Kansas City

Belafonte chills as a ruthless gangster in this 1930s-set story of kidnapping and revenge in Kansas City.

The screening on Sunday 17 December will be introduced by actor Miranda Richardson and season curator Burt Caesar.

  • Director

    Robert Altman

  • With

    Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte

  • USA 1996. 115min

  • 35mm

  • Certificate

    15

Crash! Depression! Kidnapping! Blackface! These watchwords of 1930s America weave through the fabric of this sensual portrait of life in the titular city. The film’s evocation of anomie and corruption is perversely thrilling, while a live big band jazz performance adds immeasurably to the richness of this world. And as Seldom Seen, a gang boss who riffs on life, death, Marcus Garvey and white America, Belafonte was at his most magnetic; in no other screen role was he so mean and ruthless.

35mm print courtesy of the Robert Altman Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Contains terms of racial abuse that viewers may find upsetting.

Film on Film