Purple Rain (1984)
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A rising musician grapples with his turbulent personal life while competing against a rival local musician.
The story
The Kid is the talented but troubled frontman of his Minneapolis-based band The Revolution. To escape his abusive home life, The Kid spends his days rehearsing and nights performing at the First Avenue nightclub. The Revolution, the flashy Morris Day and his group the Time, and Dez Dickerson and his group the Modernaires hold the nightclub's three house band slots. Morris, aware that the Revolution's guitarist Wendy and keyboardist Lisa are frustrated that The Kid is unwilling to play their compositions, lobbies Billy Sparks, the club's owner, to replace The Revolution with a girl group which Morris is already forming. Morris targets The Kid's girlfriend Apollonia, an aspiring singer and new arrival to Minneapolis, to lead his group.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The Kid, the troubled frontman of The Revolution, performs at the First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis. His rival, Morris, attempts to recruit The Kid's girlfriend, Apollonia, for his own group, the Apollonia 6. After a series of confrontations and a physical altercation, Apollonia leaves The Kid. Following a tragic incident involving his abusive father, The Kid finds solace in his music. During a final performance at First Avenue, he performs 'Purple Rain' for his father and the crowd. The performance is a success, leading to a reconciliation with Apollonia and a triumphant encore. The film concludes with a montage of the band's music and scenes of The Kid with his parents in the hospital.
- First release year
- 1984
- Runtime (minutes)
- 111
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Albert Magnoli
- Writers
- Albert Magnoli · writer; William Blinn · writer
- Cast and characters
- Prince · The Kid; Apollonia Kotero · Apollonia; Morris Day · Morris; Olga Karlatos · Mother; Clarence Williams III · Father / "Francis L"
- Genres
- musical; drama; rock
- Themes
- misogyny; trauma; identity
- Tone and mood
- dramatic
- Premise and plot tags
- musical; rock; romance
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the score and soundtrack but criticism for the depiction of female characters.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 73% · scale: percentage · review count: 59; Metacritic · score: 55 · scale: 100 · review count: 14
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Original Score · won
- Production trivia
- The film was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry in 2019.; The film's soundtrack sold over 15 million copies in the United States.; The film was based on a script originally titled Dreams.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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