City, but as even Geoff Andrew gets into in his "appreciation" of the film, this is one Altman effort that just doesn't seem to hit the bullseye for a lot of viewers. Technical merits are generally solid (especially the audio), and the supplementary package has some really interesting material, as per Arrow's standard operating procedure, for those who are considering a purchase.