Product Details

• Actors: Sean Penn, Robert Duvall, Maria Conchita Alonso, Randy Brooks, Grand L. Bush
• Directors: Dennis Hopper
• Writers: Michael Schiffer, Richard Di Lello
• Producers: Paul Lewis, Robert H. Solo
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: October 2, 2001
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005N89M
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,000 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Colors" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Controversial film about the conflict between police and the street gangs in Los Angeles.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 2-OCT-2001
Media Type: DVD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stylish But It Could Use More Substance, May 11, 2003

By 

Stephen Kaczmarek "Educator, Writer, Consultant" (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colors (DVD)

Hailed by critics as one of the more important films of the 80s, "Colors" nonetheless is a fairly straightforward tragedy--there's no other direction for the story to take. Robert Duvall plays a veteran police officer working L.A.'s mean streets; hothead Sean Penn joins his CRASH anti-gang unit, predictably testing the elder partner's patience and reserve as he just tries to keep the peace and make it through that final year to retirement. Both actors bring more depth to their cliched roles than might be expected, playing off each other surprisingly well, even in moments where they are given little more to do than react. But "Colors" offers no real answers to anything. The cops are presented mostly as well-armed zookeepers, while the gang members, blessed with youth and health but not much brains, run violently about, making the story mostly a series of aimless confrontations. Art imitating life? Maybe. But careful audiences might feel they've been bamboozled, despite director Dennis Hopper's rather lofty take on it. With some scenes that are genuinely tragic and gripping--the shooting of an unarmed suspect and the movie's final scene, to name two--and a romantic subplot that deserved more time--Maria Conchita Alonso seems to just get warmed up as a bad girl flirting with the notion of being good--"Colors" seems to have more going for it than it really does. Watch it mainly for the performances and the suggestion of complexity.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE TURF IS REAL IN "COLORS"., August 9, 2004

By 

Gregory Saffady (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colors (DVD)

Dennis Hopper presented an unseen vision of Americana with EASY RIDER in 1969. It unsettled the masses. He did the same almost 20 years later with COLORS, a frightfully realistic look at urban gang warfare in Los Angeles. Hopper has always been a talent, both in front and behind the camera. COLORS could only be handled by the likes of an independent spirit like Hopper: It's tough, brutal, no watered down studio gloss, no techno effects. Hopper is an actors director and Robert Duvall and Sean Penn are a perfect fit. The oft told cop story of the veteran and the novice gets an injection of new life: the partners don't like each other, they tolerate each other for the sake of survival. Duvall and Penn give strong expected performances and the story rifles along free of expected cliches. Ice-T, in his rapper days (pre LAW & ORDER: SVU) is featured on the soundtrack.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good film exploring gangs, March 7, 2004

By 

Frank Ponce "Movie Mavin" (Norwalk, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colors (DVD)

I liked COLORS alot because it's a gritty, but realistic police drama. I grew up in bad urban streets, so I know how bad things can get. I also like the film because it explored the dangerous lives the Crypts and Bloods, who wear blue and red, naturally. There is still a bloody gang war between them, but COLORS wisely tells us they're bad background and potray them as human beings like us, and not vicious animals arrested by the police we see on TV.

Anyway, Dennis Hopper awkardly, but fantastically directed this film with Robert Duvall as a veteran cop and his young, headstrong apprentice Sean Penn, as they lead a Los Angeles gang unit against the petty crime in the streets fueled by the two rival gangs. But the boiled relationship with Duvall's calm manner and Penn's hair-trigger temper won't get them very far to survive in Watt's mean streets. That problem leads to a sad climax.

COLORS is a bit dated now when compared to more brutal, but nearly worthless gang movies nowadays. But it helped paved the way more better ones like BOYZ N THE HOOD and MENACE II SOCIETY. The film is different from both of those movies because it gives us a picturesque view of both the urban gang life and the police life.