“Heartbeats, front and center!!” Roommates, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “The Five Heartbeats” that occurred back in March of this year, all of the original stars of the film (including “Big Red” and “Flash”) celebrated the milestone at the recent Tribeca Film Festival.
Released back on March 29, 1991, the fan-favorite musical drama “The Five Heartbeats” chronicled the rise and fall of a fictional 1960s R&B group that was modeled after groups like The Temptations and The Four Tops.
The iconic film starring, Robert Townsend, Leon, Harry J. Lennix, Michael Wright and Tico Wells still resonates with fans 30 years later—which is why social media when crazy when the cast of the film all finally reunited at the Tribeca Film Festival discussing the making of the film and its impact on Black culture.
Robert Townsend, who directed the film, previously released a documentary about the making of “The Five Heartbeats”—recalling just how difficult it was to get into theaters and all of the numerous casting changes that were made before filming started…including recasting the role of Eddie King Jr. that was initially written for Denzel Washington.
Another little known fact about the movie is that it was co-written by Keenan Ivory Wayans, who was riding high on the success of his legendary sketch comedy series “In Living Color,” that has premiered just a short time earlier.
As for the music in “The Five Heartbeats,” all of the songs that the group sang in the film were voiced by classic R&B group The Dells—although the actors who played the fictional group did such an amazing job of lip synching that many were shocked to learn they weren’t doing their own singing.
It’s definitely good to see the cast of this legendary film all back together again!
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