Colors

Name: Colors
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: April 15, 1988
Duration: 120 min
Rating: 66
Cast: Robert Duvall, Sean Penn

1988

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Ratings

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7.8

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7.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Ratings

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Colors

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Movie Details & Credits

Image Entertainment | Release Date: April 15, 1988 | R

Starring: Robert Duvall, Sean Penn

Summary: Set in the East L.A. barrio, Colors stars Sean Penn and Robert Duvall as very different cops, both in age and temperment, hand picked for the city's anti-gang campaign. As partners, they daily drive their unmarked car through the warring Los Angeles neighborhoods. Their simple code of endurance: Keep peace in the streets at any price! [MGM]

Director: Dennis Hopper

Genre(s): Drama, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 120 min

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Critic Reviews

Staff (Not Credited)

A solidly crafted depiction of some current big-city horrors and succeeds largely because of the Robert Duvall-Sean Penn teaming as frontline cops. Read full review

Desson Thomson

It's an exhilarating sparring match between Duvall's workmanlike fine-tuning and Penn's raw energy. [15 Apr 1988] Read full review

Stanley Kauffmann

But conventional though the patterns are, the dialogue, in black and Latino lingo, is topically hot and is heated further by contemporary street naturalism, which in fact is less "natural" than consciously theatrical; so the familiarity of the story is disguised by the crackle of the production. [16 May 1988]

Ty Burr

Sean Penn and Robert Duvall basically played the Two Faces of Dennis: hyper young firebrand and cautious older lion.

Janet Maslin

Though it all comes together, most tragically, at the conclusion, Colors is less notable for its plot than for its chilling urgency and its sense of pure style. Read full review

Mike Clark

At 120 minutes, Colors is one of the longest cop dramas in movie history, and all the clichés are packed into the second hour. It fades in the stretch - and so may too many moviegoers. [15 Apr 1988]

Sheila Benson

Without complexity to its characters, with little balance and without a hint of the personal, family or community issues involved, Colors becomes a movie that never has to ask "Why?"--a vivid, noisy shell of a film filled with eager young actors rattling along on the surface of a lethally important subject. [15 Apr 1988]

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User Reviews

The3AcademySins

Aug 27, 2018

Colors is a very dated film that hasn't aged well at all. There are some good performances by Sean Penn and Robert Duvall but the script is very melodramatic, and really boils down the gang conflicts without looking at any of the deeper meanings behind the rise of gangs and what has toColors is a very dated film that hasn't aged well at all. There are some good performances by Sean Penn and Robert Duvall but the script is very melodramatic, and really boils down the gang conflicts without looking at any of the deeper meanings behind the rise of gangs and what has to happen in a neighborhood for kids to join a gang. It's really just an average movie when you boil it down.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Compi24

Mar 31, 2019

The Dennis Hopper directorial effort "Colors" takes us into the textured landscape that is 1980's Los Angeles, namely through the lens of a pair of police officers, played by Robert Duvall and Sean Penn. While both actors do a fair job playing off one another onscreen (I mean, there's threeThe Dennis Hopper directorial effort "Colors" takes us into the textured landscape that is 1980's Los Angeles, namely through the lens of a pair of police officers, played by Robert Duvall and Sean Penn. While both actors do a fair job playing off one another onscreen (I mean, there's three Oscars between the two of them. What'd I expect?), it all feels a bit too muted for me to care. This, I assume, comes more from the writing than the performances at hand, as the overly subtle character work is not the only problem I had with this narrative. There's a great amount of effort placed into showcasing the horror that gang violence can cause, but very little nuance lent towards delving into why these things come about in the first place. The "gangbanger" characters, as characterized in the film, are simply absolute. They kind of just exist. Yes, some of them exhibit remorse and even a bit of personality now and then, but beyond that I feel this movie has more to say about the police force than anything involving why gangs do what they do/how they come about. And even with the police there's not that much for the movie to say. The narrative between the Duvall and Penn characters is so predictable and cliche-ridden that you end up losing interest somewhere around halfway through things. "Colors" may have been indelible and interesting for its time, but I'm not sure it's much else than that.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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