10/24/06 Colors

Colors (1988), directed by Dennis Hopper

watched solo; DVD rental (Netflix) @ home

Considering the only other film I've seen directed by famed rebel actor/director Dennis Hopper was the psychedelic manifesto against "The Man" and conformity and the system and "squares"..."Easy Rider"...this might be almost the antithesis of subject matter. Then again, maybe not...considering the settings were similar in that they were a few against the rest of the world. In "Easy Rider" you had a few hippies riding on the open road, sharing their sex, drugs & rock 'n' roll...with the conservative straight-laced townsfolk who didn't take kindly to strangers and would rather call them "queers" and beat the crap out of them. Now, in "Colors" you see the ghettos and barrios of East L.A. with their violence, drugs & guns running rampant through the eyes of two supposed straight-laced cops that want nothing more than to clean up the bad element with force. As this film digs deeper into the psyche of the men in uniform who must not only put their lives on the line in this kind of daily environment, we get to see a relationsghip (albeit a strained one) between two very different officers that must "protect & serve." War between rival gangs the Crips & Bloods is ever escalating, but the one war that gets the most heat in the film is the war between the street thugs and the cops themselves (basically thugs in uniforms). Brilliant performances by both Robert Duvall and Sean Penn as the street-smart veteran and fiery rookie cops respectively. Their tumultuous relationship as partners hits every level of contempt, loyalty, anger, and mutual admiration for very different procedural police ways. With a gangster-rap soundtrack, the presence of real-life gang members, and the rebellious nature of Hopper's filmmaking all come together for a gritty portrayal of the L.A. streets and survival. It seems quite tame by today's graphic filmmaking standards, but it was definitely a pioneer for other successful "urban dramas" that were to be helmed by directors that came from those tough environments, like John Singleton's "Boyz N The Hood," the Hughes Bros.' "Menace II Society," and even Antoine Fuqua's "Training Day." Hard to believe that Hopper was that pioneer though.

4 out of 5 stars