Colors

"70,000 gang members. One million guns. Two cops."

1988 2h 0m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

🍅

76%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.7

IMDB

★6.5TMDB · 569🍅76%Rotten Tomatoes●66Metacritic★6.7IMDB · 32,572

ActionCrimeDramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of Los Angeles, where the gang culture is enforced by the colors the members wear.

“70,000 gang members. One million guns. Two cops.”

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Cast

Sean Penn
Danny McGavin
Robert Duvall
Bob Hodges
María Conchita Alonso
Louisa Gomez
Randy Brooks
Ron Delaney
Grand L. Bush
Larry Sylvester
Don Cheadle
Rocket
Gerardo Mejía
Bird
Glenn Plummer
High Top

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Dennis Hopper
Writers: Michael Schiffer
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 7.8× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

38 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Dennis Hopper, shot by Haskell Wexler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Herbie Hancock. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Robert Estrin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sean Penn and Robert Duvall and María Conchita Alonso carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "70,000 gang members. One million guns. Two cops.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Dennis Hopper directs. Haskell Wexler behind the camera. Herbie Hancock scores. Robert Estrin cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 7.8× over at the box office.
238 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
4Directed by Dennis Hopper, shot by Haskell Wexler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Herbie Hancock. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Robert Estrin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Sean Penn and Robert Duvall and María Conchita Alonso carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "70,000 gang members. One million guns. Two cops.".
9IMDB entry: tt0094894 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 12 themes, including "police brutality", "police", "ghetto", "delinquency".

The technical file

Cinematography: Haskell Wexler
Original score: Herbie Hancock
Editing: Robert Estrin
Production design: Ron Foreman
Sound: Tom Johnson
Runtime: 120 min · 2h 0m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $6,000,000
Box office: $46,616,067
Return: 777% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Colors (1988)
Rotten Tomatoes: 76% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 66/100
IMDB rating: 6.7/10 · 32,572 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 1 nomination total

Also by

Dennis Hopper

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

kevin20192024-06-20
★ 5/10
"Colors" primarily contents itself with concentrating upon the lethal gun and gang culture that permeates and blights the inner cities of America which young men and women devote their lives to as a means of survival on the streets instead of endeavouring to better themselves by accomplishing something more socially worthwhile. The instantly forgettable story and characters always seem to be languishing in second place and while this insight into America's dangerous gang culture can be periodically interesting and certainly extremely illuminating at times it is still a major and ultimately damaging miscalculation to make it the sole basis of the entire film unless it is your intention to produce a documentary exploring these socially critical issues otherwise you're left with what is essentially a long winded film which is not as important or incisive as it thinks and that is certainly the case here.

Production companies