Leadbelly

Leadbelly (1976) opens with Huddie ‘Lead Belly’ Ledbetter (Roger E. Mosley) as an old man in prison. By “old” I mean they dyed Mosley’s hair and eyebrows gray, and even “dyed” might be an overstatement. Ledbetter is shirtless when we first meet him, so we can see he’s actually a strapping middle-age man. Perhaps that stuff on his hair is just dust from breaking rocks all day.

Ethnomusicologists John and Alan Lomax come to record Ledbetter playing guitar and singing for the Library of Congress. Ledbetter proceeds to narrate the film in a long flashback. Dude, they asked you for a song, not your lifestory. Also, it may not be a good idea to go on literal record about all the times you broke the law and got away with it. Maybe he figured, “What the hell? I’m already in prison.” What he should have thought was what he himself brings up in the end: “I only have six more months to go.”

When Ledbetter is, according to his mother, “just a child” — although still played by a 38-year-old man — assaults a man over a girl Ledbelly has impregnated. He makes a beeline for Shreveport to avoid taking responsibility for his actions. Before he leaves, his father says he will help the girl when the baby comes, and tells Ledbetter, “You best keep your mind on helping her, too.” Ledbetter nods in agreement, but I don’t think he ever gets around to that.

Ledbetter’s first stop in Shreveport is a brothel. It’s pretty obvious what kind of establishment this is; just in case, some of the women are shown eating bananas and smoking cigars. Phallic imagery and oral fixation? This truly is a den of iniquity.

The madam, Miss Eula (Madge Sinclair), takes an instant liking to Ledbetter, giving him his famous nickname upon meeting him. There are diverse accounts of how the name “Lead Belly” came about; none of them seem to involve a procuress.

Ledbetter claims Miss Eula “even taught me how to sing the blues.” Lesson #1: “You got to feel the blues.” Lesson #2: “It’s gonna cost you de...