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Purple Rain
Warner Home Video / 1984 / 115 Minutes / Rated R
Street date: August 24, 2004
Reviewed by Peter M. Bracke on August 12, 2004. (Bio / Equipment list)

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There comes a moment in the life of every major popular artist when the stars align and, for what usually amounts to only one brief, shining moment, they and the audience become one. The zeitgeist is captured, and forever onward, they become irrevocably fused with a particular moment in culture and our memories. For the Beatles it was their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. For Michael Jackson, it was when he first moonwalked on the Motown 50th Anniversary Show. And for Prince, it was Purple Rain.

Prince stars as The Kid, and he is funky. Jamming with his band The Revolution every night at the local First Avenue Club in Minneapolis, The Kid has big dreams and an even bigger ego. But when his abusive homelife threatens to crash the party, and the new girl in town takes a liking to both him and his musical rival (Morris Day), The Kid will have to make a choice. Can he find redemption in music, or will he self-destruct?

Purple Rain adheres to the tradition of every great (or usually putrid) rock movie, which is to blur the line between artist and character and leave it up to us to separate fact from fiction. It will come as no surprise to learn that the relationship of Prince himself and his real-life father is not that far off what we see in the film. And as we learn on the included supplements, the tensions between The Kid and his band were also the same problems that plagued The Revolution. So Purple Rain, however silly it may be, does achieve genuine resonance, because when we see Prince/The Kid up there belting out those ten songs, every one now a classic, we truly believe that if he hadn't, he would have exploded.



Unfortunately, Purple Rain is also an ugly film. It offers more than just casual misogyny, but downright hatred of women. Such "comic" scenes as Day, after being confronted by a date he blew off then throwing her into a dumpster, are cringe-inducing. And one wonders what was going through the mind of the screenwriters when they conceived of Apollonia. (To the credit of Apollonia Kotero, who in fact was married at the time and not sleeping with Prince, she has publicly stated ever since how far removed from the character she was playing despite the name.) Only the most clueless male fantasy could think that this poor girl, despite being repeatedly humiliated, slapped and berated by The Kid, would continue to purr over him like a cat in heat. And the conclusion is the worst kind of MTV pop psychology. Apparently, as long as you sing a song as admittedly stunning as "Purple Rain," all is forgiven. Ah, the power of music to cure domestic violence!

But it is the music that makes Purple Rain still worth revisiting. It was the zenith of Prince's career, when he was at his peak as a commercial artist. Mixing funk, rock, pop, new wave, soul and gospel, he blazed a trail not only for African-American artists, but modern American music. The riffs, the melodies, the lyrics - all seem effortless and fit together like some cosmic jigsaw puzzle, as if Prince was just channeling some sort of higher musical power that said "if you build it, they will come." It is hard to define that elusive thing called magic, but in 1984 Prince had it in spades. The musical sequences in Purple Rain are still blistering, and even if director Albert Magnoli shoots the whole thing like one long music video, the concert footage is ranks as some of the best ever seen in a motion picture. So crank it up, raise your lighter and sing along. Prince reigns in Purple Rain.



Video: How Does The Disc Look?

At last making its widescreen debut on home video, Warner has put together another nice new remaster. Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, this one easily trumps the previous, artifact-laden full frame release from 1997. While the print is not significantly better, there far less grain and noise, with more vibrant, clean colors that don't smear despite all the deep purples, blues and reds. Contrast is also pretty good, although the film can look a tad dark at times. Detail is also impressive, with fairly good depth to the image for a film of this vintage, and edge enhancement is not a problem. Also greatly improved is the compression, with none of the horrible blockiness that marred the previous release. Purple Rain looks pretty darn good.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

We know it is all about the music, and Warner has given us a pretty good Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track. Truth be told, the music still sounds like it is in stereo and is comparable to recently soundtrack CD remaster. But that is not a bad thing, because personally, I think most pseudo-5.1 music remasters sound cheesy. In this case, the music is front and center, with only crowd noise and various sound effects being directed to the back speakers. Also, I only noticed a couple of instances of truly discrete rear effects. Otherwise, frequency response is quite good although not excellent, and dialogue is fairly clear, although high end sounds a little clipped. Also, the .1 LFE is pretty powerful on the music, but otherwise somewhat flat. Not an amazing sonic experience, but good enough to deliver where it counts, which is the music.

Also included is a French mono dub, plus English and French subtitles and English Closed Captions.



Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

First the bad news: Prince was not involved in the making of this DVD. Why? Who knows when it comes to His Mysterious Purpleness. Perhaps he is still pissed at Warner over the whole "Slave" thing? Or he wanted to much money? In any case, the omission is not as detrimental as I had expected. In a weird way, his absence makes him even more of an enigma, as if those assembled are dissecting, Citizen Kane-style, not a man but a legend. So all of the extras assembled are still pretty darn fun.

First up on disc one of this two-disc, 20th Anniversary Edition is a new screen-specific audio commentary by director Albert Magnoli, producer Robert Cavallo and cinematographer Donald Thorin. I felt it might be the weakest extra on the set. Surprisingly for a track with three participants, it is full of dead patches and short bursts of info followed by dull meandering. For some reason, the trio decided to focus almost exclusively on tech details (how cold it was, where this scene was shot, etc.) and not the stuff we really want to know, i.e., Prince. I can't imagine anyone but the most diehard fans making it all the way through this one.

Also on disc one are theatrical trailers for all three of Prince's motion picture epics: Purple Rain, the dreadful Under the Cherry Moon, and the even more dreadful Graffiti Bridge. (Hey, where's a DVD release of Sign O' the Times!?) And note the Purple Rain trailer: it has a surprisingly amount of footage not seen in the movie, but alas there are no deleted scenes on this DVD. Bummer.

The meat of the extras is on disc two, led by three new featurettes. The most straightforward is Purple Rain: Backstage Pass, which runs 26 minutes. Given the absence of Prince (as well as Apollonia and Morris Day, who also both declined to participate), this is surprisingly good, with most of the key Revolution members giving us the juicy stuff (Wendy & Lisa, Bobby Z., Dr. Fink and The Time's Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis), plus Magnoli, Cavallo, Prince's tour crew members Alan Leeds and Craig Rice, and actress Jill Jones. The making of the movie takes a backseat

Also interesting is the 12-minute First Avenue: The Road to Pop Royalty, which gives some good background on the club the movie made famous, as well as how a hip joint Prince used to jam in suddenly became a tourist attraction after the flick hit big. Also on hand to deliver insight are fellow musicians Chris Osgood, Chan Poling and Macy Gray, DJs Mike Bosley, Walter Banks and Cowboy, and rock writers Neal Karlan, Jim Walsh and Kurt Loder. Good stuff. And the most celebratory of the three is the 10-minute Riffs, Ruffles and a Revolution: The Impact and Influence of Purple Rain. This one is just fun nostalgia, VH-1 style. Yes, people used to really were clothes like that, and thought it was cool. But more than a fashion victim, Purple Rain truly did impact pop culture in a major way. I just can't believe it was twenty years ago. Sigh.

Rounding out the extras is 13 minutes of MTV Premiere Party footage, which is hilarious (Mark Goodman...love the hair!), plus a collection of eight music videos, including five from Prince ("Let's Go Crazy," "Take Me With U (Live)," "When Doves Cry," "I Would Die 4 U/Baby I'm a Star," "Purple Rain"), two from The Time ("Jungle Love," "The Bird") and the jaw-dropping, extended version of Apollonia 6's "Sex Shooter. A must-see!

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

There are no ROM extras included.

Parting Thoughts

Has it really been twenty years since Purple Rain? Yes, it has. So put on some blue eyeliner and crimp the hair, because Prince is back in town. While the lack of His Royal Badness on the supplements is a disappointment, the extras are still fun, and it is a kick to see this flick at last in widescreen. So this one is well worth an upgrade or a new purchase if you are a fan.

*****

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm excited!

I'm also excited. Can't wait for this DVD and I just saw the movie not to long ago on VH1. Despite the review, the extras still sound exciting.

Amen!
aaron soto

Yeah Yeah Yeah, Blah Blah Blah, Yak Yak Yak.


This is good and all, but I'm sure most if not all of us want to see those deleted scenes. We want to see those scenes from the trailer. Do we have to wait until the 25th, 40th, or even 50th anniversary to come out before we really get a good look? Does Prince have these scenes stashed somewhere in his vault? Or stuck between the pages of a Watchtower MAG?


Just give us what we want and no one will get hurt.

billysparxxx said:

a beat-down could be in order...?

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Yes, it's been awhile since I Sparxxx slapped a knucka you know.

Only 13 minutes of the MTV premiere party?

I guess that means just the interviews with the celebs outside and inside the theatre and not the live performance by Prince?

I do hope they've included the moment Pee Wee Hermann arrives at the theatre! So funny!

DarrenMawbey said:

There was no live performance by Prince in the Purple Rain premiere party , he did a great
set at the UTCM premiere party though .

Kewl....But Michael moonwalked at the 25TH anniversary of Motown...Motown is only 45 years old....WTF?? What's so jaw dropping about the Apollonia 6 vid? Is there some hunchin' on the speakers or somethin'? lol

PAPAROBBIE said:

HA!! He said "Hunchin" I only know one person besides me that use that word!!

moonshine said:

Lol, and I always thought I had a copy of the MTV Premiere Party which ended too abruptly!! Mind you, I always thought there was a performance of 17 days due to it being referred to in the Steven Ivory 1984 book. Guess he was wrong then? Or perhaps I misread it morelikely!

I have the UTCM premiere party on tape too. At least Prince makes more involvement during this party than he does the Purple Rain one.

I already got that joint. If you are in NYC hit those DVD stores..mostly downtown..UTCM, GB all those joints are already out there..so if u don't wanna wait,some stores release them as soon as they get them in the stores.

PAPAROBBIE said:

The use of "kewl" says one sad MF!

Yes, all films should only portray characters who are perfect gentlemen.

And for god's sake, if you're dead set on your characters having problems, flaws, or dysfunction, make sure they are the politically correct kind.



Sir, what color is the sky in your world?

I'm not a big fan of "Purple Rain", but this film deserves better.

Brendan said:

Better than what? He gave the film a favorable review, but he's pointing out what he felt were the film's weak points. I've read his reviews for several years now, and he's more than fair.

Brendan said:

huh? i thought it was a fair review.....you gotta treat these issues with some level of intelligence and Purple Rain didnt want to waste time doing that.....and it didnt need to. Cause it was all about the music...

RipHer2Shreds said:

I’m not looking for a “favorable review” of “Purple Rain”.

Most of what is written I think is very fair, fine, and interesting.

But there is one paragraph in the middle where he starts getting into what’s wrong with the film (and I happen to believe there is a whole lot wrong with this film) where his review becomes “cringe worthy”.

In his criticisms I learn more about the reviewer and his shortcomings than I do the actual weak points of the film.

Excerpt from said paragraph: “Only the most clueless male fantasy could think that this poor girl, despite being repeatedly humiliated, slapped and berated by The Kid, would continue to purr over him like a cat in heat.”

This guy seems really insecure about this issue. He continually has to remind us how he’s not this type of person and how much this behavior bothers him. So insecure he is that I would guess he’s letting his emotions get in the way of both a sense of humor on the topic (yes, that’s really possible) and forgetting what film and art are about.

In the world I live in there are millions of examples of men being violent towards women and the women continuing to “purr” in the face of it.

What about showing this reality is a “sick male fantasy”? It’s a pretty damning statement to call the filmmakers “women haters” without producing some real evidence.

Political correctness aside, what’s sick and sad is that some screwed up men continue to perpetrate this ugliness while some screwed up women continue to percolate in spite of its ugly presence.

If this reviewer’s argument were that the filmmakers did a poor job of handling this issue in both the humorous and/or dramatic scenes, I might end up in complete agreement with them. But they never really bother to make that argument, do they?

Instead they choose to rail on about political correctness and remind us how appalled they are at seeing such behavior, apparently especially since it's coming from male filmmakers.

The dead give away about this person’s flawed viewpoint being that they see Apollonia as nothing more than a “poor girl” (nothing but a victim), despite the fact that she’s every bit as flawed as the male characters.

Why isn’t this reviewer equally appalled about the female dysfunction? Is it possible that is because this reviewer thinks that such a portrayal, such an outcome is impossible outside of some “sick male fantasy”?

This movie is riddled with faults. I just don’t see that this person has done a very good job of pointing any of them out. Other than to point out the fault that would be true of almost all mainstream films, that being that the protagonist overcomes his or her major dysfunction at the drop of a hat, or in this case, at the striking of a chord, and everyone lives happily ever after.

It's left somewhat ambiguous with regard to whether Apollonia ever overcomes her problems. Maybe this simplistic film is misogynistic.

Or perhaps in listening to "Purple Rain" she also is transformed into a strong, non-superficial woman with great self esteem who will never, ever again get involved with such a dysfunctional, abusive jerk.

---
[This message was edited Fri Aug 13 23:41:19 2004 by Brendan]

"the music still sounds like it is in stereo and is comparable to recently soundtrack CD remaster."


WHAT ?????

Am I the only one who read this ??

what the hell RECENT CD REMASTER ???

WHERE !

Wow! Who knew that Berry Gordy founded Motown back in 1933.


Sheltered.

I am confused as to why this article, and a lot of other ones, claim that the original DVD of Purple Rain was in fullscreen. I have an original DVD (purchased about 4 years ago) and it is definitely in WIDESCREEN. Also, there is no poor audio or poor picture quality as reported. Maybe this is unique to the Region 4 edition? Can anyone shed some light on this? I find it very hard to believe that they would release a fullscreen DVD in the USA, and bless us Aussies with a widescreen version.

fudgeface said:

The USA release is indeed fullscreen. It was one of Warner's first DVD releases.

FunkyStrange said:

I think he's speaking in general terms, about CD remastering, not specific to Purple Rain

Brendan said:

I'm sorry, but you're reading far too much into his psyche from a review of one film. This seems to have affected you to the core. You should lighten up. And who is this "they" you keep referring to? The review was written by one person.
[This message was edited Sat Aug 14 22:05:20 2004 by RipHer2Shreds]

RipHer2Shreds said:

You just broke the first three rules of holding a debate/discussion. Trying to color me as being hysterical for holding an opinion different than yours, not actually refuting anything I said, and pointing out a grammatical error regarding my use of a less personal pronoun. If you had only brought in the Nazi’s or the word fascism you could have completed the grand slam.

It’s clear that you are either unwilling or unable to contribute anything of substance that could continue this discussion.

And, I know, you’re above it all now. Another classic technique. I have a pretty good memory, so if you ever respond to one of my posts again I’ll likely remember that I should consider your interest in clarification to be nothing more than rhetorical.

Ah... I was hoping for more. Extra scenes, unused cuts, unused songs, more live footage etc.
Pity Prince didn't get involved a bit too.

Also I have the region 2 PAL DVD release of Purple Rain from years ago, and I'm pretty sure it is widescreen and not 4:3.

Brendan said:

Alrighty!

Yes people the region 2 has ALWAYS been widescreen, I almost ordered it for that reason but decided not to. As for the one who said nothing wrong with the picture lol please get a read display device then we can talk.

I do SERIOUSLY wonder though if this is really a new transfer or if they just used the old region 2 transfer.

If a site lke dvdfile,digitalbits,widescreen review ever seen that mess of the dvd live in vegas crap , it'd probably kill the reviewer. That so called dvd is laughable. It sickens me to the extreme and is probably the worst dvd quality PICTURE I've ever seen. I've had dvd since it came out too, those early days were ruff, but crap like that getting released is sickening.

I changed my mind, the AUDIO totally sucks ass too.
[This message was edited Sun Aug 15 12:49:24 2004 by hdtv00]

hdtv00 said:

I used to write for The Digital Bits. I HAVE seen the Purple Rain print, and that's why I've never bought it. Just ugly. I'm embarassed to admit that I've never seen the Vegas DVD, so i have no comment on it.