April 19: Record Store Day — Write about a movie starring a musician.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jennifer Upton is an American (non-werewolf) writer/editor in London. She currently works as a freelance ghostwriter of personal memoirs and writes for several blogs on topics as diverse as film history, punk rock, women’s issues, and international politics. For links to her work, please visit https://www.jennuptonwriter.com or send her a Tweet @Jennxldn

In late summer, 1984, Purple Rain was the number one film at the American box office. Its soundtrack was the number one album that spawned two number one hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The following year, Prince won 4 Grammys, an Oscar and two American Music Awards. 

Following the massively lucrative Purple Rain tour in 1985, Warner Brothers let Prince do whatever Prince wanted. He began construction on his Paisley Park studios and quickly began working on a script for another movie. One reflective of his love for old films and his good mood at the time. The result is a black-and-white comedy called Under the Cherry Moon. A film that harkens back the classic screwball comedies from Hollywood’s golden era like Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story. 

Early on, there was chatter that Martin Scorsese would direct the film, but Warner Bros. hired Mary Lambert. A few weeks into production, Prince fired her and took over the helm himself, retaining legendary Michael Ballhaus (Raging Bull) as cinematographer. The film was shot in color, but Prince, being the creative alien he was, insisted all release prints be struck in black-and-white. An unusual choice for 1986. 

Prince’s second feature film is about an American pianist/gigolo named Christopher Tracy (Prince) and his best friend Tricky (Jerome Benton.) They live and work in the south of France during the mysterious time in history where people dressed like it’s the 1920s but they have modern computers, boom boxes and speak 1980s modern lingo. 

After reading about her in the paper, which is in English, in France. Christopher and Tricky set their sights on heiress Mary Sharon for their next big financial scam to get a hold of some of that sweet paper that Mary will inherit on her 21st birthday from her greedy, philandering father Isaac Sharon played by Steven Berkoff and her long-suffering mother Mrs. Sharon (Alexandra Stewart).

Prince is essentially playing the Morris Day character from Purple Rain. He even stole Jerome Benton for his sidekick. And it kind of works. Sometimes. Jerome plays…well, Jerome. Again. I particularly enjoy the scene where the two friends argue over Mary. Tricky gets drunk and stomps around in a white cowboy hat, declaring to the sky, “It’s a full moon and the werewolf can KISS. MY. ASS.” 

Despite their different backgrounds and class distinctions, it isn’t long before Christopher starts wooing Mary, who eventually hooks up with him despite being in an arranged engagement to a tightass named Jonathan. She hates Jonathan and confides in her mother, who herself longs for true love, fun and freedom but is too stodgy to do anything about it. 

Mary and Christopher sneak off to have sex in a few different places including a phone booth, a racetrack, and a grotto on the coast where they argue constantly about their class difference and how uptight she is. To complicate things, Christopher is also boinking Isaac’s mistress Mrs. Wellington played by Francesa Annis from David Lynch’s Dune. This really pisses Isaac off. He decides enough is enough and sends his minions out to kill Christopher. 

Meanwhile, Mary finds out about Christopher’s original scheme with Tricky to use her for her money and breaks up with him. The chase is on. Can Christopher get to Mary in time to tell her he truly loves her before the bad guys get to him? Nope. Isaac’s minions shoot and kill Christopher, who dies in Mary’s arms over the song “Sometimes it Snows in April”, one of the few songs Prince wrote about death. 

Did I say this is supposed to be a comedy? That’s the main problem with this film. It’s uneven tone. Some things, like the cinematography, the gorgeous French Riviera locations, wardrobe and soundtrack work well while some, like the script and acting, don’t. If you watch the trailer, it’s clear that even the studio didn’t know how to market this movie. 

Ultimately, it’s all about Prince preening around in awesome outfits being goofy. At one point, he even takes a bath in front of Tricky. In this unforgettable scene, Prince’s character plays with a rubber duckie in the bath while wearing a huge, black sombrero. Before a smattering of dialogue, he growls, “fascist” as he drowns the unlucky duckie in soapy bathwater. Depending on your attachment level to Prince, this scene will either make you laugh or freak you out completely. 

Then there’s a cutsie subplot revolving around their inexplicably young, hot French landlady Katy (Emmanuelle Sallet) who hooks up with Tricky in lieu of rent and calls people “Cousin” like she’s from Uptown, Minneapolis. 

About a year or so after Christopher’s murder, Mary writes Tricky, now back in Miami, an expository letter to fill in the audience on what happened to her. She is living on her own, grieving for Christopher. She has separated from her family completely, broken her engagement to Jonathan and launched a lucrative transatlantic real estate venture with Tricky and Katy.  Mary is cautious at the prospect of finding true love again someday. Because you can’t really do any better than learning what it is to be loved by a male prostitute she knew for a week. 

There is never any mention of anyone being arrested for Christopher’s murder or any comeuppance for Isaac Sharon. The film ends with Tricky chasing Katy up a flight of stairs in their new building, demanding the rent. Then, over the credits, we see the music video of Prince and The Revolution playing the song “Mountains” amongst heavenly clouds. The best scene in the film. 

Along with this song, the film’s soundtrack, titled Parade, also featured the number one hit single “Kiss” although its music video in no way connects the film, instead showcasing Wendy Melvoin. This album was by far the most experimental released by Prince during his time with The Revolution, who by then had expanded in the number of touring musicians and became known as “The Counterrevolution.”  

I love Clare Fischer’s orchestral arrangements on the soundtrack, the best of which is “Mia Bocca”, given to Jill Jones and released separately on her self-titled solo album. Prince and Fischer collaborated by sending tapes through the mail for decades and never actually met. 

The film remains an oddity. Beloved by diehard Prince fans and abhorred by just about everybody else. A commercial and critical failure, it stands as an example of what not to do as a follow-up to a hit movie. 

The album, however, remains one of my favorites in the Prince back catalogue. While Purple Rain’s music propelled the film’s story and expressed the emotions of its character, the music and the movie for Under the Cherry Moon don’t enjoy the same cohesion. “Girls and Boys” is a real banger of a funk pop tune, but we only get to hear a snippet in the film. “Kiss” was a huge hit, but the make out scene it accompanies is downright awkward compared to the smoke and fire on display in Purple Rain’s sex scenes. 

The contributions of Wendy and Lisa on this record cannot be understated nor can the inspiration provided by Wendy’s twin sister Susannah Melvoin. 

Susannah was not only engaged to Prince at the time, but she was also meant to play Mary Sharon. The wrecka stow scene? Yeah, that really happened with Susannah. The funniest scene in the film. 

To ease her disappointment when the studio rejected her, Prince declared to her at sunrise in a hotel room in Paris, “I don’t want you to be in the movie. I want you to be my wife.” The relationship, like this film, didn’t work out quite the way anyone thought and ultimately led to the demise of the greatest band Prince ever had. 

I was lucky enough to see Prince and Revolution on the Parade tour in the summer of 1986 just a month or so before he broke them up. It was the biggest mistake he ever made. They were fantastic. No other band, no matter how great, meshed quite like this one. 

Prince died on April 21st 2016. The same day he recorded “Sometimes it Snows in April” in 1985. A few days later, a light snow fell from the sky above Paisley Park.

Note 1. In 2009, Prince watched Kristin Scott Thomas in one of her recent films. He was so taken by her beauty after more than 20 years, that he composed the song, “Better with Time” for her.