Colors - As Cores da Violência

Before you had BOYS N THE HOOD or MENACE II SOCIETY, there was COLORS. This movie is the original article in urban-street dramas that spawned many followers in the 90's. But like those films it is an intense, powerful movie that takes you to the streets in an extremely realistic way. The caption on the VHS cover says something like two gangs at war(Bloods & Crips)with the police caught in between. Well, that is pretty misleading. Although most films like this would stick with the gang war as the main focus, COLORS has many different plot levels that all come together very nicely. Sean Penn & Robert Duvall are right on the mark as the two officers on the beat. The film ultimately succeeds through its perspectives, giving points of view from all sides and fully expresses the harsh reality that everyone involved faces. When the film first came out, it was bashed for its extreme violence and portrayal of gang members. Well, I definitely think Dennis Hopper did an excellent job and I feel that violence is crucial in a film like this to add to its strong sense of reality which some people may not be too familiar with.

Colors is a movie that shines brightly with quality actors Sean Penn and Robert Duvall headlining the movie and Dennis Hopper sitting in the director's chair for the first time since Easy Rider (1969). The film could have easily been dismissed as a routine action movie but the end result is a gritty crime drama that highlights a major problem across the USA.

Colors focuses on the Los Angeles Police Department's CRASH Division (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) combating the gang wars that could explode across Los Angeles at any moment. Amongst the CRASH officers are the 19 year veteran Officer Bob Hodges (Robert Duvall, The Godfather) who treats all the gang members hard but fair yet approaches every problem with a sense of diplomacy. Hodges is partnered with Officer Danny McGavin (Sean Penn, Fast Times at Ridgemont High) a young police officer who is highly capable but has a very short fuse and proves to be his own worst enemy with his aggressive approach to police work, much to the chagrin to Hodges. Hodges and McGavin must work together to prevent an all out war on the streets of Los Angels between the Bloods and the Crips.

Sean Penn made his mark with Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and since then has gone from strength to strength with movies such as Bad Boys (1983), The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) and At Close Range (1986) which was met with acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Improbably cast as an LAPD officer, Sean Penn turns in an excellent performance as Danny McGavin which sees him continue to come of age. Ironically, Sean Penn found himself on the wrong side of the law during the filming of Colors when he was jailed for punching an extra who photographed him and Robert Duvall without his permission.

The ever reliable Robert Duvall who never puts a foot wrong no matter what role he plays or what movie he appears in. Duvall does a fine job as veteran officer Bob Hodges who strives to keep the peace on the streets of Los Angeles as well as keeping his young hotheaded partner in line.

María Conchita Alonso (The Running Man), Don Cheadle (Traffic), Damon Wayans (The Last Boy Scout), and Glenn Plummer (Speed) also appear in small but effective roles in Colors and support Sean Penn and Robert Duvall very well.

The late Dennis Hopper was a surprise choice as director given that in his stellar career (Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet, Speed) he has only directed a handful of movies with Easy Rider (1969) being his only successful movie as a director. Here in Colors he has done a quality job bringing the movie to the big screen.

Colors was a surprisingly very good movie that is sorely underrated. Thankfully critics did not dismiss this as rubbish and gave the movie credit where it was due. It was also boosted by the star power of Sean Penn and Robert Duvall under the direction of Dennis Hopper. It is gritty and uncompromising, but Colors shines.

8/10.

An experienced cop (Robert Duvall) and his rookie partner (Sean Penn) patrol the streets of East Los Angeles while trying to keep the gang violence under control.

Looking back now (2017), this film seems so normal, something that could be included in a long list of L.A. gang movies, with the Crips and Bloods fighting it out for turf. We all know about "gangsta rap" and Compton and South Central and all of that. But then you look at the date this film was released -- 1988 -- and you see that all these things we take for granted had never been explored in any detail before. (Merriam-Webster, for example, does not even think the term "gangsta rap" was invented until 1989, even if Schoolly D and Ice-T were already around.)

Although it is probably not true that "Colors" is the first film about gang violence in Los Angeles, it was probably the most influential at the time it came out. Allegedly, some reviews found it even hard to believe that gangs existed in L.A. -- that is just how novel the premise was. Director Dennis Hopper does an excellent job in laying out what these neighborhoods are like and really tackles the crack epidemic head on.

The original script by Richard DiLello (best known as a Beatles historian) actually took place in Chicago (the traditional gang stronghold) and was more about drug dealing than individual gang members. Hopper ordered changes, so Michael Schiffer was hired and the setting was changed to Los Angeles with the focus of the story becoming more about the day-to-day world of gang members. This switch may be the single best decision Hopper made while developing and shooting the film.

What makes the film valuable today, besides its historic aspect, is seeing just how great the casting was, too. Don Cheadle before he was widely known. Tony Todd before "Candyman". Damon Wayans before his entire family became big stars. Even a young Mario Lopez shows up. The idea of having a white kid (Courtney Gains) in a Latino gang seems strange, but as Gains himself says, that was written into the script and he just happened to be lucky enough to get the part.

Thanks to Shout! Factory and their Shout Select label, we now have the full, uncut film on Blu-ray, looking great and sounding fantastic. The Herbie Hancock score is dynamite, to say the least. Special features are a little bit slim, unfortunately -- no commentary and not a single actor interview -- but we do have a look back at both the writing process and the gang situation in 1980s Los Angeles.

Colors (1988)

*** (out of 4)

A veteran L.A. police officer (Robert Duvall) gets teamed up with a new, hot-tempered officer (Sean Penn) just as a war between rival gangs breaks out in the streets. The two officers are constantly butting heads over the proper way to handle the situations of the street and things don't get any better once the gangs start fighting back. COLORS was a very popular movie in the day but it's not really a great film. I think there are many very good and many great things in the film but I think a major re-write on the screenplay could have really helped things because no matter how many times I watch the film I can't help but think they're trying to do way too much and end up missing a lot of stuff that should have been simple. On one hand you're looking at a cop-buddy picture and then you have a film trying to show people the law of the streets. I'm sure many were seeing these type of gangs for the first time and director Hopper certainly tries to make one understand why they're in these gangs and why they're willing to lay down their blood for their cause. What doesn't work overly well are a couple side plots dealing with Penn and his relationship with a Mexican woman (Maria Conchita Alonso) with connections to the street. Another thing that doesn't work overly well are all sorts of other subplots dealing with lower entry gang members that never really add up to much. I think there are some moments where the film goes away from the two leads for too long, which certainly makes the film drag in spots. What does work however are the performances by those two leads with both actors doing a great job and even better is the chemistry they have together. The old school Duvall and the new school Penn were the perfect selection for partners here because their acting styles are just so different that they end up mixing together so well. No actor can sell a veteran as great as Duvall and Penn was certainly starting to come into his own around this point in his career and that hot-tempered manor of his was nailed perfectly. The supporting players add some nice performances including Ron Delaney, Larry Sylvester, Don Cheadle and Marlon Wayans in a small role. I've read some reviews that say COLORS is nothing more than a blaxploitation flick for white people but I think this is a tad bit unfair. I think Hopper did a very good job at showing this gang life without glamorizing it and I also think the film does a good job at making the members humans and not just some sort of targets. Hopper certainly seemed to know the material quite well and his direction gets the job done but I think less could have been more.

Dennis Hopper's film Colors may seem like hundreds of miles removed from his first feature as director Easy Rider, but it's made twenty years later and it shows effectively at least two things on his part: first, that he can express himself in material that would appear to be a "for-hire" work, specifically with having an older, calmer version of himself in Duvall (the kind that tries to think things through and can be ferocious but has experience from a life of work) and Penn (the young hot-head who you know is good but is troubled in other ways), and secondly that he can go back to some of his earliest acting roots, working in movies featuring rebels and gangs (not least of which Rebel Without a Cause) and actually give them the fire and energy and as-much-as-possible realism so desperately needed. Colors is a mature work from a filmmaker who knows what he's doing, and will let the actors and the mood of the streets and the temperament of the current events (which were practically untenable in the late 80s and early 90s in gang-banger) LA.

Matter of fact, this should have been Hopper's professional calling-card, showing that he can make a film that isn't an art-film or too experimental (Last Movie) or under the radar (Out of the Blue). Indeed you'd have to remind most people that Hopper even directed it since, frankly, he lets his stars steal the show, and rightfully so. There's not a solid plot to speak of, more-so a character study of two cops, one older one younger, who are partnered up and have to tackle the ghettos and slums, loaded with "Blue" (Crips) and "Red") (Bloods), and also the various Hispanic gangs that are not as notorious but still as powerful and dangerous.

It's a series of pieces that soon take shape into a story, but it's not even about that. It's just about following these gangs and being true to their nature: of their rites of passage (beating up the new kids and setting them off to prove themselves), their bond and codes, their can-do attitude even when they're behind bars or in hand-cuffs, and the collective wisdom that you can either talk to a cop or just run... or, another alternative, shoot. It's also about a value system and class differences; the former relating, of course, to Hodges (Duvall) and Penn, who don't see eye to eye on how to apprehend suspects or treat them. Penn's younger guy isn't a crooked cop or corrupted, but he's a hot-head, a junkie for adrenaline, while Duvall's been around the block way too many times (and even admits that he had a higher post before and is still on the streets for reasons not totally made clear) to put up with being "like a gangster" as he says.

And the class part relates to the difference between McGavin (Penn) and his supposed girlfriend, who comes from the Latino parts of the hood and has family that Hodges has come in contact with as a cop, putting them up against the wall. It's through this that we see the split between the people in Lost Angeles, and while it's not a subtle point really (and may even be one of the more cliché things in the picture), it still goes a way to try and add immediacy to the drama, and McGain's own personal conflicts on the streets. And, again, those gangs, some played by actors (Don Cheadle and Damon Wayans in early roles, Sy Richardson), others by I would assume real gang-bangers and people 'from the streets' (another thing Hopper is good at, casting real people, which he doesn't get enough credit for), that are allowed to be fleshed out and made into real people, or as real as they can be in this movie.

The filmmakers don't make us feel sympathy for the gang members, but through making them human beings as opposed to just targets and caricatures, it adds to the whole experience of being about something. Nothing here is exploited; it's a well-researched time-capsule that still holds its own years later, least as long as there are crips and bloods and other gangs and, you know, hot-headed cops with old-timer veterans. Very solid, professional film-making.