Cinematic Legacy of Prince
(1984) Purple Rain
Purple Rain centered around The Kid (Prince), a Minneapolis–based musician with his band the Revolution. The Kid’s star is on the rise and he pours his life into his music, escaping a dysfunctional home life and the temptation to repeat what has gone before. He falls for the beguiling singer Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero) and must rise to the challenge of Morris (Morris Day), a fellow performer who aims to eclipse The Kid’s stardom and steal his love interest.
Purple Rain lands at No. 76 on Rolling Stone’s list of greatest albums of all time. In 2007, Vanity Fair labeled it the best soundtrack of all time. The film regularly makes lists of the top music movies ever released. But the fact that the film was made, let alone go on to become a hit, was almost inconceivable in the early 1980s.
There was an inevitability about Purple Rain, Alan Light, author of Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain told NPR. “Prince was the great genius of his day, and there was gonna be some vehicle that was gonna come along and translate that to the world. But if you look at the moment that it happened, when Prince went to his managers and said, ‘You have to get me a feature–film deal or you’re fired.’ And what came out was a movie with a first–time director [Albert Magnoli], first–time producer, you know, Prince as the star who’d never acted, his band as most of the cast– and they said, ‘We’re gonna shoot in Minneapolis in the winter.’ Now, which piece of that sounds like it was going to be a big success?”
(1986) Under the Cherry Moon
Under The Cherry Moon is a 1986 American musical drama film starring and directed by Prince and written by Becky Johnson (screenplay).
Filmed primarily in Studios de la Victorine in Nice, France and on location in the French Riviera, the film tells a story of a gigolo and his friend swindling women. But when Prince’s character Christopher Tracy falls in love with the 21 year old heiress Mary, things get complicated.
Prince wanted the film to be a romantic comedy with a 1930’s vibe set in an exotic location like Palm Beach, Miami or Capri. The idea was then born to shoot the film in France and in mid–June 1985 Prince together with his manager Steve Fargnoli and tour manager Alan Leeds flew to France to scout locations and meet with potential cast. After visiting the French Riviera Prince decided he wanted to shoot the film there.
Originally Prince wanted Madonna to star as the female lead, but after she declined Susannah Melvoin, who by now was Prince’s fiancée was considered. She did a test– reading, but it was decided that the role of Mary needed a more experienced actress. Ultimately young British actress Kristin Scott–Thomas was cast as female lead after auditioning for Prince in Paris. Terrance Stamp and Francesca Annis were cast as Mary’s parents.
(1990) Graffitti Bridge
Graffiti Bridge is a 1990 American rock musical drama film directed and written by Prince, filmed at Paisley Park Studios and on location in and around Minneapolis. It is Prince’s last large–scale film.
Even though the movie isn’t a sequel per se to Purple Rain, it revives key characters from that movie: Prince plays the character of “The Kid” and Morris Day plays his own character. The story revolves around the characters' rivalry over the ownership of the “Glam Slam” nightclub.
The premiere and party took place on 1 November 1990 at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City, and was attended by the film co–stars Morris Day, Jerome Benton, Ingrid Chavez, Robin Power and Tevin Campbell. Prince attended the screening, but didn’t appear at the party.The film was initially intended to open in 1,400 US cinemas on 7 August 1990, but it was ultimately only released in 688 US cinemas on 2 November 1990.
The reviews for Graffiti Bridge were negative, and the film was a commercial flop, grossing only $4.5 million at the box office, before being removed from most screens within a month. Allowed an original budget of $8 million, the film had cost $10 million to make, reported Jon Bream in Star Tribune; it was estimated, however, that Warner Bros. should have grossed $14 million in tickets sales to recover all costs.