The Five Heartbeats.

Review #2514: The Five Heartbeats.

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: 

"The film has a big heart. It's about family; it's about faith. You follow these five men on their journey together, and when it's all said and done, it's fulfilling. I think at the core of it is faith. It has a healing message." - Robert Townsend.

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.

She's Gotta Have It.

Review #1976: She's Gotta Have It.

Cast: 

Tracy Camilla Johns (Nola Darling), Tommy Redmond Hicks (Jamie Overstreet), John Canada Terrell (Greer Childs), Spike Lee (Mars Blackmon), Raye Dowell (Opal Gilstrap), Joie Lee (Clorinda Bradford), Dennis Karika (The Trainer), S. Epatha Merkerson (Dr. Jamison), and Bill Lee (Sonny Darling) Directed, Written, and Produced by Spike Lee (#1255 - Do the Right Thing, #1543 - Inside Man, and #1643 - Malcolm X)

Review: 

"I'm a filmmaker. I know what I want to do. I'm not making movies to become famous or become filthy rich or to have 10 million beautiful women...I just want to present Black people as I know them-as I know they haven't been portrayed in Hollywood."

You know, for all of the attention I gave Spike Lee for classics such as Do the Right Thing (1989) and Malcolm X (1992), I do wish I actually started at the beginning with his career, if only because it is far more interesting to go from point A to point B with seeing how a filmmaker evolves (or gets better) over time. Well, that, and because without She's Gotta Have It, who knows if one gets the films that came later from Lee? Of course, the real beginning (as probably mentioned before) is Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), as it was his master's degree thesis at the Tisch School of the Arts, which attracted attention. However, he couldn't find a major studio that wanted to work with him and his ideas on his terms, so when he did She's Gotta Have It, his first feature-length film, he did all on his own with funding from various sources (grants, deferred payments, and personal favors). It was shot over a dozen days on a budget of $175,000 in Brooklyn (which is where Lee grew up after his family moved from Atlanta). Of course, it only took screening the film at places such as New York University of a rough cut that pushed the film to completion (with Lee pitching himself at these screenings, obviously). The movie was a fair hit for the independent circuit, which helped set the stage for Lee doing further films in consecutive years such as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), and Malcolm X (1992). Three decades later, a television adaptation of the movie was developed by Lee, who directed every episode of the two-season series that ran on Netflix.

Lee wanted to challenge sexual stereotypes that looked upon both African American men and women with frank honesty, which results in a distinct feature film debut. He took inspiration from seeing male friends of his boast about how many female friends they had and basically reversed it (while taking inspiration also from Rashomon (1950)). In fact, he came up with a questionnaire on the sexual habits of young women and asked women he knew about what answers made sense. In that sense, I think the movie works just fine as an indie comedy-drama that makes some steps forward in presenting distinct viewpoints in sexuality for a mostly compelling curiosity. With its black-and-white photography (except for one scene) and its habit of characters talking to the screen for 84 minutes, the movie is a lament for one's freedom to make choices on their own happiness, regardless of what the perception might be from others. This is the one defining role for Johns, a stage actress who had to be convinced over the course of months by Lee that he could make a compelling character. She does a reasonable job in portraying the dilemmas that come with one perspective of youth with hang-ups, a free spirit with agency. Terrell, Hicks, and Lee play the three suitors of distinct types: the high-class vain one, the "sensitive" one, and a joker.  Terrell amuses me the most in vanity, a stuck-up snob that has the timing required in showing just how much one really can (and in some ways, should) love themselves. Hicks and his vulnerable sensitivity is probably the one most relatable when it comes to seeing what really lurks behind the spoken and unspoken phrases, while Lee is fairly amusing. Probably the only scene that strikes a different chord from the rest is the rape scene, which Lee has expressed regret over, since he felt it made light of rape that he wishes he could take back. The movie is what Lee called a "free style" film, one that is a hybrid of narrative and documentary, one shot by future director Ernest Dickerson and edited by Lee. As a whole, the movie comes and go in trying to establish compelling points about true desires and expectations that will challenge the viewer the slightest bit, whether that involves them nodding their head or rolling their eyes the slightest bit (so yes, one either rolls with these folks or treats them amusingly). Lee wanted to present a compelling Black tale and I would say he succeeded in that respect considering what would come afterwards, which helps to shape plenty of reasons to give this a curious glance.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Next up: Tongues Untied.