Colors

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Colors

R

1988

2h 0m

Crime

Drama

Action

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

77%

Tomatometer

39 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

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

Aug 16, 2021

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

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.

Mar 26, 2009

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Geoff Andrew

Time Out

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

Jun 24, 2006

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Sean Burns

WBUR’s Arts & Culture

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

Aug 20, 2023

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Henry Sheehan

Los Angeles Reader

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.

Aug 12, 2022

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

There is no reason for Colors to last two hours, and lose itself within so many twists and turns. [Full review in Spanish]

Jun 13, 2022

Full Review

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Johannes S

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.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/09/25

Full Review

DanTheMan 2

A hard-hitting yet nuanced look at urban gang violence and big-city horrors, Colors may often suffer from leaning too heavily on your standard action and police procedural clichés, however, it paints a vivid portrait of futility regarding a broken law enforcement system which tends to warp those who desire to make a difference into callous, sometimes inhumane harbingers of violence. It's distinctive for Hopper's tight focus, honest approach and lack of sentimentality. The world depicted here is horizontal and filmed horizontally; it is ugly, unironic, and in a way egalitarian; there are no courts or lawyers and every introduction of ethics is gunned down. The film hinges largely on the performances of its leading men, an exhilarating sparring match between Duvall's workmanlike fine-tuning and Penn's raw energy, the duo more than make this film, uplifting what could have been substandard material into something greater. Backed by a decently fun soundtrack by Herbie Hancock, Colors might be way too long in the tooth and departs from the more thoughtful aspects of its plot to reveal its superb action, but it still stands tall as a reminder of the poisonous flowering of gang culture amid ghetto life, one with a fierce, rollicking sense of motion.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/30/24

Full Review

Gordijn M

This movie is a drag and for the first hour it felt like it was heading absolutely nowhere. Strange casting, weak acting and boring.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

09/05/24

Full Review

Cameron C

Good movie, felt accurate.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/15/24

Full Review

Terry S

Never been a big Hopper fan but this film is more than decent.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/09/24

Full Review

ed m

Run of the mill cop movie. Nothing original. Nothing you haven't seen before.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/28/24

Full Review

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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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