Eric's Bad Movies: Under the Cherry Moon (1. Prince's 1. 98. 4 film Purple Rain was successful with audiences and critics because they accepted it for what it was: a 1. It didn't matter that the story and acting were mediocre, because those factors are irrelevant in music videos. But then Prince pressed his luck with a follow- up film, called Under the Cherry Moon, in which he minimized the musical component and focused on plot and characters.
Under the Cherry Moon is a 1986 American musical drama film directed by and starring Prince in his directorial debut. The film also stars former The Time member Jerome Benton, Steven Berkoff, Kristin Scott Thomas (in her. Under The Cherry Moon; Under The Cherry Moon. 7/2/1986 Duration 1 h 39 min Subtitles English Audio English Supported devices Purchase rights. Two friends from Miami are in the Mediterranian are enjoying life by scamming money off of rich women. One day, they read about a young woman set to inherit $50 million from her father. At first, Tricky has Christopher Tracy.
The ultimate news source for music, celebrity, entertainment, movies, and current events on the web. It's pop culture on steroids. Overview of Under the Cherry Moon, 1986, directed by Prince, with Prince, Jerome Benton, Steven Berkoff, at Turner Classic Movies.
Prince was acting on the old showbiz principle that says, . For one thing, it's in black- and- white, which is usually a pretentious choice after 1. Prince's favorite films, which were perfume commercials. Also, Prince directed it himself, even though he did not know how to do this.
He was already on thin ice with the whole . You should be wary of a movie whose lead actor and director are a person who is actually neither of those things. We start on two good notes, however. The credits reveal that Kristin Scott Thomas is in this movie - - her first film role, as indicated by the words . Little things like that are what keep us going.
Under the Cherry Moon summary of box office results, charts and release information and related links.
Prince plays Christopher Tracy, a nightclub pianist and part- time gigolo who works the wealthy female population of the French Riviera. His partner in hustling in Tricky (Jerome Benton), a waiter at the lounge, and the two share a cheap apartment where they sit around with their shirts off and engage in unfunny faux- homoerotic banter, like when Tricky reminds Christopher of some task that needs to be done and Christopher says, . All of this makes as much sense as anything else in the movie - - whose central premise, after all, is that a scrawny, glittering midget with a John Waters mustache is a successful gigolo. Christopher and Tricky have set their sights set on Mary Sharon (the aforementioned KST), a socialite and heiress to a $5. At first, Mary seems like the type of unpretentious rich girl who might actually go for a two- bit hustler: our introduction to her comes when she appears at the party clad in a towel, flashes everyone, then sits down and plays the drums. Queen Elizabeth she ain't. But Christopher, suffering from the same inflated sense of self- regard as the non- actor who non- plays him, goes too far in his flirtations with her.
He gets kicked out of the party (which, you'll recall, he was not invited to in the first place) after he materializes in Mary's bedroom and pesters her while she's on the phone with her overseas boyfriend. Indignant at being ejected merely for party- crashing and breaking- and- entering, Christopher declares that Mary needs to .
Now that Christopher has decided Mary is a stuck- up prude, that's what she is. Well, except for the times when she suddenly cuts loose and parties with Christopher, I mean. These moments appear at random intervals and without any warning.
One minute Mary is rejecting Christopher's advances and considering him beneath contempt; the next minute - - literally, less than 6. Christopher has commandeered the microphone to sing a Prince song. Likewise, sometimes Christopher is a suave, elegant man capable of seducing society women, and other times he's a crass idiot who speaks in street slang. This inconsistency is easy to explain, though: the people who made the movie didn't care.
There is a scene where Christopher talks to Mary on the phone and persuades her to let him come over and do sex with her, but then Christopher sneaks in through the wrong window at Mary's house and almost does sex with Mary's mom instead. But we're not going to talk about this scene, because it is troubling.
Instead, we will talk about Mary's father, Isaac (Steven Berkoff). Unlike Mary, who disapproves of Christopher only 5. Isaac disapproves of him 1.
He wants his daughter to marry some fancy rich dude, not a golddigger who doesn't love her. Dads are weird like that! Lucky for Isaac, Christopher and Tricky ran afoul of some bad guys back in Miami, so all he has to do is apprise said bad guys of Christopher's current whereabouts and let them do the rest.
This is generally the case with people who go by names like . You type in the person's name and some identifying characteristics (Christopher; 5'3. But first he professes his true love for Mary, which may or may not be sincere. The important thing is that he dies. So what was the point of it all? Well, it's a classic Hollywood story: boy meets girl; boy intends to swindle girl; girl vacillates between encouraging and rejecting boy; boy almost has sex with girl's mom, for comedy; boy takes bath under best friend's supervision; girl's father orders murder of boy; girl loses boy; boy agrees never to make another film.
And we all lived happily ever after!