Purple Rain is a 1984 movie directed by Albert Magnoli and written by him and William Blinn. The movie stars Prince and is very clearly developed around him and his particular talents.
The movie opens with "Let's Get Crazy" and Prince's music is almost constantly playing, the movie is closely linked to the album of the same name and includes the chart-topping single "When Doves Cry". Much of the movie's cineatography, by Donald Thorin, is much closer to that of 1980s music videos than conventional film.
Prince plays "The Kid", an aspiring Minneapolis musician with a difficult home life. He runs into singer Apollonia Kotero and they become involved in a untidy relationship. The plot centres around Prince trying not to repeat the pattern of his abusive father (Clarence Williams III) and keep his group, The Revolution, and girlfriend together. His main antagonist is fellow musician Morris Day and his group The Time. But the plot is only a very light covering for Prince songs. Oddly, excluding Prince, almost every actor in the movie uses their actual name for their character.
The movie idea was apparently developed by Prince during his 'Triple Threat' tour. Initially with a rather darker and more coherent script Prince was intending to play opposite girlfriend Vanity, until they fell out. Her role was offered to Jennifer Beales before going to Apollonia. Apollonia's outstanding bosom is the best thing about this film.
The movie was nominated for and won an Academy Award for Original Music Score.
