The Five Heartbeats

There's an entire era of black cinema that is both mostly unwatched and unexplored and has completely disappeared from the cinematic landscape after the late 90s. What happened? Bring back small to mid budget black films please.

Rembrandt Q Pumpernickel

Robert Townsend is one of my heroes.  And this film is one of the many reason he is one of the greatest.  This movie is so damn good, the whole cast killed it, and the music is pretty great too.  This movie should be in my top 4.  Might make that change.

ScottMescudi84

"Let's do shy brother." Five Heartbeats is one of the movies that can always refuel my energy tank when in need. I loved all the songs, and enjoy singing along even though I'm not that good at it. This music-drama is so under the radar and overlooked. I highly recommend…

Troy Wayne

charming movie with the same story beats as any other music biopic except its a fake band so they can add in a scene where the manager gets run over by a garbage truck

Pag Erity

At last! A predecessor and companion piece to the also spectacular 'That Thing You Do!'. Both films center on the rise and fall of a fictional band, but 'The Five Heartbeats' isn't content to simply end on a stream of text. These characters grow over the course of thirty…

Tanner

Townsend and Keenen’s script hits the familiar beats of the rise and fall movie but it’s so much more because of how nuanced it is. It’s angry and funny; jaded and hopeful; an ode to Black music. A lot of Black All stars, too and Leon might outshine them all. Crazy after…

alphonse0

Ruth E. Carter was cookin’ here.

Robert Daniels

I want a supergroup sequel in which The Five Heartbeats, The Dreams and The Wonders go on a reunion tour with surviving members.

arLopez

I really wanted to like this movie. I was a big fan of Hollywood Shuffle back in the day, and was hoping this would further solidify my love for Townsend as a writer/director. Unfortunately, I think he may have been overly ambitious with this particular film, and as a…

Neal Miller