The Five Heartbeats (1991) on Netflix
Donald "Duck" Matthews and four friends sing as The Heartbeats and lose a Battle of the Bands to Flash and the Ebony Sparks. Jimmy Potter offers to manage them.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb7.6/105,559 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes39%
Trailer
Plot summary
The Heartbeats are an amateur vocal group formed by Donald "Duck" Matthews, his brother J.T., Eddie King, Jr., Anthony "Choirboy" Stone and Terrence "Dresser" Williams. They lose a Battle of the Bands contest to a rival act, Flash and the Ebony Sparks, but the crowd likes them and Jimmy Potter offers to manage them. When they lose the following month's contest, Jimmy pays them as promised and a club owner hires them. Rival singer Bird arranges for friends of his girlfriend to boo the group. At the next contest the Heartbeats win.
Cast
- Roy Feganas Bird
- Troy Byeras Baby Doll (as Troy Beyer)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Five Heartbeats (1991)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The original screenplay was inspired by the lives and careers of the Motown group The Temptations, and Townsend met former lead singers David Ruffin and Eddie Kendrick intending to hire them as technical advisors. Fox vetoed it, for fear that Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. might sue the studio.
- Townsend had considered Denzel Washington as Eddie King, Jr. and Whitney Houston as Baby Doll. Washington was not cast due to budget concerns, and Houston passed on the role as it was felt to be too small.
- Before this film Townsend wrote, with Keenen Ivory Wayans, produced, directed and starred in Hollywood Shuffle, a project which caused him to max out all his credit cards and spend nearly $100,000 of his own money raised through savings and various acting jobs.
- To promote the film, Townsend and the actors who played the fictional quintet, Leon Robinson, Michael Wright, Harry J. Lennix and Tico Wells, performed in a concert with the real-life soul and R&B vocal group The Dells, who sang and recorded the vocals as the actors lip synced.
