Best movies like Stony Island
If streets could talk, this street would sing.
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Stony Island Starring Edward Stoney Robinson, Gene Barge, Rae Dawn Chong, Susanna Hoffs, and more. If you liked Stony Island then you may also like: Young Man with a Horn, New York, New York, Ray, Rhythm Parade, Ring of Darkness and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.
"Stony Island gives you a priceless look back at Chicago’s South Side neighborhood, at a time when very few films were made in within the city at all — and features a legion of legendary Chicago players (Gene Barge, Phil Upchurch, Larry Ball, Richie Davis, Tennyson Stephens, Ronnie Barron, and a young Susanna Hoffs) alongside Dennis Franz (“NYPD Blue”) and Rae Dawn Chong. Telling the story of a group of multiracial R&B performers, and how they’re affected by the death of a veteran musician from their circle, Stony Island is an incredible time capsule, and provides a sweetly funky soundtrack to boot!" -- The Cinefamily
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New York, New York
An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.
Ray
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.
Rhythm Parade
A nightclub performer, jealous about the talents of an aspiring singer, tries to sabotage her chances at a professional career.
Ring of Darkness
When the singer of a popular rock band disappears under mysterious circumstances, a contest to find a replacement soon turns from dream-come-true to waking nightmare for the young singer who hopes to take the job.
'Round Midnight
Inside the Blue Note nightclub one night in 1959 Paris, an aged, ailing jazzman coaxes an eloquent wail from his tenor sax. Outside, a young Parisian too broke to buy a glass of wine strains to hear those notes. Soon they will form a friendship that sparks a final burst of genius.
Jammin' the Blues
In this short film, prominent jazz musicians of the 1940s gather for a rare filming of a jam session. This highly stylized chronicle features tenor sax legend Lester Young.
A Jazzman's Blues
A tale of forbidden love and family drama unravels 40 years of secrets and lies against a soundtrack of juke joint blues in the Deep South.
Killer Diller
A guitar playing car thief meets an autistic savant piano player, and together they transform a group of reluctant halfway house convicts into The Killer Diller Blues Band.
All Night Long
Over the course of one eventful evening, the anniversary celebration of the musical and romantic partners Aurelius Rex and Delia Lane, a jealous, ambitious drummer, Johnny Cousin, attempts to tear the interracial couple apart.
The Buddy Holly Story
A chronicle of the rise and brief career of rock 'n' roll star Buddy Holly, who aspires to play music the way he wants it to sound. Holly and his band, the Crickets, are first invited to record in Nashville, where they encounter creative differences with the producing staff. Later they play a major booking at the Apollo Theater, scheduled there under the mistaken assumption that they're a black band. Holly's career eventually goes solo -- until the tragic day the music dies.
Summer Holiday
1960s musical showcasing Cliff Richard. Four bus mechanics working for London Transport strike up a deal with the company: they do up a one of the company's legendary red double decker buses and take it to southern Europe as a mobile hotel. If it succeeds, they will be put in charge of a whole fleet. While on the road in France they pick up three young British ladies whose car breaks down and offer to take them to their next singing job in Athens. They also pick up a stowaway, who hides the fact that she's a famous American pop star on the run, chased by the media and her parents.
Crossroads
A wanna-be blues guitar virtuoso seeks a long-lost song by legendary musician, Robert Johnson.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.
Children on Their Birthdays
Havoc is created in a small Southern community when a 12-year-old shows up, causing a couple 13-year-old friends to fall in love with her, thus possibly jeopardizing their friendship.
The Glenn Miller Story
A vibrant tribute to one of America's legendary bandleaders, charting Glenn Miller's rise from obscurity and poverty to fame and wealth in the early 1940s.
Lady Sings the Blues
Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.
I Love a Bandleader
A painter suffering from amnesia convinces himself that he's a famous bandleader and finds romance with a pretty singer. Comedy with music.
Hoop Dreams
Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.
Is Everybody Happy?
It is the story of Ted Lewis, popular band leader and clarinettist. The music for the film was written by Harry Akst and Grant Clarke, except for "St. Louis Blues" by W. C. Handy and "Tiger Rag". The film's title comes from Lewis's catchphrase "Is everybody happy?" The film's soundtrack exists on Vitaphone discs preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, but the film itself is considered a lost film, according to the Vitaphone Project website. A five minute clip from the film can be found on YouTube.
Leadbelly
The life of Blues and folk singer Huddie Leadbetter, nicknamed Leadbelly is recounted. Covering the good times and bad from his 20s to 40s. Much of that time was spent on chain gangs in the south. Even in prison he became well known for the songs he had composed and sung during and before the time he spent there.
Paris Blues
During the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls and must decide between music and love.
Ruby's Bucket of Blood
A Louisiana juke joint owner loses her star entertainer and hires a white singer to fill in.
Cadillac Records
The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.
St. Louis Blues
In this all-black cast short, legendary blues singer Bessie Smith finds her gambler lover Jimmy messin' with a pretty, younger woman; he leaves and she sings the blues, with chorus and dancers.
Too Late Blues
Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.
What Happened, Miss Simone?
The film chronicles Nina Simone's journey from child piano prodigy to iconic musician and passionate activist, told in her own words.
Sarge Goes to College
A Marine Sergeant, wounded in overseas service, requires an operation, and the Navy psychiatrist recommends to the Captain and Colonel that "Sarge" be given a few weeks rest before hospitalization. Through the Dean of San Juan Junior College, Sarge enters the school on a temporary basis.
The Gene Krupa Story
The story of legendary jazz drummer, Gene Krupa. Since his youth, all Gene ever wanted to do is play the drums and make music. This is something his parents would not approve of- they want him to be a priest. When Gene's father dies he promises to enter the priesthood. He soon realizes that he doesn't belong there and leaves to join his friend, Eddie's band. Ethel, Eddie's girlfriend, convinces Gene to go to New York and make it big. The 3 of them head to New York. Here Ethel and Gene soon fall in love and Gene makes a name for himself. Gene starts to live in the fast lane, with drugs, alcohol, women and parties. Ethel, unhappy with Gene's lifestyle, leaves him. Gene soon "hits rock bottom" where he has to face reality and choose where to take his life.
What Am I Bid?
Discharged serviceman stops off in Hollywood and gets discovered as a next potential big country music star. Really just an excuse to have several country acts perform on film.
The Revolving Doors
A quiet painter, separated from his wife for a year, receives a suitcase in the mail from his mother, whom he hasn't seen since infancy. He believes she abandoned him to his wealthy, paternal grandparents. The suitcase contains mementos and a diary, a long letter to him, written over the years, with details of her youth, her first job as a pianist at a cinema, the coming of talkies, her marriage, and how he came to live with his grandparents. As he reads through the materials and her story comes to life, his son Antoine, who's about 10 or 12, tries to break through his father's silence and sorrow by taking matters into his own hands.
The Identical
During the Great Depression, identical twins are separated at birth. One, Drexel Hemsley becomes a wildly successful '50s rock star, while the other, Ryan Wade, struggles to balance his passion for music and pleasing his parents, who want him to become a preacher. Finally, Ryan rebels against his parents' wishes and launches his own music career -- performing the hits of Drexel Hemsley. Ryan later learns the truth about Drexel when their fates tragically collide.
Satchmo the Great
In this 1957 biography film of the jazz-great Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, he and his band tour the world as American good-will ambassadors bring jazz at its best to the people of the world. Within the film, the life of Louis Armstrong is portrayed through the music. One of the outstanding scenes in this "biography/docudrama" shows blind songwriter W. C. Handy, with tears streaming down his face, as Armstrong, backed by Leonard Bernstein leading the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, play Handy's immortal "St. Louis Blues."
Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story
The story of singer Rosemary Clooney's rise to fame, her marriage to Jose Ferrer, and her nervous breakdown.
A Man Called Adam
A famous jazz trumpeter finds himself unable to cope with the problems of everyday life.
Two Trains Runnin'
The search of several young, white men for blues singers who have been missing for decades coincides with the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi in the 1960s.
Hearts of Fire
A reclusive musician, once a huge rock star, takes a young female protegee. While on a tour she meets a younger, more popular rocker and switches her loyalties.
New Orleans
A gambling hall owner relocates from New Orleans to Chicago and entertains his patrons with hot jazz by Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Woody Herman, and others.
Outlaw Blues
An aspiring musician is released from prison to find that a song he had written while locked up has been stolen and made into a hit record by a country music superstar. When his confrontation with the star takes a violent turn the ex-con has to go back on the run, but he finds an unexpected ally in a shrewd background singer with a plan to turn the tables in his favor.
Scott Joplin
The life story of Scott Joplin and how he became the greatest ragtime composer of all time.
The Big Beat
Young man just out of college tries to persuade his father, who owns a record company, to start signing up rock 'n' roll acts.
Pete Kelly's Blues
In 1927, a Kansas City, Missouri cornet player and his band perform nightly at a seedy speakeasy until a racketeer tries to extort them in exchange for protection.
American Hot Wax
This is the story loosely based on Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed, who introduced rock'n'roll to teenage American radio audiences in the 1950s. Freed was a source of great controversy: criticized by conservatives for corrupting youth with the "devil's music"; hated by racists for promoting African American music for white consumption; persecuted by law enforcement officials and finally brought down by the "payola" scandals.
Cold Justice
When a washed-up boxer invites a British priest to minister in his South Chicago neighborhood, he never suspects that the priest is not who he says he is.
"Stony Island gives you a priceless look back at Chicago’s South Side neighborhood, at a time when very few films were made in within the city at all — and features a legion of legendary Chicago players (Gene Barge, Phil Upchurch, Larry Ball, Richie Davis, Tennyson Stephens, Ronnie Barron, and a young Susanna Hoffs) alongside Dennis Franz (“NYPD Blue”) and Rae Dawn Chong. Telling the story of a group of multiracial R&B performers, and how they’re affected by the death of a veteran musician from their circle, Stony Island is an incredible time capsule, and provides a sweetly funky soundtrack to boot!" -- The Cinefamily
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Stony Island Starring Edward Stoney Robinson, Gene Barge, Rae Dawn Chong, Susanna Hoffs, and more. If you liked Stony Island then you may also like: Young Man with a Horn, New York, New York, Ray, Rhythm Parade, Ring of Darkness and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.
Young Man with a Horn
Legendary trumpeter Art Hazzard teaches young Rick Martin everything he knows about playing, so Rick becomes a star musician, but a troubled marriage and the desire to play pure jazz instead of commercial swing songs cause him problems.