Purple Rain

It's probably fair to say that as a movie, "Purple Rain" makes for a great album. The story is like a 1930's backstage musical brought up to date, the dialogue is cliché-ridden, while the acting looks as if it's everyone's first try-out (which it more or less is). What saves it is Prince's blockbusting soundtrack of great songs, most of which are played in full, which helpfully reduces the acting time for everyone. Elsewhere it's ridiculously sexist, the women in it variously getting thrown into a dumper like yesterday's trash, slapped about by the men and requiring to wear full pancake make-up at all times and of course appear half-naked most of the time.

Prince himself gets to run around on his motorbike a lot and of course perform his songs so he doesn't have to do much other than make big doe-eyes at key moments and speak his words one line at a time. Morris Day is better as his nattily-dressed rival (in music and for the girl), but underneath he's still a stereotypical chauvinist and Appollonia as the love interest gets to sing a little, cry a little and take off her clothes a lot.

What little humour there is, is forced and banal, none more so than an excruciatingly unfunny sub-Abbott and Costello "Who-dat" exchange between Day and his gopher over a password. In its favour though the presentation of all the songs is crisp and dynamic as you'd expect in the MTV age. Prince, naturally and even Day are fine musical performers, although Day's songs with his group The Time are noticeably inferior to Prince's group the Revolution's - you just don't buy the club-owner's ultimatum to "The Kid" to up his game or lose the gig because up until then his material and performances have been superb.

Which brings me to the music, which in Prince's case is absolutely brilliant throughout. Not for nothing did the soundtrack stay at the top of the US charts for a "Thriller"-challenging 24 weeks. Each song gets a different,imaginative, live-interpretation and the man himself is as we all know a sensational performer, dancer and lip-syncher too! As you'd expect there's a big climax, where the self-obsessed Kid reaches out by for once selflessly performing Wendy and Lisa's song (in reality his own), the title number, partly to expiate his pain over his family strife and also, naturally to win the girl, but the music is so good and the staging so strong that you believe it and all the 'happy ever after" boxes it ticks as it goes.

Which is pretty much the story of the film and it wouldn't be the first "musical" where the songs carried the movie, but there were rarely songs as good as these doing the job.

Not terribly different from many of the 1930s-era "backstage musicals," Purple Rain sports a contrived plotline that sees Prince (in the film referred to only as The Kid) battling rival musician Morris Day for the affections of new-in-town beauty Apollonia and a shot at stardom through a secure spot on the bill at legendary Minneapolis club First Avenue. A secondary narrative thread concerns The Kid's violent home life and his attempts to protect his mother from his raging, abusive father. Anyone looking for nuance and subtlety won't find it in the acting or the direction, but Prince's stage presence is commanding, and the musical numbers are electrifying. The Academy Award winning song score (irrefutably one of the best rock albums of the 1980s) and Prince's enigmatic, magnetic personality are undoubtedly the chief components in Purple Rain's sturdy cult, but for viewers of the right age, the youthful angst, flip attitude, and bold sexuality of the film will prove to be irresistibly attractive.

You can debate Prince's acting talent, or even his choice to parody his own life in this film. There is no debate about his musical talent either then or now. He seems like a shadowy has-been twenty years later, but the music remains relevant and fantastic.

Having lived through the hype of this movie (graduated high school in'85) I can tell you that there was nothing bigger at the time. From Tipper Gore (Al's wife) trying to censor "Little Nikki" and every thing else under the sun via the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) to every "Air Band" at the time impersonating Prince, it was the absolute hottest thing out. For a few weeks at least, Prince was bigger than Madonna and Michael Jackson.

We all waited for the film and were soooooo excited when it premiered. It didn't disappoint. EVERYONE was caught up. I was an MTV junkie at the time(they actually played music then....all the time)Prince played at least once or twice an hour. I must qualify this commentary by saying that, at that time, my favorites were Billy Idol, Oingo Boingo, The Fixx, Flock of Seagulls and others in the Punk/ New Wave genre' The music of Prince at the time transcended all types and styles. One of the reasons that some of it seems so cheesy and contrite now is that it was SOOOOOOOO big then. All the things that remind you of the 80's were iconic then. It was mainstream and it seems like a cliché' now. It got so popular that it became ridiculous. It's like the rappin' Granny commercial for Wendy's Hamburgers.

It looks stupid now because EVERYONE was caught up in it (sadly, kind of like a bizarre purple macarena or something. Anyway, I hope this gave you all a little insight.

Of course this review is oh 37 years after the movie came out. Saw this movie at a New Years party '84 to '85 - many of the songs were already in heavy rotation on the radio, but tying the music to the truly Amazing artist and his quasi-autobio really put a new spin on things. The mere thought of someone living in such humble circumstances creating music never heard before, a look never seen before, alone, from his parent's basement to the big screen was jaw dropping for this 18 year old. That was the 80's, a time of boundary-less optimism, all things are possible attitude. Why? Because it was true!! This movie could not be more perfectly timed than to come out in the midst of one of the most glorious times in human history not to mention American hx. Sure, there some serious cheese in this flick but that's now part of its charm. Don't mess with imperfection.

An overall score of 6.5 is generous, it's so bad. But I dare you not to carry on watching. Mesmerizing in it's nostalgic beauty yet, obviously, hugely flawed in every way you'd judge a film without a global popstar in the starring role. Think Labyrinth and Moonwalker, except this is much thinner on the story front and laughable as far as acting goes. But so addictive.

The main attraction is the music, of course. Purple Rain is an iconic album. It's one of those films that is so bad it's good, before that became a genre in itself. Prince was always his own man and it shows in how this film is put together but 6.5 on IMDb usually means a divisive film with huge merits in either acting, direction, story or soundtrack. This film only has the soundtrack....but you still need to watch.