Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Little Walter: NOT a Killer.
As I was looking up Cadillac Records, I saw on a website that the scene where Little Walter shot the man who using his band's name was completely fabricated. This was strange to me, so I did more research, and I found that there was no evidence of this murder at all. Many other websites claimed that this scene was made up, also. I know this is a film made for entertainment purposes, but why would they portray Little Walter as something so serious as a murderer? Was this some sort of reflection of African American violence in the 50s? To completely make up something like that, seems like there must be some sort of truth or reasoning behind it. And if not, why did they include that in the movie? It just made Little Walter look really bad, and I don't see the point in that. Any ideas?
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I wondered the same thing. I scoured the internet for an hour of any evidence for him even being suspected of murder. There was nothing. Complete fabrication. Although such a random event in a movie gives you a jolt. Similar to what Roger Ebert said about the scene in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid" with them riding bicycles to "Raindrops keep falling on my Head", which was completely random. It can be said that the scene has racist overtones, although I don't think that was the intention.
ReplyDeleteTheres no evidence because if there had been evidence of a SHOOTING (which btw you didnt see someone get murdered-you saw him get SHOT) he'd have at very least gone to jail
ReplyDelete..it was most likely a word of mouth account of an incident that happened which people feel comfortable telling after the culprit has died, which in itself isnt 'evidence' of something happening and in most cases isnt even print-worthy aside from a biography or some such. Little Walter was involved in very reckless and dangerous activities. Its not uncommon even today to have such caliber of people commit acts like that in areas where its uncommon for witnesses to report the facts of the incident to police because their only concern after the fact would be retaliation from the victims friends or families which even if a person is basing what they know of Little Walter off the movie theyd see that he was the wild type who'd be ready and willing to go head to head with anyone. Not to mention they were black men in the deep south...they didnt exactly have what we call 'due process' at their disposal in those days by comparison. It dont take a historian to make the claim that cops werent gonna bust their own asses trying to find an agressor of a black on black crime, and if it in fact WAS a fabricated event written for the movie it was most likely a representation of the reality of Little Walters recognition of that fact, along with everyone else in the car-who if you remember,werent very shaken by the incident at all, aside from the comment made that it was unnecesary.
Remember, because you cant find established evidence of something online doesnt mean it didnt happen.
Thanks for the clarification. That scene ruined the movie for me.
ReplyDeleteI agree Joe Daley. We shut the movie off after that scene. I was so angry!
DeleteTotally gratuitous violence that was not in the same tone as the rest of the movie.
Great scene...LiL Walter was a tough dude in real life and reel life
ReplyDeleteI agree I believe he didn't take no mess from nobody tough guy, n I like it
DeleteMany folks got shot or killed in the south and never heard from again...anything is possible
ReplyDeleteI myself just got finish doing research about lil Walter shooting someone but of course didn't find a thing, it is funny to put a violent scene in a movie that's suppose to b based on a true story n it's a whole big lie, so I agree with the 1st comment of it just being a show of African violence instead of just telling the truth ALWAYS TRYING TO MAKE AFRO AMERICAN MEN LOOK BAD, as a gangster or drug dealer or a killer c'mon
ReplyDeleteIf you watched the scene, the way it happened; why would there be any record of this? He literally shot someone & walked away with no problem lol of course there’s no record of that.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the film's commentary, the scene of Little Walter shooting his impersonator in the head was based on a story told by bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson who had played with Little Walter, but there is no documented evidence that it actually happened. Some of those old bluesmen were tall tale tellers.
ReplyDelete