IMDb RATING
7.5/10
4.9K
YOUR RATING
The story of the rise and fall of an African American vocal group.The story of the rise and fall of an African American vocal group.The story of the rise and fall of an African American vocal group.
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe lives of several performing R&B groups and artists inspired this film: The Dells, The Temptations, Frankie Lymon and Sam Cooke according to Robert Townsend in a Mademe Noir Interview. Townsend says the crux of the story was based on the breakup of the Temptations which was an event he took personally.
- GoofsWhen Eddie is being chased from the alley he jumps out into the main road in front of a 1969 Firebird when the film is set in 1965.
Featured review
Great Music
This is such a wonderful, underrated film. Everyone I recommend it to looks at me like I'm crazy until they watch it and become total fans. One of the many delights about the Five Heartbeats is the soundtrack. The songs were written, performed and recorded with such attention to period detail they sound like they really come from the years of the movie. And most of them are great songs anyway. If they had been "real" they would be classics today. A Heart is a House for Love which was actually sung by the Dells, made it to #13 on the R&B charts. Most of the music came from Stanley Clarke, the brilliant bassist and composer. But Thom Bell, one of the originators of TSOP, contributed importantly too, including one of his old songs for the Delfonics. There are so many cool moments in this film. Michael Wright and Hawthorne James offer stand- out performances in a great cast. The Five Heartbeats is easily Robert Townsends best film.
helpful•100
- gordonurq
- Oct 9, 2006
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $9,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $8,750,400
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,630,689
- Mar 31, 1991
- Gross worldwide
- $8,750,400
- Runtime2 hours 1 minute
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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![Harry Lennix, Leon, Robert Townsend, Tico Wells, and Michael Wright in The Five Heartbeats (1991)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzRlZDY4N2QtNjZlNS00MGNmLTk5ZTktNDMyM2M5ZTM3YTJhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTMxMTY0OTQ@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)