MovieChat Forums > Cadillac Records (2008) Discussion > Were the following scenes truth or ficti...

Were the following scenes truth or fiction?

posted 15 years ago by rooprect
5 replies | jump to latest

I know the movie took a lot of liberties, but how much of the following has any truth to it?

1. Little Walter shot some guy who was using his name (and Muddy drove the getaway car).
2. Little Walter got brutalized by the cops (who were then bribed to stop by Len).
3. Len used to bribe DJs to play his records.
4. Len burned down the nightclub to collect the insurance money.
5. Len was attacked in a dark alley by rival record producers.
6. Len had a heart attack & died as he was driving away from the studio for the last time.
7. Howlin Wolf was a pissed off summabich.

[–] lovinthis12001 15 years ago

Lol I looks up some stuff about these people. I read that Len was attacked it didn't say by whom and why. And it did say that Howlin Wolf had a bit of a temper or something like that. But I got that information off of Wikipedia lol

[–] mstatz 15 years ago

In answer to your questions.
1. The FAQ said it was not a real event
3. Most likely since most DJs were paid to play music. It is called payola.
6. The FAQ also says Len died in 1969, long after he sold the business.

[–] workingonzen 15 years ago

1. I don't know. It sounds like stuff of legend. People were using other's established names to make a profit at those times though so it's perfectly feasible.

2. Not sure

3. Alan Freed was notorious for "Pay to/for Play" and lost his career to these bribes scandals. It may've been the start of the FCC.

4. Not sure, but wouldn't be surprised.

5. I think that there was a black Muslim gang in that part of Chicago at the time and they chased off non blacks. So it's possible. A lot of this stuff is in dispute.

6. wiki disagrees slightly, it might be stuff of legend.

7. Wolf was supposedly a very kind and gentle family man, despite his onstage persona, but notoriously careful with his money and very stern about his business and band. And he was quite larger than the actor in this film so he was more intimidating.

[–] elenamuti 15 years ago

on the bribing dj issue: is also mentioned in Phil Spector's biography written by Mick Brown(great bio, btw)that Len used to bribe Djs and that it was a terrible practice because it was ruining/corrupting the business.
the big question for me was: what the hell did they do with poor Phil (len's brother). he's not even mentioned and he founded Chess Records with Len!
Len died months after he sold the company...the end of the movie is probably just metaphorical.
I guess the rest are just rumours and the director decided to go with it (see Edie in Factory Girl having an affair with Bob Dylan...certain things are just 'for the sake of the narration').

[–] rooprect 15 years ago

the end of the movie is probably just metaphorical

That's a great way of putting it, and maybe some of the other scenes can be viewed the same way. For example, even if Little Walter didn't actually shoot anyone for using his name, maybe there was an instance when he 'destroyed' someone's act because of it. Or maybe, even though the cops didn't actually beat his face to a pulp on the hood of a car, he might have been harassed & 'beat up' by the police in other ways.

Sensationalized as much of this stuff is, I'm sure there's some truth at the heart of it. I should probably listen to the director's commentary to find out if she mentions anything like it. I know in the beginning she says something about how it's not entirely accurate, but her purpose is to make people interested in this chapter of musical history.