ecstasy said:

Tell U what tho'......they've ALREADY re-made FOOTLOOSE & MIAMI VICE, FLASHDANCE & all that other 80's stuff can't b 2 far behind. But there will only be ONE PURPLE RAIN!!!!!!

fusk said:

skywalker said:

Oh please. The movie is a classic.

Go back and watch other movies of the era Flashdance, Footloose, etc. Purple Rain eats those movies for breakfast.

but what if you go back and watch a good movie instead?

What if you stop the bullshit movie snobbery and go troll some other website?

I think people just say its dated because of the bad acting rather than the fashions. I find I can barely take seriously many 80s movies or 70s movies because I have always found puffball jackets, triangle shaped earings, mullets, plastic pants, galmour hair, stretch pants and afros and flares so funny. I bet if they had bought in people from the Royal Shakespeare company to act in it, it would be looked upon more glowing "Oh I say, theres a vision of elegance there in all her polyvinyl glory, oh how Jupiter's many moons and the neophytical muses of Apollo could not have drawn together a better ensemble of pleather and weave (Apollonia)" I really think Purple Rain would have appealed about the same as it did back then. Besides it was really a B movie to start off it, its just that Prince and the Revolutions music helped make it into a Box Office Smash, otherwise its just a B movie, and many worse examples exist of this genre.

You can't stop the music, The Apple and Sergeant Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band are many times worse and yet they are not even remembered now. At least we fans still remember the Purple Rain.

uuhson said:

people on this forum really will bitch about anything

Welcome to the ORG, resistance is futile.

nursev said:

ecstasy said:

Exactly. I can never get tired of it. I don't watch it as much as I used to, merely because I don't wanna get sick of it entirely. I treat it as a treat for myself and others I force to watch with me

Don't hate on the Purple Rock

Well I have forced a few to watch it over the years but they loved it afterwards

I coaxed someone into watching Purple Rain and she loved it. She even went out and bought the dvd and quotes dialogue from it every chance she gets. I then showed her Under the Cherry Moon and she hated it. I won't even think of showing her Graffiti Bridge.

imago said:

It's a very 80s movie. But, I don't think this harms it much.

I don't think the acting is agreat, nor do I think it's a great movie by any means.

But for a musical, I do think it was the first of its kind.

Remember, prior to Purple Rain, Rock Musicals came in the form of camp Elvis

movies, Kizz's strange amusement park movie, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Purple Rain was a different kind of movie.

I also like the fact that much of the story was untold in dialogue. The 'kid' is

obviously haunted by his father and seeks to emulate him in his own way.

The scene after Father's Song, where Prince rips into Computer Blue

is able to show his father's influence without any silly dialogue 'talking

the story' to you. I hate it when the story has to needlessly be explained

in stiff dialogue---like much of Graffiti Bridge (a tour de force of mediocrity).

Some others mentioned UTCM--I fail to see how anybody could see that

as a good movie. It has however dated itself better than Purple Rain,

for the mere fact that I can't tell what the hell time-period it's supposed

to take place in.

Elvis' pre Army movies weren't campy, and you can make comparisons of 8 Mile to Purple Rain. You can argue that 8 Mile borrowed a few things from PR.

We can discuss all the reasons why Prince wanted to do movies, and whether or not it affected his music.

There's two movies that killed the musical genre - The Wiz and Xanadu, but it was also the beginning of the Webber/Rice era in the UK and US, as well as by the end of the 80s, Disney revamping their cartoon films. When you think about it, Disney brought the musical back, and Baz Luhrmann wound up doing "Moulin Rouge", which did well, but producers remained cautious about musical films. Now you have "Hairspray", "Mamma Mia", "Chicago", and "Rock of Ages".

But without The Wiz there would be no Off the Wall and Thriller.

The heart of Purple Rain is what makes it a good film, all the conflicts and stuff going on behind the scenes and the concerts kind of capturing what he was feeling at that time on stage. I'm sure Warners was going "why does it have to be so explicit, we could take some of the scenes out and double our audience!"

xpertluva said:

nursev said:

ecstasy said: Well I have forced a few to watch it over the years but they loved it afterwards

I coaxed someone into watching Purple Rain and she loved it. She even went out and bought the dvd and quotes dialogue from it every chance she gets. I then showed her Under the Cherry Moon and she hated it. I won't even think of showing her Graffiti Bridge.

Haha, same thing happened with my group of friends and my latest beau, minus UTCM incident. My friends HATED Prince with a passion for no reason of course. My dude just thought he was gay. After the showing, the buds thought he was cute and talented and the boo grew ultimate respect for him. It was a great outcome.

And I feel you on the Grafitti Bridge part, please please don't do it, lol. That would make a newbie U-turn out of Prince's favor...

ecstasy said:

xpertluva said:

I coaxed someone into watching Purple Rain and she loved it. She even went out and bought the dvd and quotes dialogue from it every chance she gets. I then showed her Under the Cherry Moon and she hated it. I won't even think of showing her Graffiti Bridge.

Haha, same thing happened with my group of friends and my latest beau, minus UTCM incident. My friends HATED Prince with a passion for no reason of course. My dude just thought he was gay. After the showing, the buds thought he was cute and talented and the boo grew ultimate respect for him. It was a great outcome.

And I feel you on the Grafitti Bridge part, please please don't do it, lol. That would make a newbie U-turn out of Prince's favor...

Cool story. It seems Purple Rain has a universal appeal. Another reason I consider it a classic.

You know, I have an extra sealed copy of Purple Rain on blu-ray that I'll be happy to mail out to any Orger, free of charge. Orgnote me.

It was a fine film for its time, just like the Beatles Hard Day's Night in '64 or Saturday Night Fever in '77. To be honest for all three it's the music that outlasted the films themselves.

[Edited 12/28/11 9:35am]

http://www.the-numbers.co...lation.php

I recently pulled up the All-Time Highest Grossing Films in the U.S. Since 1977, Inflation-Adjusted. And of the 822 movies thus far, Purple Rain came in 404th. Interesting.

As a whole work, the movie is great. But that scene of acting between Jill Jones and Prince about the cassette and the "subpoena" line is worse than a freshman student film in terms of acting and dialogue. I thought that back in 1986 when I first saw the dang movie. Or was it 1985?

all the home violence stuff is good. Prince gets bitch slapped down, that's hard core.

skywalker said:

fusk said:

but what if you go back and watch a good movie instead?

What if you stop the bullshit movie snobbery and go troll some other website?

psh, what an unrealistic scenario to consider!

Srsly tho, no need to get personal. I just wanted to make a smug comment that I thought sounded funny. NouveauDance mentioned that you were only comparing music movies, and down in my brain's heart I knew that. And since I don't think it makes sense to compare something like Blade Runner to Purple Rain, maybe it's true that PR is a classic (within the genre).

Personally I didn't like Purple Rain too much. It's goofy as fuck, and that's the highlight. Of course the music was good, but during the songs, the constant cuts to reaction shots of Apollonia make me cringe.

dalsh327 said:

The heart of Purple Rain is what makes it a good film, all the conflicts and stuff going on behind the scenes and the concerts kind of capturing what he was feeling at that time on stage.

Prince portraying himself as this hard to work with, controlling diva who is in conflict with Wendy and Lisa always seemed like a calculated move to sell a certain mythos rather than an honest portrayal of the band dynamic. Didn't Wendy join the band too soon before the movie for any band conflict to develop? If everyone resented each other behind the scenes, would they really want to put that in a movie?

Hell, if it didn't take me back to the 1980s, I wouldn't like it. That's what makes it so good. Something that fits in well today would be boring as hell considering that everything in entertainment today is the most boring in history from TV shows, movies, and music unless it's something new and retro. I love "Purple Rain" and other movies from that era. It gives me an escape to a time before shit hop culture and reality show culture.

fusk said:

skywalker said:

What if you stop the bullshit movie snobbery and go troll some other website?

psh, what an unrealistic scenario to consider!

Srsly tho, no need to get personal. I just wanted to make a smug comment that I thought sounded funny. NouveauDance mentioned that you were only comparing music movies, and down in my brain's heart I knew that. And since I don't think it makes sense to compare something like Blade Runner to Purple Rain, maybe it's true that PR is a classic (within the genre).

Personally I didn't like Purple Rain too much. It's goofy as fuck, and that's the highlight. Of course the music was good, but during the songs, the constant cuts to reaction shots of Apollonia make me cringe.

No one was comparing Blade Runner (which wasn't an instant classic) to Purple Rain (which was). We were comparing music/rock movies to other music/rock movies.

The parallels being drawn to A Hard Day's Night and Saturday Night Fever are apt. By in large, rock movies are inherently of their era... 8mile included.

Without out a doubt, Purple Rain is a classic of it's genre. The fact that you personally don't like the movie is a moot point.

eyewishuheaven said:

You know, I have an extra sealed copy of Purple Rain on blu-ray that I'll be happy to mail out to any Orger, free of charge. Orgnote me.

Claimed!

eyewishuheaven said:

eyewishuheaven said:

You know, I have an extra sealed copy of Purple Rain on blu-ray that I'll be happy to mail out to any Orger, free of charge. Orgnote me.

Claimed!

Back in 1984, I thought the acting in Purple Rain left something to be desired, but I still loved the movie. It had a good story line and the music was and still is off the chain. I still enjoy watching it today.

I didn't like Under the Cherry Moon nearly as much and I thought Graffiti Bridge was just plan horrible. I'm glad Prince stopped making movies at that point.

Just my

vainandy said:

Hell, if it didn't take me back to the 1980s, I wouldn't like it. That's what makes it so good. Something that fits in well today would be boring as hell considering that everything in entertainment today is the most boring in history from TV shows, movies, and music unless it's something new and retro. I love "Purple Rain" and other movies from that era. It gives me an escape to a time before shit hop culture and reality show culture.

I must be spending too much time on facebook; I was looking for the "like" button for your post.

xpertluva said:

vainandy said:

Hell, if it didn't take me back to the 1980s, I wouldn't like it. That's what makes it so good. Something that fits in well today would be boring as hell considering that everything in entertainment today is the most boring in history from TV shows, movies, and music unless it's something new and retro. I love "Purple Rain" and other movies from that era. It gives me an escape to a time before shit hop culture and reality show culture.

I must be spending too much time on facebook; I was looking for the "like" button for your post.

lol just 'like' the whole topic

skywalker said:

fusk said:

psh, what an unrealistic scenario to consider!

Srsly tho, no need to get personal. I just wanted to make a smug comment that I thought sounded funny. NouveauDance mentioned that you were only comparing music movies, and down in my brain's heart I knew that. And since I don't think it makes sense to compare something like Blade Runner to Purple Rain, maybe it's true that PR is a classic (within the genre).

Personally I didn't like Purple Rain too much. It's goofy as fuck, and that's the highlight. Of course the music was good, but during the songs, the constant cuts to reaction shots of Apollonia make me cringe.

No one was comparing Blade Runner (which wasn't an instant classic) to Purple Rain (which was). We were comparing music/rock movies to other music/rock movies.

The parallels being drawn to A Hard Day's Night and Saturday Night Fever are apt. By in large, rock movies are inherently of their era... 8mile included.

I know nobody was comparing purple rain to blade runner. I only mention it to raise the point that Purple Rain is at best a classic withing its own (tiny) genre. If you allow Purple Rain to be compared to a wider class of movies, it would fare terribly, because Blade Runner, for example, is a much better movie (by almost any standard). I agree with you that the comparison isn't really fair, though.

skywalker said:

Without out a doubt, Purple Rain is a classic of it's genre. The fact that you personally don't like the movie is a moot point.

I'm sorry I don't like the things you like...

It's a classic to me...

fusk said:

I'm sorry I don't like the things you like...

1. You don't have to like the things I like. However, that didn't stop you from being a movie snob in order to be funny and smug. Going to shit on Purple Rain at THE Prince fansite? Fine. It's not personal for me, your smugness came off as disrespect and jerkiness.

I know nobody was comparing purple rain to blade runner. I only mention it to raise the point that Purple Rain is at best a classic withing its own (tiny) genre. If you allow Purple Rain to be compared to a wider class of movies, it would fare terribly, because Blade Runner, for example, is a much better movie (by almost any standard). I agree with you that the comparison isn't really fair, though.

2. Let me start by saying that I love the shit out of Blade Runner. Now follow me on this:

Is Blade Runner a better rock n' roll or music film than Purple Rain?

Basically, I am telling you about a great pizza. You are telling me why I shouldn't like it because chinese food is better. It doesn't help your case. It just comes off a ignorant and stuck up.

Now as far as this claim:

If you allow Purple Rain to be compared to a wider class of movies, it would fare terribly, because Blade Runner, for example, is a much better movie (by almost any standard)

It depend upon your perspective.

Blade Runner was a box office flop. It was widely panned*. It won no academy awards. It has since become a highly respected cult/sci fi classic.

Purple Rain, on the other hand, was a MONSTER in every sense. Not just the album, but the movie as well. The movie lifted up Prince and the album to a status that was more far reaching than even MTV . The film and album made him a superstar. Beatles type of fame. Both are (arguably) Prince's best work. Prince got an Oscar. Did Blade Runner garner any? No. Did it help Ridley Scott's or Harrison Ford's careers? Maybe in hindsight.

Notice how I don't get all smug and snobbish? I just give you facts about your inaccurate claims like this:

Purple Rain is at best a classic withing its own (tiny) genre

Fact: Purple Rain is widely regarded as a classic rock n' roll movie. Whether you like it or not. Check these out. Mainstream media.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20189949,00.html

http://www.vh1.com/news/editorial/?page=3&contentId=1619070

http://www.theuncool.com/journalism/greatest-rock-movies-ever-premiere-magazine/

http://princetext.tripod.com/r_pr_movie.html

http://www.mspmag.com/entertainment/film/151742_2.asp This one is quoted for you:

"The Los Angeles Herald Examiner called Purple Rain the “best rock film ever made.” At Rolling Stone, Kurt Loder wrote, “Not since the Beatles burst off the screen in A Hard Day’s Night has the sense of a new generation’s arrival on the pop scene been so vividly and excitingly conveyed.” Even The Village Voice raved."

Lastly, here's some old school Siskel and funkin' Ebert. Again, you might like it, but Purple Rain is a classic film and album. I tell you this as a cinephile, not just as a Prince fan.

http://siskelandebert.org/video/YO9SDMMWM1UG/The-Philadelphia-Experiment--Purple-Rain-1984

*Now, here are the fellas panning Blade Runner. Ebert, a little less. I disagree with them. I love the shit out of it. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTP2CK_9xGg

[Edited 12/28/11 19:26pm]

[Edited 12/28/11 19:36pm]

^ wow Nurse, I love Purple Rain the movie,

and... those pics are beautiful, always.... thank U.