Product Details

• Actors: Robert Townsend, Michael Wright, Leon, Harry Lennix, Tico Wells
• Directors: Robert Townsend
• Writers: Robert Townsend, Keenen Ivory Wayans
• Producers: Robert Townsend, Christina Schmidlin, Kokayi Ampah, Loretha C. Jones
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: January 10, 1994
• Run Time: 121 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000005QLP
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,445 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably one of the best movies I've ever seen, March 19, 2006

By 

stevey wundar (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Five Heartbeats (DVD)

"Some people run at the first sight of stormy weather ... But SOME people hold on and work it out together." -- Breakout lyric from the movie's soundtrack.

This movie has absolutely everything.

It's got comedy of all sorts, yet this movie really isn't a comedy.

And it's got compelling moments that'll make you think and make you feel some kinda way about given relatable characters and life circumstances, yet I wouldn't exactly fit this movie into a mold of your typical drama.

"The Five Heartbeats" is the loosely autobiographical tale of the rise, fall and ultimately triumph in life of a hit five-man R&B group from the 1960s (my father and uncles have an ongoing debate about whether this group's experiences were based upon The Temptations, The Four Tops or The Dells).

This movie seems like a real-enough, real life story about how money, fame and stardom can breed distrust, hate, disloyalty and an assortment of shady dealings that could undue any family relationship or close friendship.

The story follows five young men who start out as close friends who share a common passion and talent: singing.

Of course, they get "discovered" but as they start to and eventually make it big, they discover their moment at the top is filled with tragedy, anger, addictions and deceptions of all kinds -- realities totally different from the starry-eyed images they'd had of "making it big" once upon a time.

Overall, this movie is very much uplifting because, while it takes a life time, these five friends eventually overcome the past and learn some invaluable life lessons.

This is a movie for families -- the plot and various scenes will be interpreted differently by kids and adults, however, both demographics will be able to relate to this movie's overall theme and message.

Fame and fortune are fleeting. Friendships -- good friendships -- are priceless.

This is a movie that was out and out ignored by Hollwyood.

Easily Robert Townsend's best film and deserving of Academy Award consideration.

Awesome acting, brilliant writing and a blazingly inspiring soundtrack.

This movie is the complete package.

Perhaps the most recommended movie pitch I'll ever make on Amazon for one film!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guaranteed crowd-pleasing movie and one you can watch over and over and over, and not get tired of.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Heartbeat Movie Review, July 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Five Heartbeats [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is one of my all time favorite movies. It reveals the real life joys, struggles, and sorrows experienced by black music artists of the 60's era. This movie is a treat and monument to American music. It can be enjoyed by people of all backgrounds and nationalities. The Five Heartbeats tapped into my emotional highway. This movie is a classic. I only wish this movie would have recieved the publicity it deserved while it was playing at a theatre near you. Thank you Mr. Robert Townsend for a job well done!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'll review this version rather than the movie as a whole., April 5, 2007

By 

M.D.C. "The Franchise" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Five Heartbeats - 15th Anniversary Special Edition (Widescreen) (DVD)

Why? Because if you're here, you probably already saw the movie and are just curious about this release version. So I'll tell you about it.

First, the good:
- Comes with the official movie soundtrack. I mean the FULL soundtrack, it's a separate disc.
- Video transfer is done a lot better than the original DVD release.
- Case is designed a lot more appealing than the standard black and blue.
- Audio is better encoded and easier to hear at lower volumes.
- Lots of extras, including some fluff, but hey.
- Better aspect ratio, as the picture fills widescreen displays more evenly without stretching.

Now, the bad:

- The soundtrack...it's so irritating to listen to, because they managed to do the true movie version of "Nothing But Love" and some other songs, fresh from the movie, but yet "Nights Like This" is that After 7 version. I don't mind the After 7 version, it's not bad, but I wanted to hear the movie version. This is especially troublesome when they even managed to do that Byrd song fresh from the movie.

- Some of the footage that never made it in the movie SHOULD have. Like the scene where Duck is explaining that all of the members can sing all different levels. It would explain a later scene when Choirboy offers to sing in Eddie's place - when I watched the first version I was confused. A soprano singing a baritone's parts? Also, there were some slight comedy pieces in there that should have been included.

- Some of the extras are just flat out pointless - or if they wanted to include them at least include the characters people cared about. There's one extra where the actors in kayfabe are giving their thoughts before accepting 'awards'. Totally corny, but it might have been entertaining if Eddie Kang Jr. and JT were there. There's only 3 of the five present.

- General movie negative...they never did explain what happened to Bobby, from the beginning of the movie. I was hoping for a deleted scene that would explain this, but alas...


So, would I recommend getting this? Absolutely, because I can almost guarantee it won't be released on HD-DVD or Bluray.