The screening took place in tribute to Prince who would have turned 68 tomorrow.
I have seen bits and pieces of Purple Rain on TV over the years but had never seen the film from start to finish. As it my want, when I see a movie, I prefer to see it in a theatre with a crowd.
About tonight's crowd. They were very vocal and not in a good way. Most of the scenes involving dialogue were received with copious amounts of derisive laughter. Even much of Prince's physical movements evoked howls of disdain.
Of course, most of the players in the film were not actors - Prince, Appolonia, Morris Day although the latter was mildly amusing as the film's main antagonist. Clarence Williams III, best remembered for playing Link on The Mod Squad, played Prince's physically abusive father and did not receive derisive laughter during his scenes.
Naturally, the strength of Purple Rain came through in the music. Of course, Prince was at his zenith in 1984. Purple Rain would have been a much better movie had it strictly been a concert film. With songs like "Let's Go Crazy", "Take Me With U", "When Doves Cry", "Darling Nikki" and the titular "Purple Rain", I remember why it was the very first cassette I ever bought with my own money on my 12th birthday.
Perhaps the most powerful scene was Prince's performance of "The Beautiful Ones" when he directs his attention to Appolonia sitting with Morris Day:
Do you want him?Or do you want me?'Cause I want youSaid, I want youTell me, babeDo you want me?I gotta know, I gotta knowDo you want me?
The lyrics are simple and not much different from Paul Revere and The Raiders' "Him or Me - What It's Gonna Be?" But Prince delivers these words as a matter of life and death. Appolonia, overcome with tears, bolts out of the club. That was far more effective than any of the dialogue spoken between them during the entire film.
Yet as Don told me after the film, the late Roger Ebert absolutely loved Purple Rain and compared it to Citizen Kane. I could not believe what I heard. Ebert did indeed like the film and put it on his Top 10 list for 1984. But he did not compare it to Citizen Kane. Rather he called Purple Rain “the best rock film since Pink Floyd The Wall.” Ebert also found Appolonia's acting to be "electric". Well, her body was electric (Warning: NSFW). The rest of her was far less stimulating.
Nevertheless, when Prince left this world for the afterlife in 2016, Purple Rain was the centerpiece of his musical legacy. That legacy will live on far beyond the film.
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