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DVD The Five Heartbeats
Few things can be more noble than a wholehearted effort to tell the story of black secular music in America, especially through the eyes of a mid-20th century rhythm-and-blues vocal group breaking through race barriers to popular success. Comedian and filmmaker Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats (1991) is one such ambitious effort. If its story frequently sags under epochal burdens, the film makes up for it with a surprisingly tough look at the music business and classy appearances by Diahann Carroll and hoofer Harold Nicholas. Townsend plays one-fifth of the titular act, whose collective life and times we follow from 1965 to the 1990s, through friendships, break-ups, and re-groupings. The director's script, cowritten with Keenen Ivory Wayans, is wobbly and short on good material for the women in the cast. But several of the male actors are quite strong, particularly John Canada Terrell as an original Heartbeats replacement. --Tom Keogh
This is a wonderful look at the soul music business back in the day. I'm sure that many of the old groups can relate to the struggle of a young group just starting out in the business. All in all, this is a very good effort by Robert Townsend. The script and story have their respective weaknesses but can be readily forgiven. The music in the film has the "old" sound of the 50's and 60's but it was written for the film.
The Five Heartbeats were made up of actors which I am grateful for since all singers don't make good actors. The weakest actor is Townsend himself because he is basically a funnyman but he has done some credible work (A Soldiers Story for instance). While the music was great to listen to, the lip syncing left a little to be desired. The costuming is dead on. Except for the murder of the group's manager in the film, it would seem that the circumstances that the group had to endure were fairly authentic. The crummy hotels, traveling the chitlin circut, racial predjudice, sex, the fights and breakups, unscrupulous record companies, rivalry with the other struggling groups, etc., are all things that artists go through even today.
Dianne Caroll is a pleasant sight to see as the managers wife. At first she resists her husbands desire to manage The Five Heartbeats because every time one of his groups made it to the big time they would drop him as their manager. She does finally give in and as the group gains more and more success they remain loyal to their manager until one person defects and goes astray which causes dire consequences.
The overall story is good. There are a few side stories which may cause some distraction. Some don't feel the need to know about the love lives of the group members. Maybe you'll feel differently. I reccomend this film. It is definately worth watching.
Still one of my favorite all time movies.
This is one of Robert Townsend's best...
This movie made me laugh and cry.
I loved hearing them sing "I Got Nothing But Love for You Baby."
This is a must have for your collection
the five heartbeats
this is a great movie if you are a fan of the dells singing group
Conceived as a television miniseries, this portrait of the epochal Motown vocal group scores as one of the most detailed re-creations of the '60s pop milieu ever filmed. Told largely through the eyes of founding member Otis Williams (Charles Malik Whitfield), The Temptations portrays its protagonists as soul Everymen whose early triumphs closely followed, and helped expand, Motown Records' emergence as "the Sound of Young America," providing an inspirational fable for black Americans.
Inevitably, of course, the story is also a cautionary tale about the price of success for both the Temps and their mentor, Motown founder Berry Gordy (Obba Babatunde). With hit records and tours, Williams and his partners grapple with drugs, alcohol, depression, jealousy, and delusions of... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Allan Arkush DVD Release Date: Released the 25 July 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This is a supremely disappointing film, especially considering the talent involved. Indeed, the cast would seem to be the summit of African American comedians, starring the three most influential standups of the modern era: Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, and Eddie Murphy. Murphy obviously was paying respect to his elders when he cast them as his father and grandfather in this story of Harlem in the 1930s. Written and directed by Murphy, the plot involves gangsters and rival nightclub owners but doesn't add up. What's a particular shame is that, with three comics as funny as Murphy, Pryor, and Foxx, there are so few laughs and so much misogyny. Do you really want to watch Della Reese get shot in the foot to shut her up? That's the level of the humor here. --Marshall FineMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Eddie Murphy - Richard Pryor Director(s): Eddie Murphy DVD Release Date: Released the 29 January 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Directed by Sidney Lumet (Serpico) and penned by Joel Schumacher (Batman and Robin), this lavish 1978 adaptation of the Broadway hit The Wiz was the biggest production filmed in New York City up to that point, utilizing the newly revamped Astoria Studios and locations around the city. Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross (reprising his Tony-winning role as the Lion) star in this Academy Award-nominated musical for the whole family.
The Wiz is probably the grandest take on L. Frank Baum's classic tale The Wizard of Oz. The production team created sets with a sense of urban magic and spectacle: a New York subway station literally comes to life, and the massive plaza between the World Trade Center towers is transformed into... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Diana Ross - Michael Jackson Director(s): Sidney Lumet DVD Release Date: Released the 13 April 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Tina Turner, that dynamic diva of pop/soul/R&B from the '60s to the '90s, sings like a woman whose life story is every bit as rough and tough as her voice. And What's Love Got to Do With It, based on her autobiographical account (in I, Tina, written with Kurt Loder) of her years under the iron fist of her abusive husband and musical partner/Svengali Ike, is further proof of what we've always known about Tina: She's what you call a survivor. The movie is sort of the Disney version of Tina Turner's story--a glossy but thoroughly enjoyable, old-fashioned showbiz biopic with laughs, tears, great music, and outrageous (but faithful) period decor, costumes, makeup, and hairstyles. Our Heroine triumphs not only over the rigorous demands of her career in the music business, but... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Angela Bassett - Laurence Fishburne Director(s): Brian Gibson DVD Release Date: Released the 04 June 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Eddie Murphy makes a graceless debut as a romantic lead in this comedy from Reginald Hudlin. Murphy stars as a ladies man for whom the tables turn when he suddenly finds himself taken for granted by a lover (Robin Givens). Meanwhile, the platonic friend (Halle Berry) whom Murphy regularly visits is obviously--to the viewer, anyway--the woman he's supposed to be with. The absurdly long film is filled out with some fairly crude humor, such as the sight of Geoffrey Holder taking a whiff of Grace Jones's underwear. Yet Hudlin and Murphy also strain for a veneer of elegance and sophistication. Wanting to play it both ways, they end up with nothing. But there are several good sequences where Murphy is quite funny just being Murphy, such as his explanation to Berry of how you can tell which... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Eddie Murphy Director(s): Reginald Hudlin DVD Release Date: Released the 24 September 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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