1984 by Dave Hill.

extract 2 continued on from extract 1, same review.

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The film romanticises Prince's upbringing and re-write's his history to suit cinematic expectations. In real life Prince's mother has not been on the end of such a raw deal. Today she works as a social worker in her hometown. His father was indeed a pianist though reports vary as to precisely what type. In his very last published interview (given in the wake of 1980s critic-winning "Dirty Mind" album) His Royal Badness talks of his father only as the man who pounded out the backing track at downtown Minneapolis strip-joints.

The article, which surfaced last autumn in Musician magazine, also has Prince describing John Nelson (whose stage name, Prince Rogers, the Lewd One inherited) as a remarkable, intuitve talent: "His music ... it sounds like nothing I've ever heard".

But there is no mention of his father leading a jazz band of his own, reported in the US monthly Rock & Soul. According to this piece, the second of two rather tetchy reports on the shooting of the film, John Nelson, now 65, did give up playing years back when he found religion.

In the Musician article Prince also describes how his father departed during his early adolescence. It was dislike for his new step father that caused the biggest problem for the young Prince at home. Musician also states that Prince was one of nine children of the ill-fated marriage. The movie corrals these complextities into easily digestible cliches, and renames the father as Francis L. What the Kid discovers about his father is that he couldn't face his own fallability. Francis tells his son that he never had to write his music down (playing a piece actually written by John Nelson). The Kid learns that this is untrue, and from there on in understands the nature of his dad's spiritual collapse. He decides its not going to happen to him.

The moral of this story then is that until you learn how to give and to receive, happiness will not be yours. (Another reading might be that if you wanna come, you really must relax). All very fine. Mind you there are some who would scoff at such sentiments coming from the star of Purple Rain.[i]

extract 2. continued ...

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Andre Cymone might be one. Cymone was the bass-player in Prince's band u to and including "Dirty Mind", his third album. The two had been inseperable since their youth. It is from their period of teen frienship that the basement scenario comes.

In real life it was the cellar at Cymone's nearby home that the 13-year old Prince ran to when his own domestic disturbances got too much to bear. Here, the pair of them detached themselves from the rest of the planet. In a two-part interview published earlier this year in the LA-based glossy Rock Magazine, Cymone kissed-and-told.

The way Cymone has it, Prince was a nice respectable boy when they met. He "didnt even cuss". Andre, though was a juvenile car thief and all-purpose renegade. In their basement lair, he reveals, the pair made music and entertained (screwed, shared and tied up) various local girls who followed the band they formed. They even kidded people they were brothers, recalls Cymone, who has recently launched a solo career with CBS.

Neither Cymone himself nor an equivalent turn up in the film. The two fell out around the time of "Dirty Mind". Cymone claims that Prince's first two albums were far from the one-man shows they were sold as; that he played on and helped write both of them, but has never received either recognition or royalties for his contributions.

The Rock interviews also have the bassist claiming to be the initiator of Prince's famed daring underwear phase. It is reported that he (not Prince) introduced the UD public to the special thrill of the male abdominal regions lurking inside leopard-skin bikini briefs during an American Bandstand appearance. The next thing we knew it was the boss, not his sidekick sporting the scintillating lingerie.

Cymone is one of two important figures in Prince's career not to personally appear in the film. the other is the former leader of Vanity 6. It is she that Apollonia replaces and the girl group she fronts is retitled Apollonia 6.

extract 2 continued ..

from The Face by Dave Hill.

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According to Rock & Soul, in Blinn's original script, Vanity and Prince were to share a number of thoroughly comprehensive sex scenes. Vanity's involvement progressed far enough for her to attend acting classes specially arranged for the musicians before shooting began. Then she walked out. Stories about money and disputed billing have surfaced. But nothing is clear.

Venity's replacement is a 24-year old Hispanic former model from Santa Monica who was christened Patty Kotero. Once signed though, the story goes, she changed her real name to Apollonia on instructions from guess who. Like everything else to do with Purple Rain, the details of Ms Kotero's background remain indistinct. What will not remain a secret for long though is the inescapable fact that Ms Kotero is a less than brilliant actress. (It hardly diminishes the suspician that, for women in Prince's empire, tits speak louder than words). It seems possible that Bryon Hechter, a freelance photographer who worked, allegedly for peanuts, as Prince's stand-in, was fired for informing the press of this in advance.

Indeed, whispers suggest that the film's numerous extras and technicians worked under the continual threat of dismissal if they spoke to anyone at all. Journalists indicate that the stars, director Albert Magnoli, production manager Mike Frankovich and the Hollywood management team of Cavello, Ruffalo and Fargnoli (who are also Purple Rains producers) remained almost completely insulated as Prince himself.

Apparently the maestro spent most of his time on the set hidden away. Unwanted visitors got growked at by vast nody guard (and bit-part player) Charles 'Big Chuck' Huntsberry.
[Edited 9/10/08 9:11am]

syble said:

So he's reverted back to type then? Did they REALLY? hmmm... Did he really contribute as much as he says..?

Thanks Syble, great article!

syble said:

How 'comprehensive' could it have got? It was already an 18 wasn't it? And, where DID that rumour come from about Vanity sleeping with Albert Magnoli a few months before filming started? Does anyone know? I know I read it somewhere, but just can't remember where (ooops! controversy )

In the Uk it was a 15, see my extract 3.


sorry gotta go and deal with kids etc so more from the article tomorrow>

seeya.

just bumping this up as extract 1 and 3 are in the list but you need this middle section to make sense of it all.

Jeffiner said:

There was a thread on here a while ago with a link to the original script, and that had some very 18 rated scenes with Vanity, Im not surprised they were axed, it would have made it a very different film altogether, plus a ludicrous bike and train chase.

Maybe the heavy script editing should have been a lesson before he embarked on GB, as that is a sure case of no director in charge and hence its a rambling mess. but then many have said that of P over the years that he needs producers etc to control his output into a more marketable object, but then I think P doesnt want that, he wants his artistry to be seen good or bad and he mostly thinks its good.

Lets face it an artists shows a painting they dont care if people critize or love it.

syble said:

Oh yeah, I'll need to find those threads, and have a read!

keepin it up there so you can all read it.

and again.
[Edited 9/23/08 9:43am]