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Colors
Colors movie poster
Directed by	Dennis Hopper
Produced by	Robert H. Solo Paul Lewis
Written by	Richard Di Lello Michael Schiffer
Starring	Sean Penn Robert Duvall Maria Conchita Alonso Grand L. Bush
Music by	Ice-T
Cinematography	Haskell Wexler
Distributed by	Orion Pictures Corporation
Release date(s)	April 15, 1988 August 4 August 17 August 26 September 9 September 29 November 24
Running time	120 min.
Country	United States
Language	English/Spanish
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Colors is a 1988 film starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall and directed by Dennis Hopper. The story takes place in South Central Los Angeles in 1987, and is about an experienced LAPD cop, Bob Hodges (Duvall) and his rookie partner, Danny McGavin (Penn) who try to keep the gang violence between the Bloods and the Crips under control.

Contents 1 Plot introduction 2 Filming Location(s) 3 Trivia 4 Alternate VHS Version 5 Cast 6 External links

Danny McGavin is a young officer who has just transferred to LAPD's C.R.A.S.H. unit from patrol. Teamed with 19-year veteran Bob Hodges, he is a hotheaded adrenaline junkie, much to Hodge's chagrin. McGavin allows no challenge to authority, however slight, to go unpunished.

The older cop is laid back on the surface, preaching "rapport" to gang members to encourage them to offer help when it is truly needed, and recognizes that every action cops take is scrutinized by the people they are trying to help. The lessons are lost on McGavin, and his actions bring him quick notoriety that rubs off on Hodges.

Amidst this, a murder of a Blood gang member leads to a series of escalations between two other street gangs, a relentless intertwining of seemingly random incidents that culminates in a gang war. Meanwhile, after attempts of reason, friendship and finally intimidation fail to bring any change in McGavin, Hodges finally gives up and requests a partner transfer. Hodges is later killed by a gunshot wound, and McGavin gets a rookie black partner some time later.

McGavin finally learns that being a hardened enforcer has repercussions in the lives of everyone he contacts, and most of all himself, and that force without diplomacy only leads to ruin.

• South Central Los Angeles
• Compton
• East Los Angeles
• San Pedro
• Watts
• Venice

• The film's release in the spring of 1988 coincided with the rash of gang violence in the south west United States that was just starting to become a national media story at the time. Some reported incidents of violence took place at theaters where Colors was playing (similar rumors were circulated about The Warriors, another street gang film), prompting big name theaters to drop the film.

• The film's theme song of the same title was performed by Ice T.

• In 1987, during the film's production, Sean Penn was arrested for punching a photographer who was taking pictures of him without permission. He served a month in jail for this assault.

• A mural of Jesus Christ on a wall in one scene can also be seen in a scene from Falling Down, a 1993 film in which Duvall appears as an experienced police officer.

• The Game diss track song 240 Bars (Spider Joke) uses two lines from the movie.
  1) is when Robert Duvall and Sean Penn see that High Topp is a blood. They say, "Look at the red, this kids a blood lemme see. *woah* *what* cancel Christmas."
  2) the second line is when Sean arrests High Topp for the first time saying,"That's what you get for messing with the police."

• Sean Penn's brother Chris Penn would later play another C.R.A.S.H. officer this time in the hit game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. His character Eddie Pulaski would be the exact opposite of his character in Colors.

• T. Rodgers, seen in the film as Dr. Feelgood, is a real-life founder of the Bloods.

• This is the first hood film to concentrate on Bloods and Crips.

The original Orion Pictures (defunct) VHS release of the film has approximately an additional 10 minutes of footage, including the following extensions of existing scenes and/or cutting room scenes:

• An extension of the scene where Ron Delany, gang counselor, is trying to talk the 21st Street gang into retiring, that includes the gang jumping out of their seats and confronting him face to face after he says to them, "I used to bang". Bird immediately asks him, "Where?". As Felipe and friend approach through a hole in destructed building, Frog calls the gang away from Delany. In modern day DVD and television versions of the film, the scene cuts just prior to the gang confronting him.

• An extension of the Oso arrest scene. After the arrest, which included a brawl between police and Oso cohort, O.S.S. Sgt Baily and Officer Hodges, peering out into the port of Los Angeles, await a police copter to give a 'suspect in custody' code, as a camera follows the helicopter and gives an entire areal view of the harbor. In most modern versions, the scene cuts just as Hodges and Baily are looking off the cliff.

• An arresting scene of Hodges and McGavin was extended, in where the Crips were drug dealing, with one of them putting "dope" in his mouth before McGavin grabs hold of him sadistically.

• A cut scene in which McGavin is confronted by White Fence gang members when looking for Louisa's house, one of the gang members being the kid whose face he spray painted earlier in the film. This scene is cut out of most modern day T.V. versions.

• A cut scene that includes a Chicano gang at Venice Beach confronting a tourist and stabbing him, which explains Hodges and McGavins' presence at the beach when they spot High Top. The stabbing scene is cut from T.V. and DVD versions.

• There is no DVD version at present day that includes extended and cut scenes. They only exist on the original VHS release.

• Robert Duvall as Officer Bob Hodges
• Sean Penn as Officer Danny McGavin (nicknamed Pac Man)
• Glenn Plummer as Clarence 'High Top' Brown
• Grand L. Bush as Larry Sylvester (nicknamed Looney Tunes)
• Don Cheadle as Rocket
• Damon Wayans as T-Bone
• Leon Robinson as Killer Bee
• Maria Conchita Alonso as Louisa Gomez (romantic interest of McGavin/Pac Man and member of 21st Street Gang)
• Trinidad Silva as Leo 'Frog' Lopez
• Gerardo Mejia as Bird
• Mario Lopez as 21st Street Gang member
• Karla Montana as Locita
• Sy Richardson as O.S.S. Sgt. Bailey
• Courtney Gains as Whitey

• Colors at the Internet Movie Database

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