Ray

2004
PG-13
2h 32m

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

159K

YOUR RATING

Oscar winner Jamie Foxx returns to the screen in the action comedy 'They Cloned Tyrone.' From his early days in comedy starring in "In Living Color" to his dramatic award-winning roles in 'Ray' and much more, "No Small Parts" takes a look at his rise to fame.

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The story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to st... Read allThe story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.The story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

159K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 2 Oscars
- 53 wins & 55 nominations total

Trivia
Ray Charles died of liver failure on June 10, 2004, after filming had ended. He was able to sit through the first edit of this movie before his death.

Goofs
The scene where Charles is met by a group of protesters outside the Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia is a fabrication. Charles canceled his appearance after receiving a telegram from students at a local black college. The promoter successfully sued Charles for breach of contract, but he was never banned from the state of Georgia. When the Georgia state legislature honored Ray Charles in 1979, they didn't apologized for banning him because he was never banned. In the commentary, it is stated that this event actually happened, but those who looked into Georgia's legislature found no record that he was banned, just sued, and later they adopted as their state song "Georgia" - by Ray Charles.

Quotes
[first lines]
Aretha Robinson: Always remember your promise to me. Never let nobody or nothing turn you into no cripple.

Crazy credits
Ray Charles is survived by 12 children, 21 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren.

Alternate versions
Universal Pictures Oscar Edition contains Extended Cut of the film.

Connections
Featured in The 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards 2005 (2005)

Soundtracks
What'd I Say
Written by Ray Charles
Performed by Ray Charles
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
By arrangement with Warner Strategic Marketing

User reviews561

Review

Featured review

9/10

Not a Ray fan? No problem. Cinema at its best

My wife wanted to see this movie and I grudgingly went along. I have never been a big fan of the biopic - believing that cinema is more exciting when it isn't structured in non-fiction. Beyond that, although I like Ray Charles' music just fine, I don't consider myself a fan of him or his music.

I expected to either suffer or coast through this movie.

I was wrong.

This is an engaging story told in a classic cinematic style. The realism is in the nuances - the tilt of a character's head after a dramatic moment or the look in their eyes while they sing. I literally discovered myself involved in this movie during the course of viewing it.

Jaime Foxx, of which much has been said, heads a cast of immaculate re-creators of not just a time, but an ERA, a LIFE that never really existed to those of us under forty. This movie sinks the audience into time without the gimmicks and grand sweeping panoramas of Titanic or other period pieces of that ilk. This movie doesn't present you with the 50's and 60's music scene, it takes you there.

This is a movie about Ray Charles, but your appreciate of it should not be limited to the story of his life. This is the kind of movie, like Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List, that does what a movie should do - bring you to another place, another time.