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Little Richard
The story of Little Richard Penniman, from his poor Southern upbringing to dealing with the trials and tribulations of being a Black singer in the 1950s, to his born-again phase and brief "retirement" from rock and roll.
Release : | 2000 |
Rating : | 6.7 |
Studio : | Davis Entertainment, Fox Television Studios, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Production Design, |
Cast : | Leon Jenifer Lewis Carl Lumbly Tamala Jones Mel Jackson |
Genre : | Drama Music TV Movie |
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Reviews
Sorry, this movie sucks
One of my all time favorites.
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Good movie but not great. I watched and felt it could have been so much better. Leon does a reasonable job but not as good as his portrayal of David Ruffin in The Temptations TV movie, in which he was perfect. In this movie he just doesn't quite make it and seems to lack the charisma that Little Richard had. This is particularly evident in the songs where he doesn't capture the madness and brilliance of Little Richard's performances. Leon is also too tall and not skinny enough to be Little Richard.That said the movie is watchable and shows the story of his rise to fame and his internal conflict between religion and Rock and Roll.
Tressa's vocal performance was Outstanding!! Tressa played the female singer role, while Richard was in the club. When she first step out on stage, and started to riff and strut her stuff, it made my soul shake. Her voice is platinum. She needs to make a CD. She has more fans then she realizes. I loved her show stopping performance in the five heart beats, which she also starred with Leon when she was younger. How can a little girl have a voice so big. She is truly amazing.Good voice Good Good Good Good voice voice voice voice excellent voice fantastic voice , back shaking , tear crying , uplifting, take you back in the days voice. Tressa if you read this commit, please take my advice and start recording a CD. If not just for the love of singing, but for your fans. I believe you can truly make it. Look at these other one hit single studio singers, lol.
Actually they could not have chosen a better diversified actor to portray Little Richard than Leon. He captures Little Richard to a most believable essence. The outfits where wonderful and any person watching this movie will definitely keep a smile on their face through the entire movie. Although the movie is a little long, it keeps your attention with the personality and outfits of Little Richard in mind. The ending should have taken a direction of moving Little Richard more into the present where you could see him as he has aged into this new millennium. He will always be the King of Rock-N-Roll as far as I am concerned regardless of what the other media says.
I've seen enough of both Little Richard in interviews and in performances and enough of poor Leon pigeonholed into these 50s/60s musical bio pics to know that Leon was not the right actor for this role. Leon was so right as David Ruffin in The Temptations, but fails utterly to capture the essence of Little Richard in this film. Actor Miguel Núñez who played Little Richard in "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" was a much more suitable choice, having pulled off the musician's powerful but effeminate persona. If the performances are unconvincing then the film will be as well. And this is what has happened here. Glossed over or missed entirely are LR's forays into homosexuality and voyeurism. What "The Temptations" did so well in capturing the rise of the group, warts and all, this film misses by a wide mark.What is going on with director Robert Townsend who started off so well with "The Hollywood Shuffle"? He's a talented, funny guy but hasn't delivered anything near that first effort.