Truly Dreadful Film

People are voting emotionally.

Brilliant and touching

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Typical premise that success isn't everything and in fact lead to disillusionment and heartbreak.5 African-American guys rise to the top only to be victims of racism, and their own weaknesses: drugs, women and success.We see a murdering promoter who eventually takes out their manager in the most violent of ways, a typical mob-like hit.Diane Carroll, as the widow of the victim, has her moments, especially at the funeral scene with a huge slap she puts on the face of the killer, the latter having showed up with his floral arrangement.We see greed when a lead singer leaves the group to go out on his own and another, shook up by the alleged affair his brother is having with his fiancé, also leaves. Both quit while accepting awards for the group.The ending shows that redemption is possible as the boys come together to belt out their standard hits.

The Music, The Story, and the Acting were all equally compelling... This is entertainment at its best! One of the reasons I believe this is a favorite movie of lots of black folks is simply the diversity of the characters. Rarely had we seen an ensemble cast of wonderful, talented, yet flawed black characters that were all people we could look up to for one thing or another. Not to mention the story is one we are all familiar with, as many of the most iconic music groups suffer from these same issues yet none had been brought to the big screen prior to this film.The music being authentic plays the biggest part in the film being a classic. To this day when the songs from this film play they suck you right back in to the mood of the time.

Only someone foolish or not of the African-American persuasion would say that black artists did not experience racism in the 60's, when black artist still experience racism today. And, the attempt to masquerade white artists while using black voices is not so outlandish. The recording industry, the music industry, and the marketing industry are three completely different animals. Music, recording, and marketing can be combined to create a synergy that is altogether real or on the other hand you have Milli-Vanilli. If it was done in the 90's I am quite sure it was practiced in earlier years. Everyone that is in business is in business to make money and while there is making music and recording music, it all boils down to money. Marketing - optimizing profits by directing sales toward the market that has the potential to generate the highest earnings. The ideal of a sell out was popularized with the advent of the Hip-hop culture, before that time it was about money and money only, not being accepted into a culture that lauded "KEEPING IT REAL".

On almost all the comments everyone assumes this film is based on The Temptations. Which is a fair assumption given The Temps' lead singer David Ruffin had a serious drug problem,as did the 'Hearts in this film.This film is actually based on a group named The Dells. The Dells started recording in 1953 (as The El-Rays, and changed to the Dells in '55). They have atleast 3to4 dozen R&B hits in every decade from the 1950s to the 90s. Everything in the Film except for the lead singer being a drug addict is based on their experiences. As with most Hollywood films somethings were embelished for Dramatic effect. The Dells also sang just about every song the soundtrack. The theme song "A Heart Is A House For Love" was a #13 R&B in 1991. Happy to say the Dells are still performing and recording together after 51 years, with no personell changes since 1957. The Dells served as Technical advisors on the film, and at the end of the credits they show a picture of them and the Film is dedicated to them.