Main Cast: Prince, Apollonia, Morris Day, Olga Karlatos, Clarence Williams III
Release Year: 1984
Country: US
Run Time: 113 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Purple Rain, the first starring film for Prince, is the story of an arrogant, young black singer, born and raised in Minneapolis, who reaches the pinnacle of stardom. The dramatic complications include "The Kid's" (Prince) miserable home life, where he suffers the brutalities of his father (well played by Clarence Williams III) and the youth's efforts to win the love of the beautiful Apollonia. Despite the misogynistic undercurrents in Purple Rain, the film's biggest fans were young women. Gorgeously photographed by Donald Thorin, Purple Rain is essentially a glorified music video, highlighted by a catalogue of Prince's hits, including I Would Die 4 U, When Doves Cry and Let's Go Crazy; the score deservedly won an Academy Award and a Grammy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
What doesn't matter about this semi-autobiographical musical drama is that it is pretentious, misogynistic, ludicrous, and dumb. What does matter is that it is very entertaining and features an absolutely terrific musical score, one of the few to cop both an Oscar and a Grammy. Prince is the star and performs most of the songs, but the film's highlight is a delightful comic performance by Morris Day (whose group, The Time, does "Jungle Love" and "The Bird") as Prince's rival. Day steals every scene in which he appears with a cackling, tongue-in-cheek hubris that is a perfect antidote to Prince's pompous self-importance. Basically a fast-moving, carefully crafted music video, Purple Rain is fun despite its flaws. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Jerome Benton - Jerome; Billy Sparks - Billy Sparks; Brenda Bennett - Brenda; Dez Dickerson - Dez; Claire Gershman - Beautiful Babe; Israel Gordon - Taste MC; Charles Huntsberry - Chick; Jill Jones - Jill; Alan Leeds - Stage Hand; The Time; Kim Upshur - Kim; Lisa Coleman - Lisa; David Graham; Wendy Melvoin - Wendy; Jesse Johnson - Jesse; Susan Moonsie - Susan; Paul Peterson - Paul
Credit
Marie France - Costume Designer, Albert Magnoli - Director, Albert Magnoli - Editor, Michel Colombier - Composer (Music Score), Robert L. Harman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Dez Dickerson - Songwriter, Prince - Songwriter, Richard Arrington - Makeup, Ward Preston - Production Designer, Donald Thorin - Cinematographer, Steve Fargnoli - Producer, Joe Ruffalo - Producer, Robert Cavallo - Producer, Anne McCulley - Set Designer, Bruce Bisenz - Sound/Sound Designer, Al Jones - Stunts, Albert Magnoli - Screenwriter, William Blinn - Screenwriter
Purple Rain is a 1984musical film directed by Albert Magnoli and written by Magnoli and William Blinn. Prince stars in this movie, which was developed to showcase his particular talents. The film earned US$68.4 million (2009 dollars US$140,017,340) at the box office and became a cult classic.
"The Kid" (Prince) is an aspiring and talented, but troubled Minneapolis musician with a difficult home life. He meets a singer named Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero), and they become involved in an untidy romance. The plot centers on Prince trying not to repeat the pattern of his abusive alcoholic father, played by Clarence Williams III (famous at the time for his role as Lincoln Hayes on The Mod Squad), and keep his band, The Revolution, and his relationship with Apollonia, together. His main antagonist is fellow musician Morris Day and his group The Time.
The movie idea was apparently developed by Prince during his "Triple Threat" tour. Initially the script was to be darker and more coherent. Prince intended to cast Vanity, leader of the girl group Vanity 6, but she left the group before filming began. Her role was initially offered to Jennifer Beals (who turned it down because she wanted to concentrate on college) before going to Apollonia Kotero, a virtual unknown at the time. Excluding Prince and his on-screen parents, almost every actor in the movie uses his/her actual name for his/her character.
Although the film was considered "outrageous" at that time by WB it was finally accepted for distribution thanks to Howard Bloom[2].
Filming locations
Filmed almost entirely in Minneapolis, the film features many local landmarks, including the Crystal Court of the IDS Center (also shown in segments of the opening credits to The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and the legendary First Avenue nightclub. A notable error, either geographic or taxi fare related, shows Apollonia running up (and bailing on) a $37.75 cab fare going from the Greyhound Station to the nightclub. In reality, they were just across the street from each other.
The Huntington Hotel which Apollonia stayed in is located at 752 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014. This was a late pickup shot and is shown in the movie to be across the street from First Avenue though it clearly is not.
