beauzee Richard himself had been talking about a movie of his life as far back as 1962; by '84 and the release of his first biography, by Englishman Chas White, it was a "go"! well....took about 14 years, and all the speculation about Michael Jackson or Prince as the Georgia Peach came to an end...Leon got the part..and he is excellent! Some wonderful scenes leading up to Richard's sudden (actually took about 4 years of flop recordings and Southern club dates) fame with the indescribable culture shocking TUTTI FRUTTI. Richard's parents are nicely portrayed; the doting MOm and the strict but eventually very supporting Dad.The film's "timeline" is so distorted that deep fans might want to pause the DVD and consider donating it to the local Library - but they should hang in there. There is still plenty of engrossing material, especially when we hear "new" recordings > a recut of LR's TAKE MY HAND, PRECIOUS LORD and a tune called VEGETABLE MAN. Depressingly, the soundtrack, otherwise, uses original '50s tracks, one crazy cut, MONEY HONEY, from 1964, and some 1976 rerecordings.One reviewer said that this picture needs a Part 2 and he is so right: we go from 1932 to 1962 and it's at that point that the most interesting time in his career starts: he endures a personal battle: does he come back from a rock and roll retirement (when he records nothing but Gospel) to please the loyal fans all around the world and presumably to recover a lot of lost bucks? I did not like the final scene at all.but check it out for yourself. ask yourself if the most influential artist in rock deserved a better biopic?

nneprevilo This portrayal of Richard Penniman as a skirt-chasing dandy is completely the opposite of what I've seen of Little Richard all these years. Also, having friends in show biz who worked with and knew him well, this is a movie about somebody else! The only "hints" we get of his homosexuality are the knowing glances between Richard and his young singing mentor, who told him he needed to record. Yes, his behavior ranges from "regular guy" to "somewhat effeminate," but the character is inconsistent.Good lip-syncing by Leon and nice acting from Jenifer Lewis, as his supportive mother. Other performances were stereotypical, but the story does give us a clear picture of how black stars were cheated by low-down record shysters and literally robbed by white artists like Pat Boone, Georgia Gibbs and Gale Storm.

BigRich This had to be one of Robert Townsends better, if not best, movie he'd ever directed. I never knew much about Little Richard's past and this movie does a very good job in explaining it. I say about as good as the Tina Turner story, What's Love Got to Do With it.It's starts out with Richard's child hood, his infatuation with dressing up in his mother's clothes, his father giving him beatings and the influence of the church. The film later goes into Richard's first hit recording "Tutti Fruitti". Pat Boone later goes on to record this song and many other Little Richard songs and the white radio stations play Boone's instead of Richards. Of course, this isn't the whole plot of the movie, though, just part of it.This movie is about as good as you can get when it comes to biography movies on Rock stars. It doesn't disappoint, not in my opinion. LEON does a very good job portraying Little Richard.-BGR

pornguy-2 The Life and Time of Little Richard, as told by Little Richard, as produced and directed by Little Richard, was about as one sided as one of his songs. This is not a biography or even a docudrama, but does have good writing, great energy and an outstanding leading actor playing Richard. All the music is by Little Richard, so it rocks a tight lipsync on every song.The movie covers his early childhood, carrys thru the formative years in music, the wild success and Richard's throwing it all away to praise the Lord. Its all tied together well and the obvious comeback in 1962 manages to stay away from the idea that Little Richard discovered the Beatles, whom opened for him.My main objection is that his outrageous, counter cultural behavior is underplayed and you get no feel for how his audience experienced him at that time. Some of his energy, which he still has, does not come across full force. He seemed tame, compared to what I remember of him at the time.The best scenes are Richard getting jilted by Lucille and writing a song about it and the strip to bikini shorts while performing, to make the point about not having a decent place to change.If they had gotten into the "Bronze Liberace" as Richard use to refer to himself in interviews, then there's a story. Trust me I just saw him perform a couple of months ago and he still flirts with the pretty white boys, giving the one particularly good dancer in the audience, his headband. Nearly 68 and still going strong I recommend this movie and any concert or T.V. appearance you can find. Little Richard is always on