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Title: Purple Rain (1984)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Prince | ... | The Kid | |
| Apollonia Kotero | ... | Apollonia | |
| Morris Day | ... | Morris | |
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Olga Karlatos | ... | Mother |
| Clarence Williams III | ... | Father | |
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Jerome Benton | ... | Jerome |
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Billy Sparks | ... | Billy |
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Jill Jones | ... | Jill |
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Charles Huntsberry | ... | Chick |
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Dez Dickerson | ... | Dez |
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Brenda Bennett | ... | Brenda |
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Susan Moonsie | ... | Susan (as Susan) |
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Sandra Claire Gershman | ... | Beautiful Babe |
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Kim Upsher | ... | Kim |
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Alan Leeds | ... | Stage Hand |
A young man with a talent for music has begun a career with much promise. He meets an aspiring singer, Apollonia, and finds that talent alone isn't all that he needs. A complicated tale of his repeating his father's self destructive behavior, losing Apollonia to another singer (Morris Day), and his coming to grips with his own connection to other people ensues. Written by John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
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This electrifying musical has more than a whiff of egotism from it's star, the musical genius that is Prince. The film is 90 or so minutes of posing but in truth it is easy to see why it is such a cult classic.
Much like other films that centre around the struggling young musician trying to be big, this has a hint of drama in it to add a dimension to the musical numbers. While this film isn't as good as 8 mile as a recent example, this is entertaining none the less and the soundtrack is much better. On the dramatic side of things the story centres around the Kid (Prince) a young artist and regular spot at a club. The owner of the club is frustrated with the Kid's arrogance and little does the Kid know that he could soon be fired and replaced by a rival. One the side the Kid's parents are having trouble, with his dad abusing her violently. During the course of the film the Kid learns a few lessons in life, and learns to appreciate his friends more. It's all stuff we have seen in coming of age dramas of course, but this is combined as a musical, a very stylised musical.
The cast are good. Prince is actually quite good on the drama side, when he's not striking a pose. He seems human and relatable. Clarence Williams is very good as the abusive father as well. Appollonia Kotero makes a good debut as Princes sexy love interest.
The main strength of the movie however is the superb soundtrack. The musical numbers are well staged and electrifying. Prince is no doubt a musical maestro, albeit very eccentric. When he is inspired he is great but on the flip side he will often do songs that are solely for his own taste, and occasionally his experimentation can miss-fire, but that is the same for many musical geniuses. The soundtrack for this film is excellent though, with only Sexshooter being a weak point. The show-stopping performance of Purple Rain is the standout though. It is one of my all time favourite songs. ***