Graffiti Bridge | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Prince |
Written by | Prince |
Produced by | Arnold Stiefel Randy Phillips |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Bill Butler |
Edited by | Rebecca Ross |
Music by | Prince |
Production company | Paisley Park Films |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $7 million [2] |
Box office | $4.6 million |
Graffiti Bridge is a 1990 American rock musical drama film written, directed by, and starring Prince in his third and final major theatrical film role. It is a standalone sequel to his 1984 film Purple Rain . Like its predecessor, it was accompanied by a soundtrack album of the same name. [3]
The plot continues with The Kid, living a future life as an upbeat performer and co-owner of a club, Glam Slam, which was willed to him from Billy, who owned the First Avenue Club in the first film. Solitary and lovelorn, he spends his personal time composing songs, and writing letters to his deceased father. The other co-owner who was included in the will is Morris (Morris Day), his rival who now also owns his own club, Pandemonium, while desiring to control the other two clubs in the Seven Corners area, which are Melody Cool and the Clinton Club. Needing to pay the mayor of Seven Corners $10,000, Morris attempts to extort The Kid – by threatening to take full ownership of Glam Slam. Making matters more interesting is the arrival of Aura, an angel sent from Heaven to sway both Morris and The Kid into leading more righteous lives – while dealing with their attraction to her. As The Kid continues to resist him, Morris begins to embarrass him via performances with his band, to steal The Kid's customers. Losing clientele and having his club defamed by Morris's henchmen, The Kid decides to challenge Morris to a music battle for ownership of Glam Slam. After Aura gets hit by a car, the two rivals settle their dispute and join forces.
According to Terry Lewis, the film was originally a vehicle for The Time, but "in the end the story got lost and it became a Prince picture. But that was cool. I think our rapport with Prince is better now than it's ever been, because there's a mutual respect in the air ... Plus we got to hang out for six months on somebody else's budget." Morris Day explained: "A sequel to Purple Rain is what it ended up being. And the role that The Time plays is, well, crooks. In Purple Rain we were small time crooks and now we've graduated to the big time. We own and control this area called Seven Corners – which is really four corners and four clubs – and everyone answers to us. It's really about the rivalry between us and The Kid (Prince), who is the picked-on, felt-sorry-for hero. But in the end he gets the girl and he beats us with a ballad. He changes our hearts and minds and makes us into good, church-going individuals with a song [laughs]." [4]
Filming took place primarily at the soundstage inside of Paisley Park, and at locations around Minneapolis.
Graffiti Bridge is tied into the album of the same name, which spawned the chart-making singles "Round and Round" and "New Power Generation", as well as "Thieves in the Temple". Despite the film receiving lukewarm responses from audiences, the accompanying album fared much better. Although there were many tracks, the following were selected for the album to appear in listed order within the film (although several appear in shorter and re-arranged lengths):
The film was nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Prince), Worst Director (Prince), Worst Screenplay (Prince), and Worst New Star (Ingrid Chavez).
Despite media hype of it being the sequel to the massively successful Purple Rain, it was a commercial and critical failure and was included on several Worst of 1990 movie lists. Graffiti Bridge currently holds an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7/10. [5]
However, the corresponding original soundtrack received widespread critical acclaim with glowing reviews from Rolling Stone 's Paul Evans, [6] Entertainment Weekly's Greg Sandow, [7] and the Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot, the latter stating that the album was "a sprawling, wildly diffuse statement on love, sin, sex and salvation that ranks with his best work." [8] In his review, Evans wrote that Prince
... has mustered a subversive triumph, making records half-brilliant, half-quirky, managing the Minneapolis scene with the ghost hand of a funky Gatsby, deploying an army-harem of disciples and flashing a dazzle of guises unified in their harlequin outrageousness. By the very promiscuity of these bold strategies, he has inseminated the whole of pop. With Graffiti Bridge and its firm coalescence of his styles and concerns, Prince reasserts his originality — and does it with the ease of a conqueror. [9]
In 1991, Prince was quoted as saying "(It was) one of the purest, most spiritual, uplifting things I've ever done. It was non-violent, positive and had no blatant sex scenes. Maybe it will take people 30 years to get it. They trashed The Wizard of Oz at first, too." [10]
The title "Graffiti Bridge" comes from a now torn-down bridge located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The bridge was torn down in the early 1990s to make way for new construction, [11] but to this day remains a local legend.
Graffiti Bridge was released on DVD on February 8, 2005. [12] The film was released on Blu-ray for the first time on October 4, 2016 separately in a purple case [13] and as part of the Prince Movie Collection. [14]
Prince Rogers Nelson was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer, and actor. The recipient of numerous awards and nominations, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. He was known for his flamboyant, androgynous persona; his wide vocal range, which included a far-reaching falsetto and high-pitched screams; and his skill as a multi-instrumentalist, often preferring to play all or most of the instruments on his recordings. His music incorporated a wide variety of styles, including funk, R&B, rock, new wave, soul, synth-pop, pop, jazz, blues, and hip hop. Prince produced his albums himself, pioneering the Minneapolis sound.
Purple Rain is a 1984 American romantic rock musical drama film scored by and starring Prince in his acting debut. Developed to showcase his talents, it contains several concert sequences, featuring Prince and his band The Revolution. The film is directed by Albert Magnoli, who later became Prince's manager, from a screenplay by Magnoli and William Blinn. The cast also features Apollonia Kotero, Morris Day, Olga Karlatos and Clarence Williams III.
Paisley Park Records was an American record label founded by musician Prince in 1985, which was distributed by and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records. It was started in 1985, following the success of the film and album Purple Rain. The label shares its name with Prince's recording complex Paisley Park Studios and the song "Paisley Park" on his 1985 Around the World in a Day album.
"The Bird" is a song from The Time's third album, Ice Cream Castle. The song was initially recorded in the studio in 1983 with all instruments by Prince, except guitar, which was performed by Jesse Johnson. This version was replaced by a live recording with the full band at the First Avenue on October 4, 1983. This is the first Time song to be released both live and featuring The Time as a band, rather than primarily Prince with Morris Day on vocals. The song has become a signature number for the band and continues to be played in every Time concert to this day. In addition, two additional live versions have since been released: one on Prince's Rave Un2 the Year 2000 DVD and one recorded at the House of Blues in 1998 for Morris Day's 2004 album It's About Time.
Morris E. Day is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer of The Time.
Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American singer and songwriter. He performed gospel in his local church from an early age. Following an audition for jazz musician Bobbi Humphrey in 1988, Campbell was signed to Warner Bros. Records. In 1989, Campbell collaborated with Quincy Jones performing lead vocals for "Tomorrow" on Jones' album Back on the Block and released his Platinum-selling debut album, T.E.V.I.N. The album included his highest-charting single to date, "Tell Me What You Want Me to Do", peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The debut album also included the singles "Alone With You", and "Goodbye".
Graffiti Bridge is the twelfth studio album by American recording artist Prince and is the soundtrack album to the 1990 film of the same name. It was released on August 20, 1990, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records.
The Time, also known as Morris Day and the Time and The Original 7ven, is an American funk rock band founded in Minneapolis in 1981. They contributed to the development of the Minneapolis sound, an eclectic fusion of funk, R&B, new wave, synth-pop and dance. Led by singer-songwriter Morris Day, the band members are known for having been close associates of musician Prince, and are arguably the most successful artists who have worked with him, achieving success with singles such as "Get It Up", "The Bird", "Cool", "777-9311", "Jungle Love" and "Jerk Out".
Ice Cream Castle is a 1984 album by The Time. Their third album, it consists of six tracks in the funk-pop or ballad genre, and it was produced and arranged by Prince as "The Starr ★ Company".
Pandemonium is the fourth studio album by American band The Time released in 1990. Much like the three previous albums, the album consists of music in the funk rock genre, although this album breaks the Time's six-song album tradition. The album is a tie-in with the film Graffiti Bridge, and several songs from the album appear in the film.
"Gett Off" is a song written and produced by American musician Prince, released in June 1991 by Paisley Park and Warner Bros. as the lead single from his thirteenth album, Diamonds and Pearls (1991). The album was his first with his backing band the New Power Generation. "Gett Off" was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching number four in the United Kingdom; the maxi-single was too long and pricey to appear on the UK Singles Chart, so this release was classified as an album, peaking at number 33 on the UK Albums Chart in August 1991.
"New Power Generation", or "N.P.G.", is a song by American musician Prince from the 1990 album and film Graffiti Bridge. It is an anthem for his backing band, The New Power Generation, who were officially co-credited on his album covers for a time, and continued to back him up until 2013, albeit with a changing lineup. The song saw minimal chart attention, and was not as successful as its predecessor, "Thieves in the Temple".
Garry George "Jellybean" Johnson is an American drummer, guitarist, songwriter, record producer and musician based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jerome Benton is an American musical performer, backup dancer and comedic actor. He can be seen in music videos by Janet Jackson and Prince, but he is known for his association with Morris Day and The Time.
Prince was well known in the entertainment industry for having a vast body of work that remains unreleased. It has been said that his vault contains multiple unreleased albums and over 50 fully produced music videos that have never been released, along with albums and other media. The following is a list, in rough chronological order, of the most prominent of these unreleased works. Many were later released and circulated among collectors as bootlegs.
Jesse Woods Johnson is an American funk musician best known as the guitarist in the original 1981 lineup of The Time.
"Chocolate" is a song from The Time's 1990 album Pandemonium. The song was released as the second single from Pandemonium, and was written by usual band collaborator Prince. The song had been primarily recorded in April 1983 during the early sessions for the group's third album, Ice Cream Castle. The group's drummer, Jellybean Johnson, remarked on the notable James Brown influence that the track was channeling: "That's some great shit, that's just hard-core James sound. I loved it."
"Round and Round" was the Prince-produced first single from R&B singer Tevin Campbell's debut album T.E.V.I.N. This was Tevin's first solo single, as he was featured in "Tomorrow " alongside music legend Quincy Jones. The song is also featured on the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack. The hit song was a success on both the pop and R&B charts peaking at No. 12 on the Hot 100 and No. 3 on the US R&B chart.
"The Beautiful Ones" is the third track on Prince and the Revolution's soundtrack album Purple Rain. It was one of three songs produced, arranged, composed, and performed by Prince, the other two being "When Doves Cry" and "Darling Nikki". The song was recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles by Peggy Mac and David Leonard on September 20, 1983. The song replaced "Electric Intercourse" on the Purple Rain album.
Sotera Tschetter is an American designer, art director, music video director and producer, best known for her work with American musician Prince.