One of the main problems with this movie is that the storyline is so weak.The whole "spiritual" thing and the "battle of the bands" thing (which was done so much better in Purple Rain)....it just didn't work.We have had threads before where we all came up with our own ideas for a Purple Rain sequel.Some of our ideas are better than what we saw in GB!

joyinrepetition said:

As the movie plays out, it's exactly like Purple Rain, most likely forced by WB.

First, Purple Rain opens with Let's Go Crazy---GB opens with New Power Generation

Both rockers.

Then as in PR, The Time comes in and does Jungle Love---GB, The Time comes in as performs Release It. See the pattern here. Not going to go through scene for scene, but I'll point out the other similarities.

Jill plays the spurned "always in my hair" girlfriend

Morris and Jerome try to steal Apollonia with a demo tape---GB they try to steal Aura at the Bridge

Prince humps his way through Darling Nikki in PR---GB, Prince horny pony dances in Tick, Tick, Bang.

In PR, Prince reflects with When Doves Cry---GB, Prince looks for love to come quick with Thieves in The Temple

Take Me With U---? Of U. Different styles songs, but both involve riding on the bike.

The Beautifuls Ones---Joy In Repetition. Both songs Prince bares his soul to get the girl

Purple Rain(the song)---Still Would Stand All Time. The redemption song that puts Prince over the top.

So as you can see, GB is an exact copy of Purple Rain, well as close as they could get it. Like I said, probably pressure from WB and for Prince it was just easier for him to fashion the movie around PR which was already successful.

yeah,there was so many similarites to Purple Rain!

The first song on the GB album is "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" which sounds alot like "Let's Go Crazy".

In both movies,The Kid and Morris are fighting over a pretty latina woman.

I don't know if Warner Bros. demanded this,or had some influence over the script,but GB borrows many ideas from Purple Rain.Too bad it didn't borrow the energy of the previous film.

Still haven't seen it after all these years. I remember going to video stores and looking at the video tapes and considering buying it. I finally bought a DVD a couple of years ago. Guess I'll finally have to watch it.

Purple Rain is a bit scrappy in parts, but is an enjoyable movie for the most part. UTCM is amateurish, but it at least has a certain quirky charm. GB is amateurish and it lacks charm. I don't feel anything for the characters.

yep, this one was tough for me to swallow too. I left seeing UTCM and to be honest, maybe cause of being such a big fan, but I really liked it. Maybe I just liked so much seeing Prince be kinda normal as well as goofy at times but still be Prince. But GB was really tough for me as I won a local radio station concert and the grand prize was a trip to the premier in NYC. Now, that is still one of the biggest thrills in life for me and I did get a chance to shake the man's hand, etc.

However, I had to call into the radio station after the movie and do an on air review of GB and whew, that was tough. I certainly was not willing to kick my "little Bro" in the nuts on this so I kinda danced around it with how good the musicial performances were and that people should not expect the same kind of energy that they saw in PR, yada yada. Anyway, I kept it short and sweet and again focusd on the perfomances and talked about being thrilled with being able to come face to face with Prince and at least shake his hand.

I bought the DVD in 2004 and haven't watched it. If I do watch it, I'll just treat it as a collection of music videos and skip through the rest.

.

The album remains one of my favorites, although I admit to listening mostly to a "Prince-only" version of it.

I watched it once. My brain blocked it out but now this thread has made the ghastly memories resurface.

It's a bunch of music videos sloppily glued together to make a non-cohesive whole. I like his music videos. I kinda like it as long as I remember what it is... music videos.

I just re-watched the set of outtakes.

"Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" is SO GOOD. This should have opened the movie, and the movie should have been a Grease-esque musical with it's own set of characters and room to breathe without having to live up to being a sequel. Approach it like this, have a proper editor, it could have been a hit.

^^I agree,the "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" performance is GREAT! Prince dances up a storm! They really should have kept that part in the movie.

Militant said:

I like it too, but I will admit that it doesn't make a lot of sense.

There's three main problems with it.

1). It wasn't intended to be a sequel to Purple Rain originally. This was a last minute change that I believe was done purely in order to get the funding for it. It's forced and it feels jarring. The Kid as a character doesn't resemble the character from Purple Rain very much. The tone of the film doesn't match Purple Rain - PR was a gritty rock opera dealing with domestic abuse and struggle shot on location, whereas GB is a dreamlike fantasy story shot on built sets. The music in Purple Rain is consistent with the tone of the story and the cinematography - in GB, some of it matches (IMO, New Power Generation and Elephants and Flowers work well) and some of it doesn't really match (Tick, Tick Bang for me doesn't really work in context of the story).

Imagine if you remove all of the "Purple Rain" elements. Prince's character isn't The Kid, the storyline isn't a sequel, Morris and Jerome and The Time aren't in it and therefore you don't have to force in another "Battle of the Bands" storyline. I think you've then got room to tell a unique story.

I believe that originally Prince was going to do another battle of the bands story in "The Dawn" which was intended to be a different movie.


2) The editing is just wrong. Seriously, watch the outtakes, add them back in, make a tighter, more cohesive edit. Some of the scenes need to be shorter, there's stuff that doesn't need to be there at all, other scenes should have been left it. Was Tevin really necessary? "The Latest Fashion" ought to have been left in instead, as one example.

3) Lack of a strong title song. Let's be honest, "Graffiti Bridge" the song just isn't a good enough title track. A movie needs a fantastic title track. And it doesn't have to be a ballad! It could be uptempo.


Despite all this - I do still like it, it's wonderfully of it's time and Prince looks fucking great, and there's some amazing songs. I think a great director could have salvaged this. Hell, they probably still could, if given access to all the original footage. I don't think anybody would bankroll a 21st century re-edit of a movie that was a box office flop, but it's a nice dream to have. Too bad we don't have the outtakes in perfect quality, or we could do a fan re-edit ourselves.

U can add to your list the fact that the story/plot is full of loopholes, inconsistencies and loose ends. This being said I haven't seen the movie in more than 10 years but I used to worship it when I was a teen. I just loved the poetic atmosphere and philosophy of the film and I guess I'd still love them. I need to watch it again one of those days (but I've seen it at least 20 times back then, hence my lack of enthusiasm at watching it again )

Militant said:

I just re-watched the set of outtakes.

"Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" is SO GOOD. This should have opened the movie, and the movie should have been a Grease-esque musical with it's own set of characters and room to breathe without having to live up to being a sequel. Approach it like this, have a proper editor, it could have been a hit.

Damn! i've never seen those outtakes

From Prince's 1985 interview with Neal Karlen:

When you talk about God, which God are you talking about? The Christian God? Jewish? Buddhist? Is there any God in particular you have in mind?
Yes, very much so. A while back, I had an experience that changed me and made me think differently about how and what I wrote and how I acted toward people. I'm going to make a film about it – not the next one, but the one after that. I've wanted to make it for three years now. Don't get me wrong – I'm still as wild as I was. I'm just funneling it in a different direction. And now I analyze things so much that sometimes I can't shut my brain off and it hurts. That's what that movie will be about.

Se7en said:

Im trying to see some of the more positive thoughts on the movie.Like view it on the musical performance only. But that im afraid is still stupid. This was and is a movie. not a decent music video! Its one of the worst films i have ever seen. And i have seen some stinkers! Dont let someone who doesnt follow prince properly watch this. It will put them off more. Im a massive Prince fan, but not blind! When it sucks, it sucks!

MIRvmn said:

There used to be a mod here named Anxiety. I'll never forget what he said:

Last time I saw something that bad, I had to spray Tinactin on it

I like it - ON MUTE.

And just STARE - the man is FIONE.

Another mistake that Prince made: filming this entire movie on a soundstage.The sets look fake and the Seven Corners "city" looks so dead and boring.

i think no one can judge until we all see the 2 1/2 hr version