It is good to remember the [rough and hard facts of Huddie Ledbetter's life] seeing Leadbelly, because in the movie Huddie has been considerably sanitized.

Thanks in large part to some good period detail by Director Gordon Parks …, Leadbelly at least maintains a degree of dignity and professionalism…. Parks shows a careful eye for small evocative details…. (p. 76)

Leadbelly [who was embarrassed by his rough past] might have found this movie … to his liking, which is part of the problem. The screenplay puts Huddie into situations where he seems to have no choice but to kill. He emerges as a man innocent, put-upon and perennially puzzled by the cruel vicissitudes of life, who would just like to get on with his singin' and his ramblin'….

The violence, the bitterness and the reckless sensuality that make Leadbelly's music great can hardly be seen here for all the laundering…. The...