Portland Public Library

Ray, Universal Pictures and Bristol Bay Productions present ; an Anvil Films production ; in association with Baldwin Entertainment ; a Taylor Hackford film ; producers Taylor Hackford, Stuart Benjamin, Howard Baldwin, Karen Baldwin ; story by Taylor Hackford and James L. White ; screenplay by James L. White ; directed by Taylor Hackford

eng

videorecording

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for depiction of drug addiction, sexuality and some thematic elements

Ray

videorecording

57931659

Originally produced as an American motion picture in 2004

Universal Pictures and Bristol Bay Productions present ; an Anvil Films production ; in association with Baldwin Entertainment ; a Taylor Hackford film ; producers Taylor Hackford, Stuart Benjamin, Howard Baldwin, Karen Baldwin ; story by Taylor Hackford and James L. White ; screenplay by James L. White ; directed by Taylor Hackford

153

Flashing back intermittently to dream-like scenes from his hardscrabble rural childhood, "Ray" chronicles Ray Charles' remarkable rise from sideman and Chitlin Circuit fixture to innovator, icon, and international superstar. Yet even as Charles ascends to the heights of the musical and cultural elite, he remains hobbled by heroin addiction and compulsive womanizing, a prisoner to his own insatiable needs. Through it all, Ray Charles possessed a rock-solid confidence in his music, a statement of faith in the inclusiveness of American culture. Ray Charles made a place for himself in the America of the '40s and '50s, and promptly transcended the barriers that defined what that place was. He incorporated and encompassed R & B, soul, rock and roll, blues, jazz, country, pop, gospel--all American music--giving us the lush sounds he had always heard in his head, unifying America's disparate musical bits into a cohesive whole

Disc 2. Special features: Deleted scenes [with optional commentary by director Taylor Hackford] (28 min.); Extended musical scenes (5 min.); Stepping into the part [featurette] (11 min.); Ray remembered [featurette] (4 min.); A look inside "Ray" (4 min.); Theatrical trailer (3 min.); Previews (4 min.)

live action