Colors

Directed by Dennis Hopper (a noteworthy actor in his own right) and starring Robert Duvall and Sean Penn, this is a picture that seems to have a message. The problem is, after seeing it, it is hard to tell what the message is. I mean, it can't be enough (nor should it be) to state that gang warfare and murder are bad, or that today's youth would be better off hitting the books than doing drugs. Unfortunately, that's about all that seems to come across, and it is stuff we already knew. The picture is colorful, certainly, and has a gritty realism to it, counterpointed by the shabby day-glo colors that the down-and-out world in L.A. seems to consist of, and it does hold your interest. But it holds your interest mainly because you keep waiting to see what sort of mayhem the bad guys will perpetrate next; the narrative seems pre-ordained, and there's little there to keep you in suspense.

Hopper directs well--he keeps things moving along at a steady pace--and the two principals turn in solid performances. Even the usually dislikable Penn does an actor's job here, instead of simply inhabiting the role in the sullen fashion to which we have become accustomed. The beautiful Maria Conchita Alonso is--as usual--wasted in a cheap supporting role. Robert Duvall, who, like Jack Nicholson, is evolving an ever-more effortless mastery of his art, is a pleasure to watch. One scene stands out in memory: after a gang accidentally shoots up the wrong house, a devastated husband, his wife murdered, cries out in anguish, asking over and over again the one unanswerable question: Why? But when you look beneath the surface (tumultuous) the picture is a rather conventional "wise veteran cop reigns in an impetuous young rookie" story. Even the (somewhat maudlin) ending, in which a chastened Penn realizes the truth in the murdered Duvall's message and carries that message on (and passes it along to his own impetuous rookie partner), is something of a rehash. We've seen it before, notably in “To Live and Die in L.A.,” which sold the same sort of "this is the illimitable cycle of life in the cynical City of Angels" agenda put forth here (believe it or not, as you see fit). “Colors” is not an insulting film; it has good intentions behind it, but it does leave you feeling at once depressed and unsatisfied at the end, like a poor meal served in meager portions. The one thing that comes through loud and clear, the one real take-home lesson (and the thing which may ultimately be at the root of more evil than the drugs themselves) is the terrifying aimlessness of the disadvantaged youth portrayed here, a portrayal which is sadly, and without a doubt, far closer to the truth than any of us would like to believe.