Ruby's Bucket of Blood

Customer Reviews:

A Beautiful Movie.......2005-10-27

Ruby Delacroix (Angela Bassett) is a hard working mom and wife. She works too much to feed her teenage daughter Emerald (Jurnee Smollett) and her disrespectful husband Earl (Brian Stokes Mitchell). She runs a popular juke point on the Louisiana bayou called the Bucket of Blood. When Earl decides he can't live in the small town, he leaves Ruby and Emerald. Besides dealing with that issue, Ruby has to find another singer when her regular one quits the band. Things start to look up when band leader Johnny Beaugh (Glenn Plummer) brings in white singer Billy Dupree ( Kevin Anderson) to fill in. Resistant at first, Ruby hires him. With his talent and musical voice, Ruby changes her tune about Billy. Billy offers his friendship and comfort, which Ruby so desperately needs. What becomes an issue is Billy's wife Betty (Angelica Torn). Ruby's got too many issues to deal with and wonders if any of it is worth the price of happiness

I loved this movie!.......2004-06-07

Unfortunately, the title of Ruby's Bucket of Blood probably has prevented a lot of people from watching it. It took me a year of seeing it in the video store before renting it. It is a great ensemble piece that takes place in the bayous of Louisiana. All of the actors gave highly nuanced performances that truly depicted their characters. The screenplay provided the viewers with a finely tuned Cajun and Creole experience, and was instrumental in creating a realistic portrayal of interracial love, family dynamics and the power of music in Louisiana before the Civil Rights Movement.

Angela Bassett was phenomenal and every scene was on target. The sexual tension between her and Kevin Anderson was palpable and continued to build until the climactic scene. I did not think the other side stories were at all distracting, rather they gave the surrounding characters more humanity and added to the complexity of the movie.

And the music - it was great! Angela Bassett really can belt out a blues tune and Kevin Anderson's voice and stage persona were simply amazing. Ruby's Bucket of Blood makes the viewer feel the excitement of a juke joint on a good night when the music is stompin and the booze is flowin. Terrific film.

Romance was Drastically Overlooked.......2004-04-16

Angela Bassett is my favorite actress. Ruby's Bucket of Blood is entertaining and interesting but too many elements side swap the romance. The romance between Ruby ( Bassett ) and Kevin Anderson ( I can't believe I forgot the character's name ) has great potential but takes the entire movie to get started. Then when it finally gets going the movie is over. The romance didn't build properly. The characters didn't learn enough about one another. There were missing scenes that allowed them to grow. You really need to show that growth when you're doing a romance especially an interracial one. So I was disappointed that we didn't see more Angela and Kevin scenes. I thought the film was supposed to be about Ruby, her husband and being in love with a white man but it turned into jamborees at her club. It's a nice movie to watch for a fun time but the romance element of the film is dead. That's unfortunate because Bassett and Anderson have a lot of chemistry.

Plesantly Entertaining.......2003-07-30

I love this movie, it caught me by surprise, I started watching it one afternoon and had to leave, but caught it on again, and this time I stayed to finish the movie, it was pure cajun style. It had spice to it and some french taste that was exotic, a good story line that you could follow without being totally lost, terrific setting in the true sense of what the cajun country setting could be like if you have never been. Angela Bassett and the other characters that sang that down home blues was pretty good, I got my husband to even look at it, and he liked it just as well, I give this movies 5 amazing stars to give it a try.

2 stars b/c it kept me interested enough to finish watching.......2003-06-22

I thought this movie reeked! Angela, you can do so much better!! Probably the best AA actress today.

Anyway, this movie was terrible to me. I couldn't figure out she hooked up w/the white man. What was the point? A lot of loose ends. And why do most movies about interracial relationships have to end w/somebody dying?

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