The Five Heartbeats

The Five Heartbeats
Directed by Robert Townsend[1]
Produced by Christina Schmidlin
Robert Townsend
Kokayi Ampah
Loretha C. Jones[2]
Written by Robert Townsend
Keenen Ivory Wayans[3]
Starring

[1]

Music by Stanley Clarke
Cinematography Bill Dill
Edited by John Carter
Distributed by 20th Century Fox[4]
Release date
  • March 29, 1991 (1991-03-29) (U.S.)[5]
Running time
 122 minutes
Country United States
Language English[4]
Box office $8,750,400

The Five Heartbeats is a 1991 musical drama film directed by Robert Townsend, who co-wrote the script with Keenen Ivory Wayans. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, the film's main cast includes Townsend, Michael Wright, Leon Robinson, Harry J. Lennix, Tico Wells, Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers, and Diahann Carroll.[1] The plot of the film (which is loosely based on the lives of several artists: The Dells, The Temptations, Four Tops, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Frankie Lymon, Sam Cooke and others)[6] follows the three decade career of the rhythm and blues vocal group The Five Heartbeats. The film depicts the rise and fall of a Motown inspired soul act through the eyes of one of the Heartbeats, Donald "Duck" Matthews.

The film was released to most North American audiences March 29, 1991[7] however it was not made available to audiences in other continents until 2002 when a DVD was released prior to another DVD release in 2006 for the film's 15th anniversary.[8] The movie received mixed reviews from critics.[9][10]

Plot

In the early 1990s, Donald "Duck" Matthews browses a Rolling Stone magazine, noticing an article questioning the recent exploits of The Five Heartbeats, The Temptations, and The Four Tops and why the groups disbanded.

In a flashback, Donald, Anthony "Choir Boy" Stone, J.T. Matthews and Terrence "Dresser" Williams are forced to prepare to sing both their vocals and those of other members of their band for a concert since Eddie Kane Jr. and Bobby, the lead singers, are missing. Bobby and Eddie cheat while gambling. Bobby is shot in the leg, but Eddie performs with the Heartbeats.

The group loses to Flash and the Ebony Sparks but pleases the crowd and is noticed by music producer Jimmy Potter. Jimmy offers to manage the group, proving he has their best interests at heart by promising them $100 if they do not win. After the group loses, Jimmy pays them. When the owner of the club asks to hire them, they agree to let Jimmy manage them.

Bird, lead singer of Bird and The Midnight Falcons, witnesses the Heartbeats rehearsing for a competition and is concerned his group could lose; he asks his girlfriend to invite her friends and boo The Heartbeats while cheering The Falcons. The announcer, a cousin of one of the Falcons, forces The Heartbeats to use a piano player they are unfamiliar with.

The Heartbeats perform "A Heart Is a House for Love". Duck grows frustrated with the house piano player and takes over. Eddie leads the group in a number that results in Bird's girlfriend fainting in Eddie's arms. The Heartbeats win the contest and the interest of Big Red, who owns Big Red Records. Big Red offers them a deal, but Jimmy and his wife Eleanor, aware of Big Red's corruption, decline. The group searches for a record company they can trust, but the only ones that will sign them are Caucasian operated and insist their songs be covered by a white group named The Five Horsemen. They sign with Big Red.

The group goes on the road. The travel is marred by racism and poor living conditions. Dresser's girlfriend visits and reveals she is pregnant, and the group is faced with their first album cover featuring white people. Despite their problems, the group becomes successful.

Throughout the mid to late 1960s The Five Heartbeats receive numerous awards, charting several hits, and are featured on magazine covers. Eddie abuses alcohol and cocaine, affecting his performance. He becomes paranoid and attempts to blackmail the other Heartbeats and Jimmy using his new deal with Big Red, also buying Jimmy out of his contract. Jimmy threatens to go to authorities with information about bootlegged LPs, cooked books and payola that could have Big Red arrested, leading Red to have Jimmy killed. The group learns that Eddie's deceit caused the argument between Jimmy and Big Red. The group moves to a new record label, but Eddie leaves in disgrace.

The Heartbeats add Flash as their lead singer, angering J.T. Duck has gained the attention of Tanya Sawyer, and the two are engaged. He comes to suspect she is having an affair with Choir Boy and follows her to a hotel, only to discover that Tanya is cheating on him with J.T., not Choir Boy. While Tanya tries to break things off, J.T. believes she is using Duck to get to him and insists she break off the engagement. Tanya refuses, declaring she loves Duck and cannot disclose the affair. At an awards ceremony celebrating their success, Flash announces he is going solo. Duck reveals that he knows about Tanya and J.T. and also leaves.

Years later, Duck receives a letter from Choir Boy asking Duck to come to a service at his father's church. When he enters the church Choir Boy's father is speaking, then the choir starts singing and Eddie and Baby Doll step up to sing lead. Eddie is clean, sober and married to Baby Doll, and manages a group. He asks Duck to write songs for them, to which he agrees. He urges Duck to contact J.T. Duck finds J.T. in a park with a wife and two children, including a son named "Duck". The brothers reconcile.

In the early 1990s, Flash has transitioned from doo-wop to pop music, as the lead singer of Flash and The Five Horsemen. The Heartbeats are disappointed by the music and aspire to show their families how they performed at the peak of their career. Eddie initially declines to join the other Heartbeats but Eleanor Potter, coming to terms with her husband's death, forgives Eddie.

The Five Heartbeats reunite in front of their families and friends, trying to remember their old moves.

Cast and characters

The Five Heartbeats

Other characters

Other bands

Production

After writing (along with Keenen Ivory Wayans), producing, directing, and starring in his first film Hollywood Shuffle, Robert Townsend had attained near-cult status among independent filmmakers due to his dedication to that film—a project which caused him to max out all his credit cards and spend nearly $100,000 of his own money raised through savings and various acting jobs in order to produce the film. When writing Townsend's first studio film The Five Heartbeats, Townsend and Wayans kept comedy an important aspect of the film, but also explored complex characters in a more dramatic way.[11] After extensive research with rhythm and blues-singing group The Dells, who were renowned for their four-decade career, Townsend used his film to depict a similar story, following the lives of three friends who aspire to musical stardom.[12] Given the setting of the film, he was able to tie in other elements, such as race relations, as well.[12] Due to the production's budgetary constraints, Townsend used little-known actors of the time, with the exceptions of Leon Robinson, Diahann Carroll and Harold Nicholas of The Nicholas Brothers.[1]

Promotion

To promote the film prior to its release, Townsend, along with the other actors who portrayed the fictional musical quartet The Five Heartbeats (Leon Robinson, Michael Wright, Harry J. Lennix, and Tico Wells) performed in a concert with real-life Soul/R&B vocal group The Dells, one of many groups that inspired the film. The Dells sang and recorded the vocals as the actors lip synced.[13]

Soundtrack

The Five Heartbeats
(Music from the Motion Picture)
Soundtrack album by Various Artists
Released April 2, 1991
Genre R&B, soul
Label Capitol[8][14]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[15]

A soundtrack for the film was released by Virgin Records, featuring original music by various artists. Both "Nights like This" and "A Heart Is a House for Love" became top 20 hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart.[15] Many of the tracks are credited to fictional characters in the film as opposed to the actual vocalists.

  1. A Heart Is a House for Love - Billy Valentine/ The Dells
  2. We Haven't Finished Yet - Patti LaBelle, Tressa Thomas, Billy Valentine
  3. Nights like This - After 7
  4. Bring Back the Days - U.S. Male
  5. Baby Stop Running Around - Bird & The Midnight Falcons
  6. In the Middle - Dee Harvey
  7. Nothing but Love - The Dells with Billy Valentine
  8. Are You Ready for Me - Dee Harvey
  9. Stay in My Corner - The Dells
  10. I Feel Like Going On - Andraé Crouch[14][15] (Eddie, Baby Doll and the L.A. Mass Choir)

Reception

The film grossed approximately $8,500,000[12][16] after being released in 862 theaters throughout North America. However, despite the film's moderate success, it was not well received by a majority of critics.[17] On Rotten Tomatoes The Five Heartbeats accumulated an average of 38%, although only 16 reviews were counted (6 of which were positive, the remaining 10 negative).[17]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times commented that:

Due to the nature of the film, music montages were often used to progress the plot; critics considered this a major flaw.[18]

The numerous musical performances in the film were highly acclaimed.[18] All Music complimented the Dells' lead singer Marvin Junior (who provided the singing voice for fictional character Eddie Kane Jr.) stating that he was "one of the most underrated voices in pop music."[14] Tressa Thomas' performance of "We Haven't Finished Yet," in particular, was given favorable attention by critics.[19][20] The film received an ASCAP award for Most Performed Songs in a Motion Picture for the song "Nights Like This."[21]

DVD releases

A DVD was released for the film in 2002, a special edition was also released in 2006 for the film's 15th Anniversary which includes additional content.[8]

Footnotes

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