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Colors
Orion Pictures Corporation
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R
Starring
Sean Penn,
Robert Duvall,
Maria Conchita Alonso,
Randy Brooks,
Grand L. Bush,
Don Cheadle,
Glenn Plummer,
and
Rudy Ramos
Set in the East L.A. barrio, Colors stars Sean Penn and Robert Duvall as very different cops, both in age and temperment, hand picked for the city's anti-gang campaign. As partners, they daily drive their unmarked car through the warring Los Angeles neighborhoods. Their simple code of endurance: Keep peace in the streets at any price! [MGM]
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Michael Schiffer (also story)
Richard Di Lello (story)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Dennis Hopper
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 2, 2001
Video: June 22, 1994
Theatrical: April 15, 1988
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
120 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
90
Variety
Staff (Not Credited)
A solidly crafted depiction of some current big-city horrors and succeeds largely because of the Robert Duvall-Sean Penn teaming as frontline cops.
80
The New Republic
Stanley Kauffmann
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]
80
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
It's an exhilarating sparring match between Duvall's workmanlike fine-tuning and Penn's raw energy. [15 Apr 1988]
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Judy Stone
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]
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
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.
75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
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]
75
Chicago Tribune
Dave Kehr
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]
75
Entertainment Weekly
Ty Burr
Sean Penn and Robert Duvall basically played the Two Faces of Dennis: hyper young firebrand and cautious older lion.
70
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
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]
63
USA Today
Mike Clark
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]
60
Washington Post
Hal Hinson
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]
60
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
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.
50
Time
Richard Corliss
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]
50
TV Guide
Staff (Non Credited)
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.
30
Los Angeles Times
Sheila Benson
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]
 The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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