Purple Rain Movie Recap (1984)

 

It’s been 40 years since Prince released this film to theaters and yet I feel like this film/soundtrack celebration has been muted. It’s only right to close the year by taking a look at this significant movie. Not going to keep you waiting any longer, so without further ado…

Purple Rain Movie Recap

   Prince (or in the movie known as "The Kid") has a band known as the Revolution. They spend most of their time performing the First Avenue Nightclub in Minneapolis. The film get’s crazy by him performing “Let’s Go Crazy” with Prince mastering any instrument he can get his hands or feet on. During the opening montage we meet Apollonia. She just moved into town. She refuses to pay her taxi but instead pays for her hotel room. After this she breaks into the nightclub and wants a job performing. We also meet the flashy Morris Day as he’s the lead singer of his band known as the Time. He’s supposed to be the rival band and main villain but as the film goes on, that won’t be the case. But they go on after the Revolution and performs “Jungle Love”. And it’s during here where Apollonia catches the eye of Prince. Back home, we learn of Prince’s home life and it’s toxic. He comes from an abusive household and for him the music is his safe place.

    The club owner has a meeting with Morris Day and tells him that he’s fed up with Prince not showing up to the meetings. Morris wants him to fire Prince but instead of getting rid of him, he offers a proposition by building a girl group to replace the Revolution. At the club, Prince receives a tape two of his band members on a song that they wrote (we all know that’s going to be important later on). Back with Morris Day, he holds auditions for the girl group and it’s not going great. He gets a recommendation for Apollonia and immediately thinks she would be perfect for the group. But wants her to approach him. With Apollonia, she meets with Prince and takes her broach. The two bond over a guitar he wants, but he gives her back her broach. They go on a bike ride over to Lake Minnetonka. She tells him that she’s an entertainer who wants to make it and ask for his assist. But he refuses and tells her she needs to purify herself in Lake Minnetonka as initiation. She does this and let’s just say this scene made boys into men. After this, he says that this isn’t Lake Minnetonka and flees. He comes back and apologies not before teasing her.

    At First Avenue, the two band members names Wendy and Lisa ask about the song they played, which of course he hasn’t. The other band members tell him not to worry. He finally plays the instrumental but it’s cut short due to showtime. Morris then approaches Apollonia on ask to join his group because of her look. Not while Prince and the Revolution perform the song “The Beautiful Ones”. After his performance, Apollonia approaches Prince and they go to his basement. He plays her a tape of moaning which isn’t moaning it’s her crying backwards. After this, they do some NSFW things.

    He finds Wendy and Lisa playing the song and tells him that he’ll never play their song. Morris approaches Apollonia again, but she tells him that Prince is going to help her. But he shoots her down by telling her that Prince is self-centered (he is) and would never help her. Prince is back home playing the song Wendy and Lisa wrote but He once again spots his dad hitting his wife and intervenes. He couldn’t even zone out with his music. After the DV incident, Apollonia sneaks in and gifts him the guitar he was looking at earlier. But that’s when he drops the bombshell, that she joined Morris’s group in order to get the guitar and he goes full Ike Turner on her.

    The owner finally meets with Prince about his recent behavior. He tells them about Apollonia 6 and informs them that it’ll be them or the new group as he only needs three acts not four. Prince mental is spiraling as a montage of “When Doves Cry” is playing. He comes home and finds his father playing on the piano. Find out he was a musical talent like Prince but wasted away. They actually have a small heart to heart convo but when he asks Prince if he has a girlfriend, he tells him to never marry. The next night, Prince plays at the Avenue starting off with “Computer Blue” which is suggestive to say the least. While Apollonia was in the crowd he plays “Darling Nikki” and airs out all their dirty laundry. Feeling humiliated, Apollonia storms out making the situation worse. The owner confronts Prince about bringing personal drama onstage and tells him that he’s becoming his father. That’s when Apollonia 6 make their onstage debut performing “Sex Shooter” and immediately outshine the Revolution, putting the band on shaky ground. After the performance, Morris is drunk and it appears that he was going to take advantage of her in the worst way. That was until Prince come and save the day. He spots her with Morris’s flask and flings it away. Prince was about to strike her but realize he doesn’t want to become his father. Apollonia takes his ear-ring off her ear.

    Prince storms back home, to find the home in shambles (shocker). He finds his father and that when he shoots himself. He’s alive but barely hanging on. Enraged, Prince goes maniac until he finds his father’s compositions. He once again plays the tape and finally go to work on the song. The night Morris Day and the Time performs “The Bird”. After their performance, The Time taunts Prince and the Revolution. Onstage, Prince announces he’s performing a song dedicated to his father and it’s the song the song Wendy and Lisa wrote. The song would be called “Purple Rain” and ladies and gentlemen a moment in American history. After the performance, Prince tries to run off not realizing what he’s done. But when he returns everyone is giving him an ovation. He goes out for an encore and performs “I Would Die 4 U” and “Baby I’m a Star”. But let me just say, the best scene in this whole movie was the credits. Look at these credits, very low budget it captures the essence of 80s films.

I’m just playing. I don’t have to tell you that this movie is terrific. I do have thoughts but they’re only for Apollonia and Prince and they kind of intertwine. Apollonia, is the definition of someone who was trying to get her foot in the door. But this couple was toxic. She insisted on getting Prince’s help in making it but later goes behind his back and join forces with Morris Day. Prince was mostly toxic towards her, most of it having something to do with his homelife being toxic. Taking a broach, making her strip down to purify a dirty lake, going P. Diddy on her after she joins Morris Day, these two do not need to be with each other. Glad the two moved on in the sequel. Yes, this movie had a sequel but it did not match the same acclaim as Purple Rain, and yes, I do plan on taking a look at this sometime early next year. But this movie is a classic and RIP to the best man to rock a mascara and high heels.