The Cotton Club is a 1984 crime-drama, centered on a famed Harlem jazz club of the 1930s, the Cotton Club. The movie was co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, choreographed by Henry LeTang, and starred Richard Gere, Diane Lane, and Gregory Hines. The cast included Nicolas Cage, Bob Hoskins, Lonette McKee, Laurence Fishburne, Fred Gwynne, Maurice Hines, James Remar, Allen Garfield and Gwen Verdon. Despite performing poorly at the box office, the film was nominated for several awards, including Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Picture and Oscars for best Best Art Direction ... and Film Editing. The film, however, also earned a Razzie Award nomination for Diane Lane as Worst Supporting Actress . The Cotton Club was the first privately financed major motion picture, paid for almost entirely by brothers Fred and Ed Doumani of Las Vegas. The movie was not successful, making only $25,928,721 on a budget of over $50 million. A musician named Dixie Dwyer begins working with mobsters to advance his career but falls in love with the girlfriend of gangland kingpin Dutch Schultz.
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