Baby, He’s a Star: Films #136 – #139 – The Prince theatrical film canon (1984 – 1990)
I can honestly say I love ‘em all. Purple Rain, of course, is a minor masterpiece. It captures the mood and the excitement that surrounded Prince at that time, while telling a valid story. All underscored by some of the best music of the 1980s. Prince’s stuff, of course, but also stellar entries from The Time and, yes, even “Sex Shooter” by Apollonia 6 holds up (for what it is). The cast is great. Prince’s charisma grabs the audience’s attention whenever he is on screen, particularly when coupled with Apollonia, who really was drop-dead gorgeous. The wonderful double-act of Morris Day and Jerome Benton provide most of the laughs *and* true menace, an amazing combination. And there’s a great smaller performance from Clarence Williams III as Francis L, The Kid’s troubled father. It is a bit formulaic, but it never really makes a misstep except for a few wooden performances from “real people”. Still, nothing to ruin an otherwise classic film.
Graffiti Bridge, on the other hand, is not as well loved. But it has an important place for me. In 1990, having been impressed with Price’s Batman music, I chose to go see Graffiti Bridge instead of Miller’s Crossing (a film whose quality would, therefore, elude me for over a year) as both films were closing that day. While I now recognize that I saw the lesser film that day, I was very impressed with what I saw at the time. In fact, I immediately drove down the street to a local record store and bought the LP. New. I don’t even do that *now* and I certainly didn’t tend to do that then, when I had less money. Anyway, I loved the album and have been a die-hard Prince fan ever since. But why do I like the film? Well, the music is great. Prince had just formed his first regular backing group since The Revolution, The New Power Generation, and I’ve always felt that he worked best with a solid group with whom he collaborated, not just dictated. Prince wrote (or co-wrote) stellar material for the other artists in the film, too. The Time, Mavis Staples, George Clinton and Tevin Campbell all get moments in the spotlight to great effect. The acting in Graffiti Bridge is a lot more stylized than Purple Rain, but I think that is intentional. Everything is shot on soundstages, so there isn’t an attempt to make it real. This film, unlike the first, is a visual poem. Anyway, even if you can’t dig the music or wrap your head around the message, Graffiti Bridge will supply you with some more vintage shenanigans from Morris Day and Jerome Benton. That stuff is worth one viewing, at least.
Original review of Purple Rain
Original review of Graffiti Bridge
Then there’s Under the Cherry Moon. Let’s not kid ourselves, this film is bad. But it is *perfectly* bad. Shot in color, Prince made the studio print it in black & white. His love interest is played by Kristin Scott Thomas (who must rue that this is her screen debut), who towers over him. (Unlike Apollonia, they have no chemistry, either.) The story is ridiculous from start to finish and *everyone* overacts. (It only works with Benton, who actually got the few good notices this film generated.) Watching this film is saved from being a complete disaster by two things. First, Prince does a fine job with the direction. The imagry and camera movements are natural and engaging. (If only *what* we were seeing was as engaging as *how* we were seeing it.) The second thing is, naturally, the music. This was Prince at the height of his original collaboration with The Revolution and I think it resulted in his best work. Parade – Music from the Motion Picture Under the Cherry Moon is my absolute, all-time favorite Prince album to this day.
Original review of Under the Cherry Moon
Finally, Sign “O” The Times, which is everything they say it is. It perfectly captures one of Prince’s best live periods, the tour that immediately followed his breakup of The Revolution. Many of the members are still in evidence (notably missing Wendy & Lisa) and new members include standouts Sheila E. on drums (she had already had solo success on Prince’s Paisley Park label) and Boni Boyer on backing vocals. The “story” (which revolves around dancer Cat’s relationship difficulties) is perfuctory and only really there to give the songs some kind of throughline. But even that is handled pretty well (and certainly better than in Cherry Moon).