Colors

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Colors

R

1988

2h 0m

Crime

Drama

Action

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

75%

Tomatometer

40 Reviews

71%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

In this gritty police drama from director Dennis Hopper, street-wise cop Bob Hodges (Robert Duvall) and hotheaded rookie Danny McGavin (Sean Penn) grapple with their new partnership on the gang-ridden streets of Los Angeles. Although Danny finally lets Hodges show him the ropes, his adrenaline-fed brutality earns him a reputation with the very gangs they want to help. With a gang war ready to explode, Danny confronts his own racism even as he falls in love with Louisa (Maria Conchita Alonso).

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Critics Consensus

Colors takes a hard-hitting yet nuanced look at urban gang violence, further elevated by strong performances from a pair of well-matched leads.

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Joe Pollack

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

08/16/2021

I expected more from Hopper as a director, at least something different from the tried-and-true formula pictures.

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Variety Staff

Variety

03/26/2009

Colors is a solidly crafted depiction of some current big-city horrors and succeeds largely because of the Robert Duvall-Sean Penn teaming as frontline cops. They're terrific together as members of the gang crime division of the LAPD.

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Geoff Andrew

Time Out

06/24/2006

Never as eccentric as The Last Movie or Out of the Blue, Colors nevertheless makes most other cop movies look formulary by comparison.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Nov 2

2/4

Penn and Duvall are two of our greatest actors, but here they’re posturing rather than performing, aware that they’re in an Important Film.

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Sean Burns

WBUR’s Arts & Culture

08/20/2023

It’s easy to forget what an electrifying actor Penn used to be, especially opposite a revered mentor like Duvall.

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Henry Sheehan

Los Angeles Reader

08/12/2022

Making gang membership a function of psychology and depicting the local communities as helpless and malformed makes it easy for the filmmakers to avoid admitting... the larger and more relevant issues of politics, economics, and social structure.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 2d

Success in 01 hour, 59 minutes and 39 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ages 17 and older!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Tyler P.

@TylerPhoenixMD 4d

Super hard hitting cop action drama. It showed both sides of the fence on what was happening at the time.

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Frans B

Sep 20

Dennis Hopper did good with this one. Brilliant movie, raw, brutal, unforgiving, harsh and feels very real. Sean Penn and Robert Duvall match their characters perfectly, both very convincing. Whole cast truly impressive in character. Very well written. Great cinematography also creates the perfect ambiance for this story. Very memorable

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Patrick C

Aug 23

A competent piece of work but let down by some rather ham-fisted performances. Never been a big fan of Sean Penn, I was rather hoping the gangs would join forces to stop him messing with his bloody hair.

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Jon B

Jul 24

Good movie about the differences in how people police in a difficult area. The approaches of the senior officer who has seen it all and the new guy who wants to just steamroll everyone. Its eye opening to the problems officers face and the hopelessness of the people that they police.

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Johannes S

Jul 9

Displays the topics of gang violence and hopeless futures for kids in ghettos decently. Yet, it feels way older than 1988, as the cuts and camera positions are really clunky at times.

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Dennis Hopper

Director

Sean Penn

Officer Danny McGavin

Robert Duvall

Officer Bob Hodges

Maria Conchita Alonso

Louisa Gomez

Randy Brooks

Ron Delaney

Grand Bush

Larry Sylvester

Colors: Official Clip - Nothing But a Gangster

1:41

Colors: Official Clip - One-Eight-Seven

2:12

Colors: Official Clip - Hodges' Alley

2:13

Colors: Official Clip - Five Names

1:25

Colors: Official Clip - T-Bone Represents

1:20

Colors: Official Clip - Gangster Dance Party

1:43

Colors: Official Clip - T-Bone's Rabbit

1:03

Colors: Official Clip - The One About the Two Bulls

2:12

Colors: Official Clip - Chasing High Top

3:28

Colors: Official Clip - Drive-By

1:45

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Synopsis

In this gritty police drama from director Dennis Hopper, street-wise cop Bob Hodges (Robert Duvall) and hotheaded rookie Danny McGavin (Sean Penn) grapple with their new partnership on the gang-ridden streets of Los Angeles. Although Danny finally lets Hodges show him the ropes, his adrenaline-fed brutality earns him a reputation with the very gangs they want to help. With a gang war ready to explode, Danny confronts his own racism even as he falls in love with Louisa (Maria Conchita Alonso).

Director: Dennis Hopper
Producer: Robert H. Solo
Screenwriter: Michael Schiffer
Production Co: Orion Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama, Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $46.1M
Runtime: 2h 0m
Sound Mix: Surround

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