The movie is great with a great cast as well as the acting. The movie is loosely based on male music groups The Dells and The Temptations. I cried when The Five Heartbeats' manager was killed and Big Red was too slick and acting as though he had nothing to do with the murder. In the end of the movie The Five Heartbeats reunited over two decades later at a family reunion and it made me smile! I also cried when the group was stopped by the police in the South, all because they were Black! REST IN POWER to the following actors and actresses: Ms. Diahann Carroll (nee Carol Diann Johnson) (July 17, 1935-October 4, 2019); Mr. Harold Lloyd Nicholas (March 27, 1921-July 3, 2000); Mr. Chuck Patterson (February 11, 1945-December 23, 2013); Mr. John Witherspoon (ne John Weatherspoon) (January 27, 1942-October 29, 2019); Mr. Fred Asparagus (ne Fred Reveles) (June 10, 1947-June 30, 1998); Mr. George M. Duke (January 12, 1946-August 5, 2013); Mr. Johnny Carter (ne John E. Carter) (June 2, 1934-August 21, 2009); The Dells: 'You all may be gone but you will never, ever be, forgotten.'

You couldn't give anything less and wanted to give more than five (5) stars to this film if you grew up knowing that Motown and R&B was such a part of your history. Everyone loves this iconic classic because it depicted an era, a time where life was hard but through music more palpable. The writer, director Robert Townsend transported you seamlessly to a place and time where we all wanted to go back to as years progressed and with every showing, every viewing, the love of our music, culture and way of coping with life's injustices this film calmed our heavy hearts to the beat of Eddie Caine and the Five Heartbeats.

This is a classic that I can watch repeatedly. It never gets old. This is a story based on several R&B groups over time. Comedy, drama, suspense, music ... something from everyone.

What can I say. Tells the absolute truth about the music business, but the truth is sooo ugly. I would've preferred quite a few more uplifting scenes of all the fun gigs the had, too. It's not like performers have to drag their butts to the same boring day jobs their whole life, they travel the world, get their butts kissed, and make (sometimes) great money. Real life sucks too, y'all. Could've mixed in a bit more fun.

First of all, five is not enough. I have always loved this movie. The way it provokes all of of my emotions is so amazing. I first saw this movie when I was fifteen and now I watch it with my 19 year old daughter who loves it just as much. Love love love this movie.

Just got the movie n it was all going great until it got to my favorite part when he came to them trying to get them to let him back into the group... Singing. Nights like this I wish rain drops would fall... It started to skip n mess up. I can't believe it mess up on that part then seemed like after that it just took a bug chunk of the movie out pausing n skipping. I'm so disappointed. I really want a better copy that works all the way through..

Why? Because if you're here, you probably already saw the movie and are just curious about this release version. So I'll tell you about it.

First, the good:

- Comes with the official movie soundtrack. I mean the FULL soundtrack, it's a separate disc.

- Video transfer is done a lot better than the original DVD release.

- Case is designed a lot more appealing than the standard black and blue.

- Audio is better encoded and easier to hear at lower volumes.

- Lots of extras, including some fluff, but hey.

- Better aspect ratio, as the picture fills widescreen displays more evenly without stretching.

Now, the bad:

- The soundtrack...it's so irritating to listen to, because they managed to do the true movie version of "Nothing But Love" and some other songs, fresh from the movie, but yet "Nights Like This" is that After 7 version. I don't mind the After 7 version, it's not bad, but I wanted to hear the movie version. This is especially troublesome when they even managed to do that Byrd song fresh from the movie.

- Some of the footage that never made it in the movie SHOULD have. Like the scene where Duck is explaining that all of the members can sing all different levels. It would explain a later scene when Choirboy offers to sing in Eddie's place - when I watched the first version I was confused. A soprano singing a baritone's parts? Also, there were some slight comedy pieces in there that should have been included.

- Some of the extras are just flat out pointless - or if they wanted to include them at least include the characters people cared about. There's one extra where the actors in kayfabe are giving their thoughts before accepting 'awards'. Totally corny, but it might have been entertaining if Eddie Kang Jr. and JT were there. There's only 3 of the five present.

- General movie negative...they never did explain what happened to Bobby, from the beginning of the movie. I was hoping for a deleted scene that would explain this, but alas...

So, would I recommend getting this? Absolutely, because I can almost guarantee it won't be released on HD-DVD or Bluray.

I have been waiting for this to be available in digital format for PURCHASE! Once I saw that it was I snagged it right away! This is by far the BEST movie one could ever see. I have watched it so much throughout the years that I could give you a script if you need it. Robert Townsend did an awesome job with this movie!