The Five Heartbeats (Blu-ray) R
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Also released as:
The Five Heartbeats
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Blu-ray Details
- Rated: R
- Run Time: 2 hours, 1 minutes
- Video: Color
- Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
- Released: January 21, 2014
- Originally Released: 1991
- Label: 20Th Century Studios
Performers, Cast and Crew:
Starring | Robert Townsend, Michael Wright, Leon, Harry Lennix & Tico Wells | |
Performer: | Diahann Carroll, Harold Nicholas, John Canada Terrell, Troy Beyer, Hawthorne James, Theresa Randle, Kasi Lemmons, Anne-Marie Johnson, John Witherspoon & David McKnight | |
Directed by | Robert Townsend | |
Edited by | John Carter | |
Screenwriting by | Robert Townsend & Keenen Ivory Wayans | |
Composition by | Stanley Clarke | |
Cinematography by | Bill Dill | |
Produced by | Robert Townsend & Loretha C. Jones |
Entertainment Reviews:
Rating: 1/4 --
A once or future 'VH1 movie that rocks.'
Full Review
Film Freak Central
Rating: 3/5 --
An underrated drama about the ups and downs of a Temptations-like r&b group with solid acting and fine music. If you haven't seen it, rent it. It's worth it.
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)
...Musically, THE FIVE HEARTBEATS is on target all the way. It's hard to remember a recent film that had so many warm-hearted, rousing, big-souled song numbers...
Los Angeles Times
Rating: 3/4 --
This is not only a biography with music, but also a thoughtful look at the way five young men from a poor but nurturing black neighborhood find success, and deal with it.
Full Review
Chicago Sun-Times
...Fundamental sweetness and sincerity....[In cameo, Harold Nicholas's] very presence expands the range of this film...
New York Times
Rating: 2/5 --
The rise and fall of a flashy, fictional 1960s rock group.
Full Review
Common Sense Media
Robert Townsend co-wrote, directed and stars in the film, one whose sincerity does a lot to cover the amateurishness with which the film was made.
Full Review
Baltimore Sun
Product Description:
Actor-director Robert Townsend came to fame depicting the pitfalls of the Hollywood experience for black actors with his 1987 film HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE. Four years later, he took on the mid-'60s music scene with THE FIVE HEARTBEATS. After doing extensive research with long-lived pop/R&B group the Dells, he painted a cinematic scene of five young friends in the 60s who share the dream of making music. They journey together through three decades, experiencing all the ups and downs show business had to offer, intensified by the difficulties faces by black acts in the era of civil-rights protest. Interacting as everything from a close-knit musical family to occasional bitter rivals, the fictional Five Heartbeats experience both success and tragedy in this excellent film. The multi-talented Townshend functions as both director and star, alongside compelling performances by a cast that includes Leon and Diahann Caroll. Featuring a mix of original songs and classic Motown material, THE FIVE HEARTBEATS is an irresistible combination of music and drama that captures a unique period in American cultural history.