Originally Posted by
StuBass1
Hmmm... These debates, discussions, and disagreements, particularly as relates to some of these [[claimed semi-biographical) films ALWAYS begin to pop up. Dreamgirls???... Was it a film about The Supremes???...That's STILL debated by many and has never really been settled. The Temptations film which was based on Otis writing a book after all the other members had passed away leaving Otis as the only person who could tell that story in an "undisputed" way???...Was it an accurate depiction of the what actually occurred? I have personally spoken to folks quite close to the events in the film who say it was just a propaganda piece by Otis trying to make him look good and responsible for most, if not all of the groups success... others who believe it was just Otis trying to tell the groups story as he recalls it while trying to make a few bucks off the story for himself at the same time [[I did enjoy the film, perhaps because I saw firsthand many of the incidents and had the opportunity to speak to group members, particularly one member who was a friend of mine going back to my youth) and who is to say how much was actually reality and how much was editorial license which occurs frequently in the film making process. Now all of a sudden this bruhaha pertaining to the Five Heartbeats film and what artists or groups may have been the inspiration. First of all...I though it was a pretty decent well produced...not a "great film" which may explain why it wasn't such a hit at the box office... Although I'm not as familiar with the entire history of the legendary Dells as I am with many of the Motown artists and groups [[being a Detroit guy), and The Impressions were always my favorite Chicago group...but Marvin Junior was certainly an iconic R&B lead singer...one of the best. As for Townsend...I always did admire his determination in creating and building his career...from his initial efforts to produce his first successful endeavor...Hollywood Shuffle, which not being able to secure funding to make the film...reportedly put most of the production costs on his American Express card, which takes HUGE cajones and the acceptance of great risk. I never knew that about his relationship with David Ruffin and the dinner at Arethas house which he mentions in this interview, yet always assumed that the template for his Five Heartbeats film was more a compilation of the entire R&B group scene of the 50's and 60's, with a heavy emphasis on The Dells, and if it in fact did take him 10 years to produce the film as he claims...then hanging for a few weeks with The Dells would become perhaps a very significant part of the film, but not the entire story. To me...the lead singer in the film did in fact more closely resembled David Ruffin than Marvin Junior both stylistically and vocal range... So I understand how these controversy's arise, as they always seem to … As for the intergroup dynamics depicted in this film...having been the music director and bandleader for at least one such typical R&B/Soul group in the 60's, I can tell you for sure that these types of situations, arguments, disagreements, changes in personnel as guys quit for a variety of reasons and other come aboard and even fights were pretty commonplace and typical when you get five guys plus management together all with different ideas, real life situations, and up to and even what songs and in what order that nights performance would include. Coincidentally, just this past week I was reminded and had this discussion with a friend and former group mate about such an incident and dust-up I was personally involved with relating to what the song order of our show would be LOL...In the final analysis...it's the filmmaker who told the story that he/she wanted to tell, and whatever influenced their creative endeavor remains largely under the purview of their artistic license...except in cases where money is involved by way of plagiarism or other financial agreements, both of which are legal, not creative issues... Just my thoughts on this...
Bookmarks