John Sayles piles on loads of atmosphere in a very relaxed drama set in 1950 Alabama. Danny Glover is the owner of a bar featuring an elderly blues singer, rapidly being upstaged by a nearby juke joint. Deeply in debt, he plans a Saturday night show with new guitar sensation Guitar Sam. This is the hook on which Sayles hangs the usual fine ensemble acting, especially the rotund Charles S Dutton, a supporting actor always liable to raise the tone, and, as the only two white characters, Stacey Keach and Mary Steenburgen. Always a social commentator, Sayles' story is just as much about the race relations of the time and that seminal invention, the electric guitar, which was to revolutionise popular music and play a significant role in racial harmony, as it's difficult to despise people whose music you are nicking. There's the basis for a great film in this, but it's a shame Sayles, unusually, makes his plot so slow and predictable; no surprises along the way, unless you include Glover turning his hand to Howlin' Wolf's Going Down Slow.