Colors

Release Date:Rating:

April 15th, 1988

Genres:

Drama, Action/Adventure

Subgenres:

Crime, Drugs, Gangs, Prison, Racism

Plot Synopsis:

Credits:

Directed: Dennis Hopper Written: NA
Starring: Sean Penn, Robert Duvall, Maria Conchita Alonso, Randy Brooks, Don Cheadle

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Official Site: NA

Studio: NA


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mr-jones

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Ambitious project reflecting the rise in violent crime by LA 'Gang-bangers'. Two cops played by Duval and Penn are not only up against the chaos that is South Central LA but their own private battle sparked by Brash youth, against age and...
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Posted oct 25, 2007 3:14 am pt

afq2846

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This movie was made in 1988 and it still holds up pretty good. It was pretty controversial when it came out. Its about the gangs in LA and the police who try to stop them. Its funny watching Penn in his pre-star days. I do not think he would have...
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Posted may 28, 2007 12:21 am pt

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66/100

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Critics Score Card

[+] Variety

90

A solidly crafted depiction of some current big-city horrors and succeeds largely because of the Robert Duvall-Sean Penn teaming as frontline cops.
by Staff (Not Credited) | Read Full Review »
[+] The New Republic

80

But conventional though the patterns are, the dialogue, in black and Latino lingo, is topically hot and is heated further by contemporary street naturalism, which in fact is less "natural" than consciously theatrical; so the familiarity of the story is disguised by the crackle of the production. [16 May 1988]
by Stanley Kauffmann | Read Full Review »
[+] Washington Post

80

It's an exhilarating sparring match between Duvall's workmanlike fine-tuning and Penn's raw energy. [15 Apr 1988]
by Desson Thomson | Read Full Review »
[+] San Francisco Chronicle

75

The only scene that takes a stab at saying something about the root causes of the violence is the weakest. At a poorly attended community meeting called by the police to urge residents to speak up when they witness a crime, one black Vietnam veteran angrily mentions the lack of jobs. [15 Apr 1988]
by Judy Stone | Read Full Review »
[+] Chicago Sun-Times

75

A special movie - not just a police thriller, but a movie that has researched gangs and given some thought to what it wants to say about them.
by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
[+] Christian Science Monitor

75

There's hardly an original shot in the picture, and the screenplay ignores all opportunities to explore the patterns of poverty and racism that contribute to mob behavior. [22 Apr 1988]
by David Sterritt | Read Full Review »
[+] Chicago Tribune

75

Even and assured, Colors may not descend to the sloppy, indulgent depths of ''Easy Rider'' and ''The Last Movie,'' but neither does it rise to the delirious, dangerous heights of those films. [15 Apr 1988]
by Dave Kehr | Read Full Review »
[+] Entertainment Weekly

75

Sean Penn and Robert Duvall basically played the Two Faces of Dennis: hyper young firebrand and cautious older lion.
by Ty Burr | Read Full Review »
[+] The New York Times

70

Though it all comes together, most tragically, at the conclusion, Colors is less notable for its plot than for its chilling urgency and its sense of pure style. [15 Apr 1988, p.C4]
by Elvis Mitchell | Read Full Review »
[+] USA Today

63

At 120 minutes, Colors is one of the longest cop dramas in movie history, and all the clichés are packed into the second hour. It fades in the stretch - and so may too many moviegoers. [15 Apr 1988]
by Mike Clark | Read Full Review »
[+] Washington Post

60

The movie lacks a sure sense of purpose and direction, and, watching it, you can't help but feel that Hopper, by stepping back and refusing to assert his own point of view, has on some essential level abdicated his responsibility as a director. [15 Apr 1988]
by Hal Hinson | Read Full Review »
[+] Chicago Reader

60

Narrative continuity and momentum have never been among Hopper's strong points, and this time the choppiness of the storytelling diffuses the dramatic impact without offering a shapely mosaic effect (as in [his] previous films) to compensate for it.
by Jonathan Rosenbaum | Read Full Review »
[+] Time

50

Along with other cast members, Penn takes ages registering his stares and scowls, until the movie is finally not about gangs but about actors' attitudes. Dressed up in '80s street slang, this is a '60s exercise in Method excess. [18 Apr 1988]
by Richard Corliss | Read Full Review »
[+] TV Guide

50

Colors has a tentative, ambivalent feel to it--as if Hopper merely considered himself a hired gun who should avoid imposing too personal a vision on the material.
by Staff (Non Credited) | Read Full Review »
[+] Los Angeles Times

30

Without complexity to its characters, with little balance and without a hint of the personal, family or community issues involved, Colors becomes a movie that never has to ask "Why?"--a vivid, noisy shell of a film filled with eager young actors rattling along on the surface of a lethally important subject. [15 Apr 1988]
by Sheila Benson | Read Full Review »

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MetaScore: 66/100

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Colors

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Credits:

Official Site: NA

Studio: NA

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