I covered one of my favorite movies, Dead Presidents, already, but somehow I missed one of my all time favorite movies….Purple Rain. We all know and adore the soundtrack (see what I did there. Because Prince has a song called “Adore.”), but let’s dive into the movie. The movie is the reason we have such a vivid picture of the soundtrack of the same name. I do have to admit. I was watching a podcast I just found where the hosts cover black films. I watched their review of Purple Rain and I was both intrigued and annoyed by some of the observations. For that reason, I want to go through the entire movie and discuss all the intricacies that may have been discussed or that have been overlooked.
This movie starts with a banger. “Let’s Go Crazy” gives me the same vibe as “1999.” For context, Prince had exactly two, I repeat, TWO albums before this classic album. Well, all his albums are classic, but I digress. The “1999” album had hits like “1999” (obviously), “Little Red Corvette,” and “Delirious.” The self-titled album had “I Wanna Be Your Love” and “Sexy Dancer.” You might wonder, “Well, how would he even begin to top that?” “Let’s Go Crazy.” That’s how he tops himself. One thing I took away from The BlackBusters podcast was something so simple although overlooked. It would seem that The Kid, played by Prince, was the premiere act at “The Taste.,” but if you really pay attention, he’s the opener for The Time. So I think the torture for him as an artist is that he knows he and his band have the goods but the loud, flashy, trendy band is the one that gets the fanfare. That’s a hard pill to swallow for someone like the Kid who is all about artistry and feeling the music. As we get deeper into the film, he will start to realize how to translate those feelings from him own to the music to his audience in a better way so we can all jam along. He also has to learn to let go, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Let’s move on to the dream that is Apollonia. Apollonia was not a fun time girl nor was she a hoe. I resent all those remarks about her. Apollonia was a woman who was trying to find where she belonged and was on the lookout for an opportunity. Morris was that opportunity because of what I said previously about the band. It was quick, trendy, and easy to get with Morris. It would go way faster for her to be in Morris’ girl group rather than wait for the Kid who was a perfectionist. It seemed like she needed cash now and should have called JG Wentworth, but I digress. From what I could see, she really liked the kid and maybe she just wanted to be with the kid and do music with Morris. Keep the things separate. Remember, the Kid didn’t go a great job of letting this woman know that he wanted her until…
Let me tell you about “The Beautiful Ones.” “The Beautiful Ones” is one of two of my favorite songs ever in life. (The other is also a love song if anyone was wondering.) I have never, up until that point, heard such pain and wanting in a man’s voice when speaking or singing to a woman he wanted so bad! I also love how uncomfortable Morris was sitting next to her. For me, “The Beautiful Ones” is thee song from this album. Argue with your momma. I don’t care what you say! This song is better than “Purple Rain” in this film. I said what I said. Fight me!
Before we get to the family drama, let me talk about Jerome. The BlackBusters Podcast hit the nail on the head when they said that Jerome was the coolest. Morris’ cool was based on if Jerome thought he was cool. Jerome brought him a mirror. Jerome wasn’t really his hype man. He was quality control, of sorts. He’s also apparently a henchmen. You know, throwing women in trash cans and whatnot. That’s not cool but I did laugh a lot and loudly at that. He even threw the top on the trash can as if to say, in the words of Nino Brown, “Cancel that b****.” We don’t have a villain like Morris if there is no superhero like Jerome. Two of my favorite movies clips of all time are with these two characters.
Exhibit A:
And Exhibit B:
There is no better duo than Jerome and Morris, and if you think there is it’s because the blueprint is these two.
Moving on to the mom and dad played by Olga Karlatos and Clarence Williams III, who we all know as children for being in Tales from the Hood. As a small Black child, we all watched that movie when we weren’t supposed to. I’m not sure why but it was a rite of passage. Anywho, we don’t get much background on these parents besides the fact that they are still married, they don’t like each other, and they are the parents of the Kid. Oh, and he lives with them. I can’t remember if they told us how long they had been married or what really was the issue between them. Williams’ character seems intolerable while Karlatos’ seems really nag-gy and needy. It’s a terrible combination. Here’s what I will say is how I view their relationship. Dad was obviously a musician. He must have loved what he did. Maybe mom was a singer or she met him when he was playing with a band or by himself. They fell in love based on their mutual love of music. I say this because the Kid has a deep love for music and its construction. Stay with me here. They eventually have the kid. Now, here is where I don’t know what happened. Maybe they had to switch gears because they had a kid and needed stable income. I think whatever that switch was made dad feel trapped. Music became a thing of the past because of his new life as a dad. And I don’t think this was a thing before the kid was born. I think this became a thing when he was young because he knows his dad plays and writes his own music but just doesn’t know a lot about the backstory to that. Without music between mom and dad, there creates a divide that they can’t overcome, so chaos ensues. Luckily, their son picks up the music they left behind, so a piece of what once was for them blooms in their son and his love for it and Apollonia.
One of my favorite revelations was when the Kid found out his dad lied to him. If you recall, the Kid finds mom outside the house bruised and crying. He goes home to find his dad, and asks about mom. They have a conversation about mom and dad’s fight, that he does not answer, and then the Kid asks about his music. He asks if he has it written down somewhere. Probably hoping he can read the music and reinterpret it somehow like he did once he heard the piano riff for what would later become “Computer Blue.” (BTW, I can’t tell you how mind-blown I was when I heard that and it clicked for me.) His dad tells him that the difference between him and the Kid is that he doesn’t need to write anything down. Well, later, when dad tries to kill himself, the Kid throws a fit in the house, and what does he find? All of his dad’s music WRITTEN DOWN! Funny how that happens with parents.
Last couple things. “Darling Nikki,” “Computer Blue,” and “Purple Rain.” “Darling Nikki” is probably the reason why The BlackBusters Podcast believes that Apollonia was a hoe. This song is that nail in the coffin, but and however, the Kid is upset because she didn’t do what he wanted. He is his dad at this juncture of the film. His dad is a very “my way or the highway” kind of guy. It’s probably why he slaps the mom around. She was working with Morris and wanted to be a star. That was all at that point and here he goes embarrassing her at The Taste after he professed his love for this woman on that very stage not too long before this. For shame! “Computer Blue” is what Billy was probably talking about when he came to the back to speak to the Kid. Between the girls in the band, his own need for control, and Bill threatening to take him off the stage, the Kid is in shambles. His problem has always been control. He doesn’t fear that the girls will hurt or leave him. He’s afraid to perform something that he didn’t have full control over. It’s a power struggle with himself, not the girls. His vision is to create the songs that will create the emotion he wants to convey. He can’t do that with the girls song because that song isn’t his vision. He should have to bend to them in that regard. Vulnerability is scary for the Kid. We can see that in his relationship with Apollonia. This is why I always tell people, “Use your words.” In this case, the words the melody the girls composed and the words he wrote were just what he needed to connect to the crowd. And we can see, it didn’t always have to be a beautiful ballad. “I Would Die 4 U” made the audience feel the same way he felt about Apollonia. He just needed that reassurance that he wouldn’t be completely out of control. But he learned from his parents what ultimate control looked like and it almost cost his dad his life.
I will watch Purple Rain literally any time I see it. And, surprisingly, I won’t not watch it if I happen to catch it in the middle of the film. I will be salty if I missed “The Beautiful Ones.” I won’t lie about that but the performance to “Darling Nikki” and “Computer Blue” almost makes up for it.
What are your favorite moments from this classic film? What’s your favorite song from the movie and from the soundtrack, which, yes, are two separate things?
