In the cold reckoning of Hollywood's moneymen, The Cotton Club was one of last Christmas' turkeys. Despite its lavish production, a big-name director (Francis Coppola) and star (Richard Gere) and huge advance publicity, the $47 million show-biz epic was squeezed out in the scramble for holiday audiences by such hits as Beverly Hills Cop and The Flamingo Kid.
The crowds are lining up for The Cotton Club at last: not at movie theaters this time but at video shops across the country. Since its debut on cassette in April, only four months after opening in theaters across the country, 150,000 copies...