VHS Tape Cover Information

Actor: Carla Brothers, Diahann Carroll, Hawthorne James, Roy Fegan, Troy Beyer
Primary Contributor: Michael Wright
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Original recording reissued
Running Time: 121 minutes
Release Date: 2002-01-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Studio: 20th Century Fox

VHS Movie Reviews of The Five Heartbeats

Movie Review: The Five Heartbeats
Summary: 5 Stars

I had already had this movie, but was thrilled not only to get the movie but the soundtrack as well. Still one of the better musicals I have seen. It is a must have for any lover of black history on the group eras.

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Summary of The Five Heartbeats

Few things can be more noble than a wholehearted effort to tell the story of black secular music in America, especially through the eyes of a mid-20th century rhythm-and-blues vocal group breaking through race barriers to popular success. Comedian and filmmaker Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats (1991) is one such ambitious effort. If its story frequently sags under epochal burdens, the film makes up for it with a surprisingly tough look at the music business and classy appearances by Diahann Carroll and hoofer Harold Nicholas. Townsend plays one-fifth of the titular act, whose collective life and times we follow from 1965 to the 1990s, through friendships, break-ups, and re-groupings. The director's script, cowritten with Keenen Ivory Wayans, is wobbly and short on good material for the women in the cast. But several of the male actors are quite strong, particularly John Canada Terrell as an original Heartbeats replacement. --Tom Keogh

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