Rating: R
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 08/28/1998(USA)
Release Date: 01/19/1999
SubTitles: English/French
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 116 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Profanity, Substance Abuse (Alcohol, Drugs), Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
Gregory Nava directed this biographical drama on the brief but intense life of singer
Frankie Lymon who stayed with the popular
Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers group only for a year. Lymon was 13 years old when the group erupted from radios and jukeboxes with their 1956 hit,
Why Do Fools Fall in Love? and appeared in the movie
Rock, Rock, Rock (1956). After
Mr. Rock and Roll (1957), Lymon turned solo, but then it all fell to pieces. Lymon's career was over by the time he was 18, and he died of a heroin overdose eight years later. Jumping from the '50s to the '80s, this film traces the rise and fall of Lymon (
Larenz Tate) in a series of flashbacks as courtroom claims on Lymon's royalties are outlined by three women:
Zola Taylor (
Halle Berry) of the
Platters R&B group; Elizabeth Waters (
Vivica A. Fox), who turned prostitute to cover costs of Lymon's recovery from addiction; and schoolteacher Emira Eagle (
Lela Rochon).
Little Richard also makes a courtroom appearance, while
Miguel A. Nunez Jr. portrays
Little Richard in scenes set in the '50s. Shown at the 1998
Urbanworld Film Festival (NY).
~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
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