Sparkle - Der Weg zum Star

I was 5 years old when I saw this musical movie while on vacation with my family in St. Thomas in 1977 and immediately fell in love with it. 27 years later, it is still an original inspiration for achieveing my goals that I have set to accomplish since that time!

This tragic story of a hard-core "behind the scenes" of the entertainment industry during the late 50's, "Sparkle" successfully portrays the struggle of three young sisters looking for their place in the sun. This story could simply become the biographical story of many young aspiring artists about what could materialize when things seem to happen too fast and role models are not available to lend a helping hand.

The phenomenal music written and composed by Aretha Franklin and Curtis Mayfield, the soundtrack carries the plot with every song. From being subjected to situations that almost leave no choice for strong long-term decision-making, to making the ultimate sacrifice in order to get ahead, all three young girls, Sparkle, Sister, and Delores, represent the different routes that one could take when you set out to achieve your ideal opportunity as your contribution to society.

This movie could have possibly spawned the ideas of creating "Dreamgirls" on Broadway, and Mariah Carey's "Glitter," 25 years later. As an original audience member of both productions, I have seen a lot of similarities in both stories to "Sparkle," as well as in "Saturday Night Fever," "Fame," "Flashdance," and the off-Broadway smash hit "Mama, I Want To Sing."

Black sibling soul group in 1950's New York hits it big, but big sister Lonette McKee begins to spiral downward with booze and drugs, putting the group's reputation on the line. Well-made, but awfully thin little drama with a fine Curtis Mayfield musical score but not enough drama to involve a wide audience. Certainly begins well but quickly loses steam. McKee is the acting stand-out here, but her character's descent into the blues comes awfully fast. Result is a picture that plays its best cards too soon, leaving a lot of dead space in the second-half. Some enjoyable moments, evocative cinematography and art direction, but a lot of show-biz clichés. ** from ****

With the success of "Dreamgirls" on Broadway and film, and several other films with similar story lines, one wonders if there will ever be an actual bio-film of the real Supremes? To the embittered review by "Husky Miller"(his handle kind of tells you something of his personality), "Sparkle" is not supposed to be some sort of definitive drama. It is entertainment. Unfortunately, until Berry Gordy/Motown Film Productions began making movies like the multi-nominated "Lady Sings the Blues", Hollywood was very conservative in green lighting films targeted first to the black community. The early 70s saw a mishmash of so-called "black exploitation" movies. Hollywood understood there's an audience of moviegoers that were underserved. But just like "slum lord housing", the movies being made were low budget trash that had extremely limited endurance. Just like Mr. Gordy upgraded the image of black artists and entertainment with global appealing stars like The Supremes (hence Diana Ross), The Temptations. The Jackson 5, Motown films symbolized works with crossover appeal. "Lady Sings the Blues", "Mahogany", "The Wiz", "Bingo Long and the Travelling Allstars" endures nearly a half century later and are still seen on cable. It's no coincidence that Motown gave the world, a Mount Rushmore-like of artists from the aforementioned The Supremes, The Temptations, The Jackson 5, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson for instance. So "Sparkle" is by no means some great work of art, but, it is a labor of love that inspired an update in 2012 by the late, great Whitney Houston, En Vogue even turned one of the songs "Something He Can Feel" into a hit again in the 90s. So Mr. Miller, lighten up and try and find the innocence and joy in an entertaining film.

An excellent movie. Superb acting by Mary Alice, Phillip M. Thomas, and a young Irene Cara. Tony King was very realistic in his role of Satin. This movie was one of the last predominately "all black" movies of the 70's and unlike the "blaxploitation" movies of that era, this movie actually had a plot, and was very well done. The movie soundtrack, sung by Aretha Franklin, was popular on the R&B charts at the time.

In 1950s Harlem, Effie is raising three teenage daughters and working as a maid on Long Island, for people she calls by the name of a Nabisco product I won't use. Sparkle likes Stix, who sings with an all-male R & B group and wants to work in the recording industry. Sparkle and her sisters want to sing too, and eventually they join the group, which is called The Hearts. The emcee who first introduces them (some of you may know him as Fred Sanford's friend Bubba) messes that up.

Stix feels an all-girl group would work better. Sister and the Sisters turns out to be a big hit with local audiences. They have potential to hit the big time. But this means dealing with some unsavory characters. Levi is nice but he works for the charming but cruel Satin, who hits his jealous girlfriend in his first scene.

Whether the girl group will succeed depends a lot on how they adapt to the temptations provided by the show business world. Sister is the prettiest and apparently the oldest, and the lead singer. So then why is the movie called "Sparkle"? You'll find out.

This wasn't a feel-good movie by any means, though parts of it were nice. But most of the leading performers did a good job with their roles, even if more time was devoted to music than advancing the plot. And the musical performances were superior and explored a variety of styles from Doo-Wop to Motown to restaurant jazz and down-and-dirty jazz. We even had two scenes in church, one with upbeat old-time black gospel, and one with slow, passionate funeral music.

What makes the movie worthwhile is that it shows making it in show business can be next to impossible, with many obstacles requiring determination to overcome, along with the ability to resist what can end it all.