Customer Reviews

Graffiti Bridge

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

GRAFFITI BRIDGE was originally conceived as a movie for Kim Basinger and Prince, but they broke up before it went into production. Then Prince thought he would make a movie centered on THE TIME, but Warner Brothers demanded that it be a sequel to PURPLE RAIN. They filmed it all on sets to avoid the Minnesota weather, and also because Prince wanted to create a true 1950s musical feeling. It's about the Kid and Morris squaring off against each other on how a club they share ownership should be run. A mysterious woman enters both their lives (Aura - Ingrid Chavez), and she becomes the catalyst for them to both change in spiritual ways.

The DVD is fine - almost a direct port of the laserdisc print. It's a little grainy at times, and sometimes the soundtrack seems off ... but overall you get a nice package with the movie and the music videos. Watch GRAFFITI BRIDGE for the music scenes first and foremost -- that's where all the passion is.

This is a great video, although you need to watch it at least twice to understand Prince's message. As the unofficial sequel to Purple Rain, it has many flaws, namely poor sound quality on the soundtrack, and a few annoying spiritual overtones. Obviously inspired much by John Lennon, with a Yoko Ono personality who plays Prince's "girl", this movie is a MUST for Prince fans. The soundtrack is brilliant, so get the cd if nothing else. The plot is quite simple, but is made unneccarily complicated at times. If you liked Purple Rain, you must get this video, but be sure to see Purple Rain first!

Not quite PURPLE RAIN, but noteworthy to devotees like myself. The soundtrack is 60% flawless and the re-appearance of Morris Day and the Time, and Jill Jones made me so happy. And Tevin Campbell and Mavis Staples...totally worth a golden Sunday afternoon's viewing despite all of the eggs and tomatoes thrown at it...

This is almost not a movie. What I mean is, it plays like a bunch of music videos with tidbits of plot thrown in between.

If you're reading this, I take it you have an interest in Prince... or at least Morris Day and the Time. The soundtrack CD is really great, and if you really spend enough time listening to it, it kind of paints it's own picture in your mind. I don't know if that sounds crazy, but I bought the CD when it came out-- a couple months before the release of the movie. The music is so detailed and vivid, I imagined what the movie would be like. Ultimately I was dissapointed with how it actually turned out...

"Purple Rain" towers above this movie, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it (purple rain) had a screenwriter and director separate from Prince. With "Graffiti Bridge", Prince bit off more than he could chew by writing/directing/starring. I think there were some good ideas here that definitely needed some shaping.

Morris Day is the scene-stealer, as he was in "Purple Rain", though again I'm not so sure Prince wrote him as strong a part as he deserved. This movie is a semi-sequel to "Purple Rain"-- which was a bad idea. "Purple Rain" had a realistic feel to it. "Graffiti Bridge" has a slightly surreal feel. Plus, unlike "Purple Rain", it was shot almost entirely on soundstages-- resulting in a very set-bound, manufactured atmosphere.

In closing, if you're a Prince fan check it out.

I couldnt believe when this film came out i actually sit in a theatre to see this talking about torture.. To this day i dont get the story line and the spirtual thing.. Did some one say his worst film all his films are not good but the only thing that save them was the music and the music in this one is just average not his best piece of work Avoid this one at all costs

Welllll here we go again...you know..I suffered through the viewing and loss of two hours of my life with Under the Cherry Moon, and then I saw this..Some actors can sing, and some singers can act..but I didnt see that singer in this film. I think whoever directed this movie was drunk, and they should have fired every single person in this film, starting with the "purple one". You know..atleast in Under the Cherry Moon, you got a bonus, a poorly acted death scene where Prince throws himself on the ground..no such luck in this movie! I tried to donate this movie to a charity that feeds the homeless, but they said the homeless wasnt "that" hungry..so I ended up using it for something to put my coffee cup on in the morning..dvds make great coasters especially the ones that suck.

Somewhere is the cogent idea to this 1990 follow-up to the classic Purple Rain. Unfortunately, it cannot be found in this weak script that is loosely taped together with numerous music videos.

Prince reprises his Purple Rain character, The Kid, who is now a performer and co-owner of a club, the Glam Slam, with his former rival (Morris Day). Business turns sour when The Kid is "asked" by his partner to pay shakedown money to the mayor. So, in a quest for truth, justice and full ownership of the club, The Kid challenges his business partner to a music battle.

The plans for the movie started in 1987, but delays - primarily due to casting problems - kept delaying its production. Prince was king with Warner Bros. due to his incredible marketing power of cross-promotion within many categories of pop culture. But the movie was a box office bridge to nowhere and showed that all that glitters is not necessarily golden when created by this incredible artist.

Graffiti Bridge was largely ignored on its release in the fall of 1990. And it's not hard to see why: It's horribly edited, rather horribly acted, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Even die-hard Prince fans--myself among them--had a hard time supporting this one.

The main problem is probably that Warner Bros. wanted a sequel to the mega-hit Purple Rain. Prince apparently didn't want to make a sequel, but a fifties-style true musical. Unfortunately, a linear sequel to Purple Rain and a fifties-style musical just can't co-exist in the same film. Sure, it's got Prince as the Kid, Morris Day & Co., and a handful of references to the previous film. But people break into song whether or not they're on stage, and (in the aforementioned horrible editing) the sounds don't always match the performers' movements. The worst example of this is in Clinton's Club, when funky ol' George Clinton is singing "We Can Funk"...the song is a duet with Prince on the soundtrack album, and you can HEAR Prince singing in the scene, but he's nowhere to be found. And speaking of the soundtrack, some of the best cuts on the disc (released a good 6 months prior to the film's release) don't even appear in the film.

So why do I even give it a generous 3 stars? Well, I guess the thing kind of grows on ya after awhile. It's all pretty lightweight stuff, despite Prince's patented pseudo-Christian imagery. And the music that did make the cut is quite good, though Purple Rain fanatics will balk at the "new jack" sound that was all the rage in 1990.

In short, this isn't going to win Prince any new fans. But for those of us who still believe the Purple Wonder is about the best thing out there, Graffiti Bridge is a playful little curiosity that, in the end, really isn't so bad.

Oh, and it's nice to have the 4 music videos, especially a rare live version of "The Question of U."

I have the laserdisc of this movie. The storyline has quite a few problems, the acting also lacks direction. Years ago, before the premier of this movie, my pal, Andre, asked if I thought it was going to be any good. I replied "Who cares, its a vehicle for another Prince album." Forget the storyline on this one folks, enjoy the music! Besides New Power Generation and Thieves in the Temple there's great music by The Time, Tevin Campbell, Mavis Staples and George "funkadelic" Clinton.

This movie is O.K but I think I would have done it a different way ! First of all I would have scraped the script ad just started all over! Then I would have called some real excutives and producers in to help out ! I love Prince as much as anyone on this page but this movie is complete foolishness and a fiasco! This movie looks like it was filmed on a stage and the set is completley polished! The acting is horrible and the plot is silly! This movie is O.K if you want to be interupted by music every ten minutes! It is nothing more than a musical, if you want to watch a music video by Prince I suggest "Sign of the Times" ! This is a waste of time unless you just want to really laugh! I got it just to see it all the way through because I kept missing the beginning on T.V! "Under the Cherry Moon" Will be the most artistic and classic movie out of his collection. "Under the Cherry Moon" was quirky but in a more artistic and interesting way! This had to be an independent effort because I can't see the same people responsible for "Purple Rain" letting this seep out!