Django Reinhardt - Reinhardt in Popular Culture

Reinhardt in Popular Culture

Reinhardt has been portrayed in several films, such as in the opening sequence of the 2003 animated film Les Triplettes de Belleville. The third and fourth fingers of the cartoon Reinhardt are considerably smaller than the fingers used to play the guitar. Reinhardt's legacy dominates in Woody Allen's 1999 Sweet and Lowdown. This spoof biopic focuses on fictional American guitarist Emmet Ray's obsession with Reinhardt, with soundtrack featuring Howard Alden. He is also portrayed by guitarist John Jorgenson in the movie Head in the Clouds.

Reinhardt is the idol of the character Arvid in the movie Swing Kids, where the character's left hand is smashed by a member of the Hitler Jugend, but is inspired by Reinhardt's example to keep playing. Similarly, in real life, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi suffered an industrial accident at 17, where the tips of his right middle and ring fingers were amputated on the last day of his job at a sheet metal factory. His boss, in an effort to encourage Iommi to follow his dream of being a professional guitarist, played a Django Reinhardt record for him for inspiration.

Reinhardt's music has been used in the soundtrack of many films, including in The Matrix; Rhythm Futur, Daltry Calhoun, Metroland, Chocolat, The Aviator, Alex and the Gypsy, Kate and Leopold and Gattaca; the score for Louis Malle's 1974 movie, Lacombe Lucien; the background for the Steve Martin movie L.A. Story; and the background for a number of Woody Allen movies, including Stardust Memories. (MnHe also appeared as a character in Allen's Sweet and Lowdown. Reinhardt's music has also been featured in the soundtracks of several video games, such as the 2002 game Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, Mafia II and several times in the 2007 game BioShock. Notably, not only was Reinhardt's music used in the 1978 film King of the Gypsies, his long-time friend and violinist Stéphane Grappelli appeared in the film in a cameo performing as part of one of the gypsy bands.

In the Martin Scorsese film, Hugo, 2011, a character who appears to be, and is credited as, Reinhardt plays guitar in a combo in the station cafe and a closeup shows him making chords without the use of his 3rd and 4th fingers. Other Paris artistic notables of the day are depicted as well.

Reinhardt has been the subject of several songs, most notably "Django" (1954), a gypsy-flavoured piece that jazz pianist John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet wrote in honour of Reinhardt; numerous versions of the song have been recorded, including one on the 1973 Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks self-titled debut album; it also appears on Joe Bonamassa's 2006 LP You & Me. The lyrics of the Norwegian song "Tanta til Beate" by Lillebjørn Nilsen mentions Reinhardt several times.

He is mentioned in Jump Little Children's song "Mexico": "I won't let you leave, not with all my Django, Emmylou and Steve".

In the novel Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds, the characters Wendell Floyd and André Custine mention having played music with Reinhardt.

At the end of the 2009 NCIS episode "Hide and Seek," Dr. Mallard mentions that Agent McGee's prized autographed Django Reinhardt album "Crazy Rhythm" was mysteriously destroyed.

In 2010 the French and Belgian Google homepages displayed a logo commemorating the centenary of his birthday on 23 January 2010.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actors Alexander Siddig and Nana Visitor named their son after Reinhardt.

Reinhardt is loosely suggested as the main character in the music video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Brian Setzer.

The Django web framework is named after him, as is version 3.1 of the blog software WordPress.

"Twango", a track on Duane Eddy's album Road Trip, is a tribute to Reinhardt.

"Tango For Django", a track on Robbie Robertson's album How To Become Clairvoyant, is a tribute.

The Belgian government issued a commemorative coin in 92.5% sterling silver in 2010 coinciding with his 100th birth anniversary. It is a silver 10 Euro coin with a color image of Django Reinhardt on the reverse side.