On S List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
Sparkle (1976)
Rate:
6
Viewed:
3/24
3/24:
A rags-to-riches wannabe music picture, Sparkle is flawed in many aspects.
Was it trying to emulate Lady Sings the Blues? They said the film was actually based
on The Supremes. The setting was supposed to be Harlem during the late 50's and early 60's, but I didn't see much of it while
nobody aged throughout. Oddly, the word "Sparkle" wasn't mentioned for the longest time, and when it finally was, I didn't know
it's the name of Irene Cara's character.
Thanks to Bruce Surtees, Sparkle is a good-looking picture that's not terrible by any means. The biggest trouble is the
lack of character development. There are three sisters, but none of them is fleshed out well. The third sister of the trio
who left early...who's she? The second who died young, I didn't feel anything. Lonne Elder, the screenwriter of
Sounder,
first wrote the script, but it sucked and thus had to be cleaned up. So, future director Joel Schumacher
was assigned the task, but the final result is an unfocused, paper-thin plot.
Irene Cara, who's 17 here, would hit big in Fame and then reached her peak during
Flashdance, winning an Oscar for Best Original Song, while Miami Vice made
Philip Michael Thomas famous. Yet they both disappeared for good afterwards.
All in all, Sparkle is a nice but shallow panoramic picture.