Jack and Frank Baker ,(played by brothers Jeff and Beau Bridges), are barely making a living by Playing duo piano's at every Hotel and cocktail lounge. Frank decides the act needs something to spark it up. They decide to hire a female vocalist. They audition quite a few , with no luck untill one arrives after the auditions are done. It's a hard edged, but very attactive woman with the catchy name of Suzie Diamond played by Michelle Pfeiffer.Even though Frank doesn't want to stay to audition her, since they were over. He gives in and he's glad he does, because she can sing. They act has there spark, and she not only sparks up the act, but sparks fly between her and Jack, which is not approved by his brother Frank.
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The review of this Movie prepared by Tom Scalise
For 15 years, Frank and Jack Baker have been professional musicians and partners in a piano act that does schmaltzy standards in clubs and bars. Jack (Jeff Bridges) is the younger, less committed, but more talented of the two, and has always wanted to move in the direction of real, improvisatory jazz, but older brother Frank has run the show and wants to keep things as they have been. Work has dried up, however, so the duo holds auditions for a female singer, and Suzie Diamond (Pfeiffer), a former "escort," gets the job. Business picks up again, but the heat between Jack and Suzie threatens Frank, and she becomes the catalyst for the brothers to evaluate where they're going and how honest they've been with each other. This is a low-key, action-starved 1989 drama with fine, heartfelt performances and an excellent script by writer-director Steven Kloves (who a decade later would tackle the Harry Potter screenplays). The real-life Bridges brothers learned to play all the wonderful Ellington tunes and other standards to achieve verisimilitude (although the soundtrack was recorded by long-time professional Dave Grusin), and Pfeiffer acquits herself well not only acting but doing her own singing. (Her steamy performance of "Makin' Whoopee" atop a piano has become justly celebrated.)
The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus