CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

dee.reid And so goes the chorus for rapper Ice-T's hit gang warfare anthem "Colors," which also happened to be the name of the 1988 gang warfare action film "Colors," which was directed by the late actor/director Dennis Hopper, who does not appear at all in the film."Colors" was one of the earliest films to deal with the bloody gang violence that by 1988 when the film was released, close to 400 gang-related murders had occurred in the greater Los Angeles area. The police were overworked and unable to effectively deal with the increasing gang violence, communities were forced to live in fear, and the L.A. streets were a virtual war zone."Colors" was also different from previous films dealing with gangs in the fact that although it was told largely from the point-of-view of the dedicated police officers out there on the streets trying to curb the rising gang violence and ease community fears, it also showed us some of the inner-workings of gangs and why some people, mostly teenagers and young adults, join them and find such a dangerous lifestyle so rewarding. For once, gang members are given a human face so that we understand why they may do what they do as gangs.The film focuses on the L.A. Police Department's anti-gang C.R.A.S.H. (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) unit. At the beginning of the film, and using a set-up familiar to the many buddy-cop action films produced during the time, veteran C.R.A.S.H. officer Bob Hodges (Robert Duvall) is partnered up with the brash, young Danny McGavin (Sean Penn). Hodges knows the streets and has an informal rapport with many of the local L.A. gangs, and many of them know him; there's a sense of mutual respect between Hodges and the gang members. Danny also knows the streets, but knows nothing of how to fight the gangs terrorizing them and he just wants to bust heads and make arrests."Colors" is almost episodic as Hodges and Danny go from one anti-gang operation to another, but a plot of sorts forms at the scene of the latest gang homicide. A young "Blood" gang member is gunned down in his backyard by a rival "Crips" crew, led by Rocket (Don Cheadle, in an early role playing a character with much restrained malevolence). Hodges and McGavin are put on the case, and as their investigation goes on, it brings them into contact with many of the other local L.A. gangs fighting for "turf" in the streets - eventually culminating in a bloody turf war with the cops and surrounding communities caught in the middle."Colors" does have its weaknesses in an occasionally spotty script and weak dialogue. But the film keeps you watching and engaged to what's going on on the screen. Fault can be found, of course, with the buddy-cop formula of pairing a veteran like Robert Duvall with an unseasoned rookie in Sean Penn. But their pairing works, as the two constantly clash with one another over their differing approaches to the job - but gradually build a grudging respect for the other man and his perspective on how to best handle their situation."Colors" was also remarkable, as I mentioned earlier, in that the gang members themselves are not nameless, faceless entities occupying your typical us-vs.-them war flick. No. Hopper actually took the opportunity to go inside the gangs so that we get to know some of them as characters. We don't condone anything they do, but we get to know them and understand why gang-banging is so appealing - family, belonging, lack of ambition and/or opportunity, power/status, the overall lifestyle, etc. It was a brave and revealing, and unflinching, insight, and a departure, since not having this could have made "Colors" seem like your run-of-the-mill late-'80s cop movie.A great action-crime film that comes highly recommended from this viewer.8/10

gavin6942 An experienced cop (Robert Duvall) and his rookie partner (Sean Penn) patrol the streets of East Los Angeles while trying to keep the gang violence under control.Looking back now (2017), this film seems so normal, something that could be included in a long list of L.A. gang movies, with the Crips and Bloods fighting it out for turf. We all know about "gangsta rap" and Compton and South Central and all of that. But then you look at the date this film was released -- 1988 -- and you see that all these things we take for granted had never been explored in any detail before. (Merriam-Webster, for example, does not even think the term "gangsta rap" was invented until 1989, even if Schoolly D and Ice-T were already around.)Although it is probably not true that "Colors" is the first film about gang violence in Los Angeles, it was probably the most influential at the time it came out. Allegedly, some reviews found it even hard to believe that gangs existed in L.A. -- that is just how novel the premise was. Director Dennis Hopper does an excellent job in laying out what these neighborhoods are like and really tackles the crack epidemic head on.The original script by Richard DiLello (best known as a Beatles historian) actually took place in Chicago (the traditional gang stronghold) and was more about drug dealing than individual gang members. Hopper ordered changes, so Michael Schiffer was hired and the setting was changed to Los Angeles with the focus of the story becoming more about the day-to-day world of gang members. This switch may be the single best decision Hopper made while developing and shooting the film.What makes the film valuable today, besides its historic aspect, is seeing just how great the casting was, too. Don Cheadle before he was widely known. Tony Todd before "Candyman". Damon Wayans before his entire family became big stars. Even a young Mario Lopez shows up. The idea of having a white kid (Courtney Gains) in a Latino gang seems strange, but as Gains himself says, that was written into the script and he just happened to be lucky enough to get the part.Thanks to Shout! Factory and their Shout Select label, we now have the full, uncut film on Blu-ray, looking great and sounding fantastic. The Herbie Hancock score is dynamite, to say the least. Special features are a little bit slim, unfortunately -- no commentary and not a single actor interview -- but we do have a look back at both the writing process and the gang situation in 1980s Los Angeles.

PimpinAinttEasy Dear Dennis Hopper, Colors was a pretty candid cops versus robbers drama. I interpreted this film as three different races facing off with each other in the concrete jungle that is LA. The black and Mexican gangs are taking each other on. The white establishment mostly plays them against each other. Some race mixing does take place but inter-racial relationships (like the one between Penn and Alonso) do not really work out in this violent scenario. The film does not delve too deep into why young black and Mexican youths turn to crime. It does not really try to take a political stance or anything. The film's message seems to be that - well, there are these criminals and they need to be eliminated in the most effective way possible. The joke about the two bulls that Duvall tells Penn and then Penn tells the rookie cop in the end seems to emphasize this message.The whole rookie cop (Sean Penn) clashing with the older mature cop (Robert Duvall) aspect of the film was a bit trite and could have been avoided. The two characters were not very well fleshed out or anything. Frankly, the lives of the gang members belonging to the Bloods and the Crips were more interesting than the interactions between Penn and Duvall. Penn and Duvall's characters were simply not interesting enough. This really affected the film a great deal. This film was nowhere as good as Easy Rider or Out of the Blue, Dennis.Best Regards, Pimpin. (6/10)

Theo Robertson COLORS is a film by Dennis Hopper . Originally scripted by Richard Di le Lello changes were demanded by the director who brought in screenwriter Michael Schiffer who changed the location and emphasised gang life in the ghetto . In many ways it's a precursor to the " anti-gangster " films of the early 1990s like BOYZ IN DA HOOD and MENACE TO SOCIETY . Unfortunatetly by trying to make a realist film this works against the movie One of the fundamental aspects of realist cinema is casting unknowns . Hopper prided himself on casting real LA gang members in walk on parts , but this is negated by having two very well known actors in the lead roles as beat cops both of whom are written as the old clichéd " hard bitten cop who knows how the streets work " and " young cop who doesn't but he still wants to make a name for himself " . Duvall does of course do the best with the material he's given but Penn is distracting . Watching the film more than 20 years after it was released might actually improve your opinion of Penn since he's a double Oscar winning actor who's considered amongst the best actors of his generation . Not so in 1988 when his only real claims to fame was that he would often assault anyone who annoyed him and was married to Madonna There is another another aspect that stops the film from being realist cinema and that is the soundtrack . Usually a realist film has no incidental score but here we get an often intrusive in your face music soundtrack . It's interesting how so many films from the 1980s give the impression that the most important aspect to a movie was the music which dates COLORS along with making it difficult to describe it as being either realist or a star vehicle commercial film