Sidney J. Furie directed this biographical film about Billie Holiday, starring Diana Ross (who also sings). Billy Dee Williams costars as her love interest and Richard Pryor has a supporting role as a friendly piano player. They're both good. Oh, and the grandpa from Charles in Charge is good, too. Corny at times but nowhere near as ridiculous as the other '70s Ross/Williams collaboration, Mahogany. The junkie scenes are the worst, due to Ross' limited abilities as an actress. Her singing is nice, though. It's based off of Holiday's autobiography which wasn't entirely truthful, so a lot of this is pure fiction. Despite its faults, it's an entertaining movie. If you're familiar with Diana Ross' other movies, you know she isn't the greatest actress. This is easily her best performance, flawed as it is.

If you've seen one you may have seen them all, but luckily each film in the 'musician-has-aspirations-does-drugs-overcomes-becomes-star' saga has something else to offer, either with the quality of the music itself or, of course, the performances. Ray and Walk the Line (parodied deservedly but with warmth in Walk Hard) are our centuries answer to this, but back in the 70's there was Lady Sings the Blues, which took the life story of Billie Holiday, arguably the greatest of all the jazz singers, and made it into a two and a half hour vehicle for Diana Ross. And why not? Ross is terrific in the role, as she goes from young girl working as a scrubber and/or being raped by drunks to becoming a nightclub singer in New York city for tips (kinda like a showgirl minus the nudity), and then little by little her talent sees her off to singing across the country, and singing then at bigger venues. Oh, and the drugs, too.The movie starts with the kind of 'bang' that is almost a shameless hook with Holiday being booked on narcotics charges, looking a mess, and then being put in a straight-jacket for acting crazy in withdrawal. The movie sometimes has these shameless melodramatic moments with Ross, and yet it's not her I would blame but the script. She gives it her all (contrary to some criticism - look it up - that she wasn't right for the role), and it's really the script that falls into cliché, or falls back on the all-too-convenient romance between her and Billy Dee Williams. All the actors actually are believable, from Williams to the "Piano Man" Richard Pryor to the guys who make up Holiday's band on the road. How much or how little Holiday really was on drugs is almost besides the point. What works in the film is how much Ross sells it and makes us feel for this young woman who is struggles even as she can have it all (the last act with Carnegie Hall highlights this conflict in her character well). What would have made the film great is if they made other relationships tougher or done a little more to make things less clichéd. Whenever the music comes up the story can take a backseat, or, on occasion, be enriched by what Billie is going through; this shows best when she's still in the grip of her heroin addiction and goes up to sing, you can see the pain coming off of her face as she sings every note, and it's one of the best scenes in the film. Perhaps just having the basics of Holiday's life is enough, at least for here. It's got some good attitude to spare, mostly through the performances, and just when the movie feels like its pulling away and doing something wrong or unsatisfying it comes back and does something to with over the audience. And there are some tough, dramatic scenes that have more to do with what's around Holiday, the racism she faces practically every day she went on the road (the KKK being basically a hazard to try and avoid, or hangings by the roadside) or up on stage (i.e. the radio-show scene where she's basically booted and humiliated in front of her family). It's things like this that make the film compelling, not so much the romantic soap opera elements or the parts of the drug addiction that become repetitive.Or, again, like the movie Ray or Walk the Line. If you liked those, you'll like this.

The first question that would run across the mind of anyone who'd watch this movie is: "Can Diana Ross act?" The answer, I'm glad to say, is an unequivocal "Yes." And I think that's what the director wanted to clear up right from the very first scene, with a flash forward to Billie Holiday's drug bust while the credits were still on. Ms. Ross, devoid of make-up and with "crazy hair," put on an extremely convincing performance of heroin (or coke) withdrawal, replete with howling.Her performance is the highlight of the movie, which unfortunately felt like it ran way too long, and I found myself constantly checking the run time. It wasn't bad as a musical. As I had read previously, Ms. Ross didn't seek to imitate Billie Holiday's style, and instead created a distinct and appropriate - yet similar - jazz style of her own just for the movie (check out "Good Morning Heartache"), and I, being a fan, didn't mind the song interludes.What dragged the movie was the constant focus on Holiday's drug addiction (to showcase more of Ms. Ross's acting?). It felt like there was scene after scene of her being drug-addled, whining, and screaming, which began to abrade after a while. It's too bad, since with better direction and screenplay, coupled with Ms. Ross's capable acting and singing, this could've been one of the truly great musical biopics.

I FINALLY received the DVD of a movie I have loved through the years. While we can all regale each other with stories of Miss Ross' idiosyncrasies, one thing is patently clear: She WORKED this movie and this is the best singing I have EVER heard from her (or since, for that matter and I was a Die-hard Supermes fan!) It is also especially wonderful to see some wonderful African-American treasures like Richard Pryor, Billy Dee, Isabel Sanford, Scatman Scrothers, among others. (I wish I knew Lorraine's name as the quintessential madam who was positively flawless!!!!) The production values are superior and the sound recreated for the DVD was a MUST because the movie is based on music. Listening to Diana sing "The Man I Love" and hear Billy Dee say "You want my arm to fall off?!" is worth the price of admission.I haven't even had a chance to look at the special features or deleted scenes which I am sure will round out what I consider to be a classic African-American feature.I HIGHLY recommend!!!