{"id":10297,"date":"2010-01-08T16:35:39","date_gmt":"2010-01-08T23:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=10297"},"modified":"2020-12-21T16:58:21","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T23:58:21","slug":"purple-rain-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=10297","title":{"rendered":"Purple Rain (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;He&#8217;s never done anything in his whole life for anybody but himself.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Purple-Rain-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Purple-Rain-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-58886\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Purple-Rain-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Purple-Rain-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Purple-Rain-Poster-177x270.jpg 177w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Purple-Rain-Poster.jpg 496w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA narcissistic musician (Prince) from a troubled home romances a gorgeous wannabe starlet (Apollonia Kotero) while trying to prevent her from joining a rival singer (Morris Day).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/genres.html#aspiring\">Aspiring Stars<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/genres.html#musicians\">Musicians<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/genres.html#rivalry\">Rivalry<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nIn his review of this cult &#8217;80s rock musical &#8212; which &#8220;catapulted&#8230; rock star Prince&#8230; into Michael Jackson megastar status&#8221; &#8212; Peary notes that &#8220;the story is trite and simplistic, and the direction by Albert Magnoli is crude, but the picture has enticing sexual tension&#8230; and the flamboyant Prince&#8221; (who evokes &#8220;the explosive energy of James Dean in <em>Rebel Without a Cause<\/em>&#8220;) has &#8220;undeniable charisma and charm&#8221;. Unfortunately, Prince&#8217;s character (based on himself) is also self-absorbed, petulant, immature, and abusive, to an insufferable degree; at first glance, he&#8217;s no one we could ever root for, but what finally helps to redeem him in our eyes is seeing the pain he experiences in his violent home (he&#8217;s clearly reacting to, and imitating, his dysfunctional parents), and watching him perform on stage, where he truly is &#8220;spellbinding&#8221; as he belts &#8220;out a soulful song, his fingers whipping his guitar&#8221;. With that said, Prince-the-performer is really the only reason to watch this poorly-acted and lamely scripted film, which amounts to little more than a full-length music video with a skeletal storyline. Others agree: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/71595\/purple_rain.html\">Time Out&#8217;s reviewer<\/a>, while acknowledging Prince&#8217;s undeniable charisma, calls it &#8220;at best predictable, at worst incomprehensible&#8221;, while Culture Cartel&#8217;s John Nesbitaccurately notes that &#8220;were it not for some excellent music, this film would be a complete waste of time.&#8221; Nonetheless, I reluctantly recommend it as must-see <em>one-time<\/em> viewing for film fanatics, simply for its cult status and its Oscar-winning soundtrack.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Prince&#8217;s dynamic presence<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/purple-rain-prince.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/purple-rain-prince.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10299\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Some truly electrifying performances during the final half-hour of the film<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/purple-rain-performances.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/purple-rain-performances.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10300\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, simply as a cult film and for its Oscar-winning soundtrack.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<li>Oscar Winner or Nominee<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0087957\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1984\/07\/27\/movies\/purple-rain-with-prince.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.combustiblecelluloid.com\/classic\/purplerain.shtml\">Combustible Celluloid Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s never done anything in his whole life for anybody but himself.&#8221; Synopsis: A narcissistic musician (Prince) from a troubled home romances a gorgeous wannabe starlet (Apollonia Kotero) while trying to prevent her from joining a rival singer (Morris Day). Genres: Aspiring Stars Musicians Rivalry Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: In his review of this cult &#8217;80s rock musical &#8212; which &#8220;catapulted&#8230; rock star Prince&#8230; into Michael Jackson megastar status&#8221; &#8212; Peary notes that &#8220;the story is trite and simplistic, and&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=10297\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10297"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58889,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10297\/revisions\/58889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}