Purple Rain

Purple Rain, the first starring film for Prince, is the story of an arrogant, young black singer, born and raised in Minneapolis, who reaches the pinnacle of stardom. The dramatic complications include "The Kid's" (Prince) miserable home life, where he suffers the brutalities of his father (well ...more

What doesn't matter about this semi-autobiographical musical drama is that it is pretentious, misogynistic, ludicrous, and dumb. What does matter is that it is very entertaining and features an absolutely terrific musical score, one of the few to cop both an Oscar and a Grammy. Prince is the star and performs most of the songs, but the film's highlight is a delightful comic performance by Morris Day (whose group, The Time, does "Jungle Love" and "The Bird") as Prince's rival. Day steals every ...more