Purple Rain (film)

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Purple Rain

Directed by	Albert Magnoli
Produced by	Robert Calvallo, Steven Fargnoli, Joseph Ruffalo
Written by	Albert Magnoli, William Blinn
Starring	Prince, Morris Day, Apollonia Kotero
Music by	Prince, Michel Colombier, John L. Nelson
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	July 27, 1984
Running time	111 min.
Language	English
Budget	$7 million
IMDb profile

Purple Rain is a 1984 film directed by Albert Magnoli and written by Prince and William Blinn. Prince stars in this semi-autobiographical movie, which was clearly developed around him and his particular talents.

The movie is tied in to the album of the same name, which spawned three chart-topping singles: the opening number "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain", and "When Doves Cry." Much of the movie's cinematography, by Donald Thorin, is closer to that of 1980s music videos than conventional film.

Prince plays "The Kid", an aspiring Minneapolis musician with a difficult home life. He runs into singer Apollonia Kotero and they become involved in an untidy relationship. The plot centers on Prince trying not to repeat the pattern of his abusive father (Clarence Williams III) and keep his group, The Revolution, and his relationship with his girlfriend, together. His main antagonist is fellow musician Morris Day and his group The Time. Oddly, excluding Prince, almost every actor in the movie uses his/her actual name for his/her character.

The movie idea was apparently developed by Prince during his Triple Threat tour. Initially with a rather darker and more coherent script (One early idea he had was for his character to be a musician with a drug addiction.), Prince had intended to play opposite girlfriend Vanity, until they fell out. Her role was offered to Jennifer Beals (who turned it down because she wanted to concentrate on college) before going to Apollonia. The movie won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.

The sequel, Graffiti Bridge, was released in 1990 and universally panned.

[edit] Trivia

In the popular video game Mortal Kombat, one playable character named Rain is given a curiously purple outfit, and may be a reference to Prince.

Purple Rain is referenced in the movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Morris Day and the Time are one of Jay and Silent Bob's favorite bands, and the Time perform live at the closing credits.