Why Do Fools Fall in Love Movie Recap

 

The year is 1985, Diana Ross released her first hit away from Motown and it’s called “Why Do Fall in Love”. When in reality it the song was released in 1981. Anyway, there is one problem, Diana Ross’s song is a cover. While in prison for petty theft, Elizabeth Waters (former wife of Frankie Lymon) decide to contact a lawyer about this whole ordeal. With Lymon being deceased since 1968, his royalties go to the widow. Elizabeth believes she is the rightful widow and is entitled to Frankies estate. Well, after her stint in prison Elizabeth goes to see Morris Levy and is in for a surprise. Two women, Zola Taylor & Imira Eagle also show up for the same reason, since Frankie never divorced his wives. So, who is the real Mrs. Frankie Lymon, this is To Tell The Truth Why Do Fools Fall in Love edition.

Why Do Fools Fall in Love Recap

April 1986, the court case over Frankie Lymon’s estate begins. Before we get to the wives we need to get the story of Frankie’s background and to assist with that, we are introduced with Richard Barrett who managed Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. The film flashes back to 1955, with the teenagers singing outside Richard’s window. Once he finds out that lead singer Herman Santiago and Frankie Lymon wrote Why Do Fools Fall in Love. Richard had connections to Morris Levy, who was looking Latin talent to record. Richard sold to Levy that they are a Latin group, which they were not. They were a biracial group, rare for the 50s. But on the day of the audition, Herman is unable to sing due to illness. Frankie volunteers to fill in and blows the mind of Morris Levy and he signs them to the label.

After Barrett’s testimony, a close friend of Lymon named Richard Penniman (played by Little Richard, awesome that they got Little Richard to appear in this movie). After he makes his grand diose entrance and annoying the judge, he takes us back to 1955. During the Alan Freed Show, Frankie decide to go straight for Homeplate and kiss Zola Taylor of the Platters. Frankie goes onstage and the crowd goes wild. On a live television show, he get’s caught dancing with a white girl. This did not please southern audience and the show got cancelled shortly after. To pour salt on the wound, footage of that moment have been destroyed. This does not stop Frankie Lymon being a sensation.

Frankie is still trying to win Zola Taylor’s heart but she still playing hard to get. But after display a decent gesture to a random stranger, Zola caves in and decide to get to know Frankie. Frankie talks about his dad being an alcoholic and how he doesn’t want to become him. Frankie & The Teenagers run only last about 18 months, they break up after Morris began shipping music by just Frankie Lymon, no teenagers. Frankie tried to plea with Herman that it was not his decision but Herman doesn’t hear that and they get into a fight. Zola then tries to console him. Wow teenagers drinking champagne, Zola is about 17-19 and Frankie is about 14-16. They have a nightcap.

Wife #1 Elizabeth Waters-Lymon (occupation, petty thief, married to Frankie from 1964-65): In 1961, Frankie meets Elizabeth Waters. Frankie saves her from another shoplifting venture. He invites her and Trudy Proud to one of his shows but before his performance Redd Foxx is taking the stage. Unique because Redd Foxx is Larenz Tate’s grandfather on the television show The Royal Family. Frankie sings “Goody Goody”, brings Elizabeth on stage and he unbuttons his shirt. But Zola calls BS on that story cause we can’t imagine Frankie performing an open top. Moving on, they go to Zola’s apartment and well they go through tunnels, fireworks explode and a game winning touchdown was scored, despite having track marks on his arms.

They end up moving in an apartment and Trudy Proud tells her beware of Frankie as he has a habit. Well, by 1961 Frankie’s career had all but fallen apart and his drug habits has taken over. Elizabeth hiding money in weird places so Frankie can’t find it to buy drugs. He’s sees Zola Taylor on television and storms out. Elizabeth spots two drug lords chasing Frankie over a debt he owes. Elizabeth fesses up and gives them the money she hid in the icebox and the mink coat. They ended up evicted from their apartment. On a trip to Virginia, they go to a courthouse and get married. Back at the court, we find out that Elizabeth filed her marriable status as single on the marriage license, since she was still married to her original husband.

Frankie managed to find a gig but it winded up being a disaster. He’s late and could barely hold a tune and winds up falling out. He goes to the hospital, and to help pay the bill she resorts to prostitution. This fails when she books an undercover cop. Once out, she is surprised to find Frankie passed out, with a bottle of Courvoisier next to him. He tells Elizabeth that she should move back to Philadelphia as he’s going to move to LA as he states Zola got gigs lined up for him. This upsets Elizabeth as she is tired of him mentioning Zola Taylor, a back and forth ensues and Frankie grabs her prize possession, her puppy and threaten to throw it out the window. She’s begs her not to drop the dog and as he was pulling the dog back, he bites him, forcing Frankie to drop the dog, ending it’s existence. There was one instance where Elizabeth seen Frankie in 1965 in LA at Zola’s place. Frankie invited her to Zola’s place but Zola walks in and raises all hell when she shows up, or so we think. This is a perfect transition into wife #2

Wife #2 Zola Taylor (occupation, singer female lead of The Platters, wife 1965-1966): Zola Taylor takes the stand and she flashes the film back to 1962. Frankie showed up to Zola’s New York apartment and Frankie was doped up. It was revealed that Frankie stole Zola mink and gave it to Elizabeth She informs him that she moving to LA and is married. Fast forward to 1965, Zola invites Frankie to the city so he could get some gigs. She takes him to her prize possession, her LA home. Zola tells her that she had since been removed from the Platters due to health reasons but she started her own act, the Zola Taylor Revue.

This takes us to Hollywood A Go-Go and Frankie performs ABC of Love, even though he didn’t perform that song. In reality, he mimed Why Do Fools Fall in Love, he look like the drugs made him age multiple years and he was missing a tooth. It was a depressing sight to see, kids if you watching this DON’T DO DRUGS. That night, Zola and Frankie celebrate his television appearance. And they do this by going through a tunnel, witness a firework explosion and a game winning touchdown. During their intercourse, he offers to marry Zola and they travel to Tijuana for the marriage. But according to Zola, the city lost their marriage license.

Now for the pool scene, she does confirm that she saw Elizabeth Waters there but she was the on that was raising hell, not her. Zola calls the police on her, gets her wigs snatched before getting knocked into the pool. The end of their courtship happens when Zola goes on the road to Asia and puts trust in Frankie in her home. Four months later, Zola comes home and finds out she got evicted and Frankie disappeared. That now two wives and two prize possessions that he destroyed. After her testimony, Elizabeth tracks down Zola and apologizes but is given the cold shoulder.

Wife #3 Imira Eagle-Lymon (occupation school teacher, wife 1967 to 1968 his death): By this time Frankie life was falling apart, he caught a drug charge and instead of going to jail he enlists in the Army. Stationed in Augusta, GA, he walks in while she was showering. Hey, is that Rev from Remember the Titans? But Frankie apologies for walking in on her and she is blushing. Throughout this movie, Frankie has been portrayed a junkie who don’t have his stuff together, but with Imira she portrays him as the perfect gentlemen. Most it was true as Frankie, while in the Army was mostly sober. They got engaged and married pretty quickly. To celebrate their courtship they go through tunnels, fireworks happen and a game winning touchdown was scored. Of all the scenes, this was the lightest.

Music has always followed him, at a church we she a young kid singing in the choir, it takes him back as it reminds him of him. But one day, Frankie gets an unfortunate visit from the Army guys and Frankie has been AWOL for months and gets dishonorable discharged. At lunch, Zola and Elizabeth and throw shade towards Imira. Elizabeth then makes an offer to Zola that if she wins the case, she’s willing to split the royalties 50:50, and Zola accepts. Back to the story, Frankie gets a visit from a mailman and he says a totally messed up thing that no man wants to hear. That led him to get the itch again. He tells Imira that he’s traveling to New York to relaunch his music career. This would be the last time Imira would see Frankie. Elizabeth tries to approach Imira, put she tries to run for it. While having a drink, the women all realize that they all been played by Frankie. For the first time, they all bond.

Flashback to 1968, we all get to see what Frankie’s final days were like. Frankie is in New York and meets with Morris Levy. But Morris tells Frankie that he isn’t pleased on seeing him and calls him a has been who never have his stuff together, he also mention the music has moved on. After this failed reunion, Frankie attends an oldies revue with Zola Taylor and his former friend Little Richard. Zola spots him in the audience but doesn’t acknowledge him nor does Little Richard. As he leaves, he reunites with one of the drug lords who beat him up years later, they get acquainted. He offers him some vein juice. As he retreats to his grandmother’s bathroom, his life flashes in front of him. He relapses and that would be the last relapse he’ll ever have. At his funeral, 336 own Shirley Caesar sings at his funeral. After his life, it brought up another issue. Morris has been placing his name on a number of Teenager records so he could make an even bigger profit. But that’s another case for another day, for now judge got all the information she needs and is ready to make a decision

That night, Elizabeth finds out that the song WDFFIL made Levy $4 million dollars and not a dime was paid to his estate. Elizabeth then decide to extend her offer to Imira, and she accepts. Zola concedes that she’s not going to win the case since she couldn’t provide the documents proving the marriage legitimacy. Which means this case comes down to Imira and Elizabeth and Elizabeth wins the case, she pulls a Johnny Bananas and take the winnings and run. Years later, Imira filled an appeal, to which she won. But the trick the $4 million dollars that was to believe to Frankie’s estate worth was only worth $15,000, which was the original offer Morris gave her. So in the end, no one really won, except for Frankie who could finally RIP.

Final Thoughts: What a mess we have to untangle. I do want to go through the wives before I get to Frankie, might as well start with wife #1 Elizabeth, I actually told Vivica Fox in person that this was one of my favorite performances of hers. Anyway, these two weren’t made for each other Frankie had a drug problem and Elizabeth is a petty thief, that’s pretty much it. Wife #2 Zola, I done research on this and their relationship was mostly a publicity stunt. It makes me wonder if everything Zola said in the courthouse was true. Wife #3 Imira, rightfully deserved Frankie’s estate. Of all the wives, she like him the most. Also, Frankie was mostly clean throughout their relationship. Frankie himself, there are many theories on who was the real villain. Some would say Morris Levy, the CEO. Some would say Zola Taylor, but I think the biggest villain of this movie is Frankie himself. For one, the drugs turned him into a person no one recognized, it was drugs that destroyed his first marriage. He made himself so much of a liability no showing to gigs or not showing up at all, it derailed his music career. With Zola, he destroyed her LA home and left. The movie never showed this but Frankie was exposed to a lot at a young age, there was no older figure to shield him from the pressure show business. It was that lack of shielding that got him hook to heroin, which he got from a woman twice his age. Larenz Tate, he did a fine enough job as Frankie Lymon but part of me felt like he was too old for the role. One more thing that had me scratching my head, was some of the exaggerated scenes. It’s hard for me to imagine this babyface crooner, dropping a dog from multiple stories, getting doped up on drugs, among other things. But it happened. This movie is a hot mess, chaotic mess, not a bad mess, and I can call it an underrated black movie classic. One more thing, the movie left off that American Bandstand episode, where the crowd was shock, confused and let’s just say that cameraman had a mission that day. Moral of this story: if you plan on remarrying make sure your divorce is finalized or else you’ll end up with problems like this.