Get on Up Dvd

Get on Up is a 2014 American biographical musical drama film about the life of singer James Brown and is directed by Tate Taylor and written by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. Produced by Brian Grazer, Mick Jagger, Taylor and Victoria Pearman, the film stars an ensemble cast featuring Chadwick Boseman as Brown, Nelsan Ellis as Bobby Byrd, Dan Aykroyd as Ben Bart, Viola Davis as Susie Brown, Craig Robinson as Maceo Parker, and Octavia Spencer as Aunt Honey.

Plot

Get on Up uses a nonlinear narrative as James Brown’s stream of consciousness, including asynchronous events and breaks in the fourth wall. It opens in 1993 with James walking through a hallway as an audience chants his name. He hears voices of people he knew throughout his life. The film cuts to 1988 in Augusta, Georgia; James learns his private bathroom in a strip mall he owns was used without consent. As James confronts and then forgives the trespasser, he accidentally fires a shotgun.

James and his band travel to Vietnam to support black troops and are well-received.

In 1939, James is raised in the woods by parents, Susie and Joe Brown, who endure financial struggles and physical abuse. Later, he performs in a gospel group, The Famous Flames, formed by Bobby Byrd, whose family sponsored his release from prison. In 1964, manager Ben Bart convinces them to let The Rolling Stones close The T.A.M.I. Show. The Flames upstage the Stones, and, exiting, James says, “Welcome to America”.

In James’ childhood, Susie leaves Joe; Joe threatens her with a gun and keeps James. Joe beats James until Joe joins the army. James is left living with and working for his Aunt, who runs a brothel, though he attends church and enjoys the extreme spirit-filled singing and dancing.

At 17, James steals a suit and receives a 5-to-13-year sentence. In prison, James sees a group performing. His reaction incites a fight wherein both he and a singer, Bobby Byrd, are injured. Later, they talk and Bobby hears James sing. He invites James into his household. Their group perform after Little Richard. Later, James goes to the burger joint where Richard works. Richard rants about not wanting to make music for the “white devil”. Another flashback from James’s childhood shows him and other black boys forced into a battle royal boxing match while a band plays. Inspired by the band, James wins.

In the 1950s, James and Bobby meet Ralph Bass, an agent for King Records, with whom The Flames record their first single, “Please, Please, Please”, on the Federal Records label. Executive Syd Nathan isn’t interested but changes his mind when he hears James singing. Ben becomes James’ manager, calling him the group’s true voice. The records are labelled “James Brown and His Famous Flames”, leading all except Bobby to quit. James and Bobby reform the band as a vocal group and perform successfully at the Apollo Theater.

Afterwards, Bobby tells James a lady claiming to be his mother is there. As a young child, James had seen Susie with a soldier, to whom she claimed she didn’t know James. Aunt Honey consoled James, saying his mother was foolish and James would become rich.

James has a child, Teddy, with first wife Velma, later divorcing her and marrying Dee-Dee. After a Christmas event, James hits Dee-Dee for her revealing outfit. Reaching out to the community, James records “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud” (1968). James convinces the Boston Garden’s manager to continue a performance following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. People try to get on stage; security intercedes until James calms the audience.

As success grows, James’s relationships turn sour. He treats bandmates like lackeys, doesn’t allow their creative input, pays them late and makes them work days off. Eventually, they quit. Ben dies of a heart attack. Bobby considers becoming a lead singer: after Brown says he was not good enough, he also leaves.

Backtracking to the Apollo, Susie appears and expresses her love for James despite her reluctance to be a mother. After she leaves, Bobby enters, sees James breaking down, and heeds his request to care for Susie. In 1973, James learns Teddy has died in a car accident.

The film then returns to 1988. Prior to this, James smokes a joint laced with angel dust. Following the accidental discharge, James is pursued by police, drives through a barricade, sees visions of his parents and is cornered and arrested.

In 1993, James meets Bobby for the first time since Teddy’s funeral to give him show tickets. His performance of “Try Me (I Need You)” moves Bobby to tears. The audience cheers.

Cast

Chadwick Boseman as James Brown
Jamarion and Jordan Scott as young James Brown
Nelsan Ellis as Bobby Byrd
Dan Aykroyd as Ben Bart
Viola Davis as Susie Brown
Lennie James as Joseph “Joe” Brown
Fred Melamed as Syd Nathan
Jamal Batiste as John “Jabo” Starks
Craig Robinson as Maceo Parker
Jill Scott as Deidre “Dee-Dee” Jenkins
Octavia Spencer as Aunt Honey Washington
Josh Hopkins as Ralph Bass
Brandon Mychal Smith as Little Richard
Tika Sumpter as Yvonne Fair
Aunjanue Ellis as Vicki Anderson
Tariq Trotter as Pee Wee Ellis
Aloe Blacc as Nafloyd Scott
Keith Robinson as Baby Roy
Nick Eversman as Mick Jagger
J. D. Evermore as Seminar Presenter
Ahna O’Reilly as Reporter
James DuMont as Corporal Dooley
Stacey Scowley as Penelope White
Liz Mikel as Gertrude Sanders
Aaron Jay Rome as Frankie Avalon
Clyde Jones as Daddy Grace
Joe T. Blankenship as Alan Leeds
Michael Papajohn as 1949 Cop