i remember going to see Under The Cherry Moon when it was released in the theatrss and it was a pretty small croed actually around here the movie lasted about 2 weeks in the major theatres then i went to go to see it at one of those cheap 2nd run theatres..i remember when Prince was shot the crowd started laughing during the death scene..i was like shut up you idiots!! heh

then i saw Graffiti Bridge the day it came out and it was a pretty good crowd made up of Prince fans who knew the songs already and the guy in front of me was really getting down with the song The New Power Generation hehe

i didn't get to see Purple Rain & Sign O The Times when they were released

When i went to see Cherry Moon. It was like 10 people in the theater. About 4 of them sneaked in. Too bad i did'nt also. The response was that sucked. When i went to see Graffiti Bridge. I actually paid to see that crap. The theater was packed but that soon changed during the movie as people left before it ended. I felt like doing the same. Purple Rain was the only movie i can say i enjoyed with an audience that joked & liked the movie.

I was 13 and had been listening to him for about 2 years. I went with a friend and his mom. I think I was more excited to see some boobs on the big screen, as Apolonia had the honors of givin me my first theater woody

I had to transfer from busses to trains to get downtown to see "Under the Cherry Moon" at the only theatre in town that elected to carry the film.

The day before got me pumped, since a local radio station was giving away UTCM passes and T-Shirts. I already had the One-Sheet from a movie poster shop- this movie was gonna be HUGE! I was JACKED! The "Parade" album was the greatest!

I walked into a movie theatre to watch this going-to-be brilliant masterpiece- and there sat TWO (!?!) TWO (!!!) people.

I sat at the back of the theatre, very embarassed, looking at the back of two heads.

I stayed to sneak into the next showing of UTCM, and sat in a TOTALLY EMPTY theatre.

***

Sign o' the Times was too hard to get to and was gone in days.

***

In 1990, I went to a theatre with friends that was also playing "Grafitti Bridge"; I took one look at that awful poster and there was no way I had the right to ask my pals to sit through that. I knew it was gonna suck and I didn't want to hear Prince being insulted afterwards. I was still a believer then and thought his failures were just misunderstood genius.

When I saw Under the Cherry Moon... my reaction was one of amazement. I loved it! I thought it was better than Purple Rain! I couldn't believe Prince died in the end... but it was such a fun story!

I didn't even notice the crowd reaction because I was so caught up in the movie as a 14-year old. I took French in High School because of UTCM.

When I saw Grafitti Bridge, there were people yawning in the theatre. The movie SUCKED real bad... and I felt bad for Prince.

I was thinking... how the hell can you release this crap? This shoulda been a bootleg! Keep THAT shit in your vault. It looked cheap, the actors couldn't act, and the message was too deep for anyone to understand.

... and it was a LAME attempt at a sequel to Purple Rain. I had such high expectations or the movie... and was let down in a big way. The best part of the movie was the closing credits. That meant I got to leave.

To put Prince movies in perspective... I've seen PR 50-60 times all the way through. I've seen UTCM 50-60 times all the way through. I've seen SOTT 50-60 times all the way through... and I've seen Grafitti Bridge twice.

The second time it was even worse.

I saw Purple Rain in Medford, Oregon. Very good crowd in the theatre responding to all the right things in all the right places. Morris, in particular, was a huge hit with the audience, whereas Prince mesmerized the audience during the musical numbers. I also saw Under the Cherry Moon in Medford, Oregon. It was at the cheapest theatre in town -- most of the seats were filled. People were respectable throughout. I don't remember any snickering or laughing or anything like that. I saw Sign O' The Times in Reno, Nevada. Decent crowd. Some people really getting into most of the songs; even dancing. I was a bit upset that Prince stopped the tour short of the U.S., but at least we had the movie to enjoy. I saw Graffiti Bridge in Reno too. Just a handful of people there. I remember one guy knowing all the songs, singing and clapping at the right places. I purposely saw the movie before buying the album and loved the whole musical-spiritual experience as it played out, nevermind the storyline. I was happy to see Prince return to some of his Lovesexy vibe that he abandoned throughout 1989. Of course, those who knew little of Prince didn't care much about anything having to do with this movie. It wouldn't be until 6-years later that Prince would show this side of himself again.

I saw "Purple Rain" when it came out with this guy who really liked me, but I really only liked him because he could play the guitar really well...I know that sounds bad!

Anyhow, every time there was a sensual scene, I could feel him turn around and his eyes were ON me, up and down. Moving in for the kill. And I was so transfixed by the movie that I didn't realise his hand was creeping up my skirt. I was just going with the feel of the movie and then realised I was being felt up.

I brushed his hand away and glared at him furiously, the whole time thinking, "Being felt up while watching this movie is pretty apt".

cherieamour said:

omg that was you!? sorry!

"Under the Cherry Moon" is a perfect case study of horrible marketing. I still laugh at the idea of a MTV premiere of a Prince movie in Wyoming. It also points to the difficult attempt of a popstar to repeat mainstream success and expand your artistic vision.

The ending of that movie was pure horrible. Who let Prince direct? Sometimes you have to respect his audaciousness and sometimes it produces ridiculous moments.

Has anyone seen the new African-American novel with the title, "Under the Cherry Moon", where the plotline takes in Paris?

when I saw "Purple Rain",the theatre was filled,and the lines outside were LONG.You would have thought it was a "Star Wars" film that was playing.


When I saw 'UTCM' a few years later,there were only 5 people in the theatre Granted,it was the second week of release.

I saw the 'Sign O The Times' concert film in theatres and once again,there were only about five people (besides me) in the theatre,but I didn't care.I was literally dancing in my seat,enjoying the movie tremendously.


a funny thing happened when I saw 'Graffiti Bridge'.During the first close-up shot of Prince,the girl in back of me blurted out "Look at that nose job!"...lol...it was the day of release and the place was at least half-full.Problem is,it didn't appear that too many people were impressed.

I saw "Under The Cherry Moon" at the Bel Air Drive-In. That's right, young MotorBabies! The Bel Air wasn't always a shopping center.

Anyhoo...I had a great time! It was nice outside, people got out of their cars and danced to "Girls and Boys". I can remember thinking back then how special Prince had to be to be able to make so many people just feel so good by simply sharing his gifts with them.

I also thought the black and white idea was fantastic! We already knew how fine Prince was in Technicolor, but in B&W, the man was STUNNING!!

jdcxc said:

Or was it premiered in Utah? Sorry for the confusion.

all i can remember about the purple rain movie is, me and a girlfriend (yes i actually had girlfriends back then) went to see it and we danced down in front of the screen and acted like we were the revolution. the whole theatre had a blast.

Graffitti Bridge. I brought a friend of mine to this movie, he said it was so bad that he had to leave. I wanted to watch it for the music portions.

About half way through, he could not stand another second (actually I believe it was the quiet scene under the bridge), he stood straight up out of his seat, proclaimed to all 18 people in the theater that he was a movie reviewer and he wanted to share his review!

He paused just the right amount of time, and in complete silence farted very loudly then stormed out.

Till this day, I do not remember if the tears in my eyes were from laughing so hard, the smell or the movie.

setyrmindphree said:

As some orgers who's been on here forever already know, I went to the premire of Purple Rain at Mann's Chinese. Anyway, since the crowd was a mixture of folks like me who stood in line all night to get passes a few days before and A-List celebs, it was an INTERESTING crowd. Since P came in after the lights went down, people were still CONSTANTLY turning around in their seats, trying to gauge P's reaction to his own film. Whenever P spoke, girls would literally scream and say shit like "Oh my God! He talks!" It was worse when P had a kissing scene. P walked out right before the scene when pops shot himself. Even some of the celebs that were there would turn and look at P during the film.

SAW THEM ALL! IN THE THEATRE!

The funniest thing to me was a guy sitting behind me during "Under the Cherry Moon" screaming about, "So what the fuck is so cherry about the moon?" At the time, i didn't think it was funny, but my sense of humor has grown.

The only Prince movie I ever saw in the theatre was Under the Cherry Moon, and there were very few people there. The only comment I remember is near the beginning when the camera pans lovingly across Prince's legs up to the curve of his ass in the tightest pants and some guy said "Shit, Prince has a nice ass."

SexyBeautifulOne said:

the Bel Air in Cicero??

Mazerati said:

LOL!

blackguitaristz said:

Wow! That has gotta be really uncomfortable for him. I know I'd wanna scream "STOP STARRING AT ME!!!!"

my favorite experience was during one of the six times my mom and i went to see purple rain, and while he's on the floor screaming out the end of 'the beautiful ones' and all those women's hands are reaching at him, a lady in the audience stood up and started screaming "THAT'S MY HAND! THAT'S MY HAND!!!".