''Colors'' is a 1988 American

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eit ...

action

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

starring

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

and Robert Duvall, and directed by

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in '' Giant'' (1956). In the next ten year ...

. The film takes place in the gang ridden neighborhoods of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

: late-1980s South Central Los Angeles, Echo Park, Westlake and

East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...

. The film centers on Bob Hodges (Duvall), an experienced

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-lar ...

C.R.A.S.H. officer, and his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

partner, Danny McGavin (Penn), who try to stop the gang violence between the Bloods, the Crips, and Hispanic street gangs. ''Colors'' relaunched Hopper as a director 19 years after ''

Easy Rider ''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American independent drug culture road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American So ...

'', and inspired discussion over its depiction of gang life and gang violence.

Plot

Two policemen, Bob "Uncle Bob" Hodges, a respected

LAPD The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

officer and

Vietnam veteran A Vietnam veteran is a person who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. The term has been used to describe veterans who served in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and ot ...

, and rookie officer Danny McGavin have just been teamed together in the C.R.A.S.H. unit that patrols Northwest L.A., East L.A. and South Central L.A. The older cop is appreciated on the local streets. He is diplomatic on the surface, preaching "rapport" to gang members to encourage them to offer help when it is truly needed. Hodges recognizes that every action cops take is scrutinized by the people they are trying to help. Hodges explains his view on policing to his young partner with a joke about bulls and cows. Although the pair bond quickly, life lessons are seemingly lost on the aggressive, cavalier McGavin, whose stunts soon bring him notoriety among the gang members and the people, such as attacking a graffiti artist by spraying his eyes with the paint can. McGavin wrecks their first unmarked car during a pursuit. Its replacement is vivid yellow, resulting in McGavin being nicknamed "

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

" by officers and gang members alike. McGavin has a short-lived romance with a waitress named Louisa who, like the offended Hodges, feels the weight of the Pac-Man persona. Amidst the strain of these relationships, the murder of a Bloods gang member escalates tension between two other street gangs. A series of seemingly random incidents culminates with the two partners in the middle of the Crips, Bloods and Hispanic

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish word that means " quarter" or " neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), social, a ...

war. The 21st Street Gang, led by a criminal named Frog, attempts to negotiate a peace similar to Hodges and steer clear of the melee. To protect his partner, Hodges unwittingly exposes Frog as his source on the Crips leader Rocket's scheme to kill McGavin. Each group attempts to right the wrongs against their respective crews as police strive to prevent the hit and stand their authority over the fall out. In the end, the unit moves in on the would-be last crew standing—the 21st Street Gang. While arresting Frog, Hodges is fatally wounded by a 21st Street Gang gunman, nicknamed “Bird”, trying to do the hit on McGavin. With medics en route, McGavin comforts Hodges and breaks down with regret as the elder partner falls into delirium and dies. Sometime later, a more reserved McGavin has a rookie partner, a black cop who grew up in the neighborhood where they patrol and sports an attitude like the "Pac-Man". McGavin tells him the same joke about the bulls that Hodges taught him, and the younger officer reciprocates in the same way as the young McGavin. The film ends with McGavin considering the cycle as the pair drive on and continue their patrol.

Cast

as Police Officer Danny 'Pac-Man' McGavin,

* Robert Duvall as Police Officer Bob Hodges, Los Angeles Police Department *

María Conchita Alonso María Concepción Alonso Bustillo (born June 29, 1957), better known as María Conchita Alonso, is a singer, actress and former beauty queen. She has participated in film and television productions, and was nominated for the Independent Spiri ...

as Louisa Gomez * Randy Brooks as Ron Delaney *

Don Cheadle Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including two Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also earned nom ...

as 'Rocket' *

Glenn Plummer Glenn E. Plummer (born August 18, 1961) is an American film and television actor best known as Timmy Rawlins in '' ER'' (1994-2007), and Vic Trammel in ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008-2009). Biography Plummer was born in Richmond, California. Career ...

as Clarence 'High Top' Brown * Trinidad Silva as Leo 'Frog' Lopez * Grand L. Bush as Larry 'Looney Tunes' Sylvester *

Damon Wayans Damon Kyle Wayans Sr. (; born September 4, 1960) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. Wayans performed as a comedian and actor throughout the 1980s, including a year long stint on the sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live.' ...

as 'T-Bone' *

Leon Robinson Leon Preston Robinson (born March 8, 1962), usually credited as simply Leon, is an American actor who began his professional career as a film actor in the early 1980s. Robinson is best known for his roles as David Ruffin in the TV film '' The ...

as 'Killer Bee' * Romeo De Lan as Felipe Lopez * Gerardo Mejía as 'Bird' *

Tony Todd Tony Todd (born December 4, 1954) is an American actor who made his debut as Sgt. Warren in the film ''Platoon'' (1986), and portrayed Kurn in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1990–1991) and ''Star Trek: Deep Space Ni ...

as Vietnam Vet * Charles Walker as Reed * Courtney Gains as 'Whitey' *

Mario Lopez Mario Lopez (born October 10, 1973) is an American actor and television host. He has appeared on several television series, in films, and on Broadway. He is known for his portrayal of A.C. Slater on '' Saved by the Bell'', '' Saved by the Bell ...

as a 21st Street Gang Member * Karla Montana as Locita * Brian Davis as Robert 'R.C.' Craig * Sy Richardson as O.S.S. Sergeant Bailey Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department *

Sherman Augustus Sherman Augustus (born January 10, 1959) is an American actor, martial artist and former NFL player. He is best known for his role as Nathaniel Moon in the AMC series Into the Badlands and as Lt. Colonel Sullivan in season 4 of ''Stranger Things ...

as Police Officer Porter, Los Angeles Police Department *

Rudy Ramos Rudy Ramos (born September 19, 1950) is an American actor and musician, born and raised in Lawton, Oklahoma. His acting career has covered six decades. It started with an appearance on the television show '' Ironside'' in 1969. Six months later h ...

as Lieutenant Melindez, Los Angeles Police Department * Lawrence Cook as Police Officer Young, Los Angeles Police Department * R.D. Call as Police Officer Rusty Baines, Los Angeles Police Department *

Clark Johnson Clark Johnson (born September 10, 1954), is an American-Canadian actor and director who has worked in both television and film. He is best known for his roles as David Jefferson in ''Night Heat'' (1985–1988), Clark Roberts in ''E.N.G.'' (1989� ...

as C.R.A.S.H. Police Officer Lee, Los Angeles Police Department * Jack Nance as Police Officer Samuels, Los Angeles Police Department * David Raynr as J.C.

Production

The movie was filmed entirely in Los Angeles in 1987. The original script by Richard Di Lello took place in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and was more about drug dealing than gang members.

ordered changes, so

Michael Schiffer Michael Schiffer is an American screenwriter, video game writer and film producer. Schiffer is known for such films and video games as ''Colors'', '' Lean on Me'', '' Crimson Tide'', ''The Four Feathers'', '' The Peacemaker'' and ''Call of Dut ...

was hired and the setting was changed to Los Angeles and the focus of the story became more about the world of gang members. The joke that Hodges tells McGavin regarding the two bulls was lifted from the

Pat Conroy Donald Patrick Conroy (October 26, 1945 – March 4, 2016) was an American author who wrote several acclaimed novels and memoirs; his books '' The Water is Wide'', '' The Lords of Discipline'', ''The Prince of Tides'' and ''The Great Santini'' w ...

novel '' The Great Santini'' (which was made into a movie that also starred Duvall) and explains how the character Lt. Col. "Bull" Meechum got his nickname. Real gang members were hired as "on-location security" as well as actors/extras by producer Robert H. Solo. Two of them were shot during filming. On April 2, 1987,

was arrested for punching an extra on the set of this film who was taking photos of him without permission. Penn was sentenced to 33 days in jail for this assault.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack containing mainly hip hop music was released on April 15, 1988, by Warner Bros. Records. It peaked at 31 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and was certified gold on July 12, 1988. The theme song, "Colors", was written and performed by American rapper Ice-T, and issued as the title track for the soundtrack to the film.

Reception

The movie received both praise and criticism. The film has a 74% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

based on 39 reviews, with the consensus; "''Colors'' takes a hard-hitting yet nuanced look at urban gang violence, further elevated by strong performances from a pair of well-matched leads."

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' stated that it "has a superb eye for the poisonous flowering of gang culture amid ghetto life, and an ear to match; along with brilliant cinematography by Haskell Wexler, it's also got a fierce, rollicking sense of motion."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

hailed it as "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." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

s critics, Desson Howe and Hal Hinson were split, with Howe stating that Hopper "covers the mayhem with unadorned, documentary immediacy that transcends otherwise formulaic cop-fare" and Hinson stating that it "must be the least incendiary film about gang life ever made." One of the more negative reviews of the film appeared on the BBC's

Ceefax Ceefax (, punning on "seeing facts") was the world's first teletext information service and a forerunner to the current BBC Red Button service. Ceefax was started by the BBC in 1974 and ended, after 38 years of broadcasting, at 23:32:19 BST ...

service, on which critic Louise Hart remarked: "The main weakness of the film is that it concentrates far less on the street gangs than on the growing relationship between the two cops."

Box office

The movie earned over $46 million in its domestic release.

Legacy

The film has been credited with inspiring gang violence in the country of

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wa ...

, with many members of the Crips and Bloods deported to the country from the United States in the 1990s bringing the film - and their own gang affiliations - with them to the country.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

References

External links

* * * {{Dennis Hopper 1988 films 1988 action thriller films 1980s buddy films 1988 crime drama films 1980s gang films 1988 independent films American action thriller films American buddy drama films American buddy cop films American crime drama films American gang films American independent films Bloods Crips Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department Films about racism Films directed by Dennis Hopper Films scored by Herbie Hancock Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Hood films American neo-noir films Orion Pictures films American police detective films 1980s Spanish-language films Sureños African-American action films Hispanic and Latino American action films Hispanic and Latino American crime films 1980s buddy cop films 1988 drama films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films