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
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