Cast:
Robert Townsend (Donald "Duck" Matthews), Michael Wright (Eddie King, Jr), Leon (J.T. Matthews), Harry J. Lennix (Terrence "Dresser" Williams), Tico Wells (Anthony "Choirboy" Stone), Tressa Thomas (Clara), Diahann Carroll (Eleanor Potter), John Canada Terrell (Michael "Flash" Turner), Chuck Patterson (Jimmy Potter), Harold Nicholas (Ernest "Sarge" Johnson), Hawthorne James (Big Red Davis), Roy Fegan (Victor "Bird" Thomas), with John Witherspoon (Wild Rudy), and Troy Beyer (Baby Doll) Directed by Robert Townsend (#1315 - Eddie Murphy Raw, #2348 - Hollywood Shuffle)
Review:
You might be familiar with the soulful power of groups such as The Dells, The Temptations*, Four Tops or the singers in Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Frankie Lymon, and Sam Cooke. At any rate, the sound that came from them clearly had an effect on Robert Townsend and also Keenen Ivory Wayans, as the two wrote the film that was originally in development with the idea of having the Wayans family appear in the lead roles, but when Warner Bros. passed, the Wayans moved on to other ventures (In Living Color, namely). But Townsend persisted and found a deal with 20th Century Fox in 1990. Apparently, Townsend wanted David Ruffin and Eddie Kendrick of the Temptations to be technical advisors but 20th Century Fox vetoed it because they thought Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr could sue the studio. Instead, the Dells (as comprised of Marvin Junior, Verne Allison, Mickey McGill, Chuck Barksdale and Johnny Carter). were brought in. A variety of musicians were utilized for near dozen songs featured in the film, most notably with The Dells with songs such as "A Heart Is a House for Love" while Dee Harvey also provided a handful of songs for the actors to lip-synch to. Made on a budget of roughly $8 million, the film was not a big success with audiences (although it has a small cult following), while Townsend's next feature film came with The Meteor Man in 1993.
1965...at least when told in flashback, since it starts out with one of those "Where Are They Now?" type of magazines showing that, yes, everyone becomes a "whatever happened...?" type. Oh sure, The Five Heartbeats is a bit of a sentimental movie, and I doubt anyone is exactly going to be surprised by what goes on in a music biopic (real or imagined), but I do admire this stuff a bit in the general experience that comes with having some music just flow into you. It just so happens to be a movie that yearns to show the rise, fall, and redemption of people where flaws and mistakes can be one to survive with the right type of love and forgiveness behind it. Preachy or not, it also happens that some of the music is fairly entertaining to mostly smooth over a 122-minute runtime that would make a cynic blush. The music montages in particular make for a curious way to convey a film in some parts, but, hey, more for the rest of us. Strangely, it might be Lennix that steals the show best in the type of steely intensity that makes for a useful performer to see out there among the others, who are mostly fair in their characterizations (Townsend, suffice to say, is okay). Patterson and James make for a fascinating double-edge sword of figures to lurk behind the group in their own varying levels of motivation to be around music (the latter, spoiler alert, is basically a wolf in sheep's clothing, made clear with an excellent little scene of him threatening someone). It is the type of movie that unabashedly preaches to the choir of seeing the good and bad that arises in sudden rises (and falls) to fame that keeps a good beat and keeps a good level of intimacy around to make you believe in these folks without turning it into a riff of comedy beats or just straight drama. I enjoyed its little trek that shows a period piece for earnest enjoyment that searches for a common truth in what really matters besides the hunt for a good beat or material efforts: coming back together at the end and caring about one other. It's a nice little movie that might flow up your alley.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
Once more, a song of the night
*Incidentally, when NBC did a miniseries about the Temptations in 1998, Leon was cast as David Ruffin, who by that point had passed away in 1991.
No comments:
Post a Comment