5/5 Must have
  by Dennis R. Vanness (Louisiana)
If you are a music fan of the 60's and 70's this DVD is a must have for your collection.

5/5 it's good
  by fitzgerald92087
I purchased this for my dad (58) and he loves it. He used to have to scout when it came on TV, but now he can watch it anytime! I've seen it, too, and it really is a great movie. Very insightful...but sad.

5/5 Great Movie
  by Celestine Stanley (Ohio)
This is one of the best bio regarding musical groups. I thought that the acting was terrific and the movie captured the essence of each memeber of the Tempations.

4/5 Good story. Would we have known otherwise?
  by Christopher (New Haven, CT)
I am 37 and I first heard of The Temptations through my mother's record collection. I first saw them in the early 80's when PBS would do documentaries on old music. At the age of 12 or so, I considered any music before my time old and not something I should be concerned with. While I knew that the songs were good, I just dismissed them as old-time music.

Now we enter The Temptations Mini-series. I recall the day that this came on (I am still shocked by how many years have passed on THIS!) and it was one of the few made-for-TV movies I was eager to watch since the early 90's at best. Before this film, I did not know any of their names except David Ruffin only because BET's Video Soul did a special on him when he died. I did not realize the line-up changes, although I knew of Dennis Edwards. I did not know about the drugs, suicide, ego and firings before this film! I can only assume most people did not either...

Most people praise the acting, but it was "ok" to me. Then again, it was a made-for-TV movie so in that case, I can priase it too. As good as this was, if it had been a theactrical release, it probably would have been even better! The good parts is that it was filmed at Motown at showed how the group came to be. The only thing it seemed to have missed was the 80's Temptations with "Treat her Like a Lady." Maybe they did not want to hire anouther actor?

I think watching Youtube may have gotten me back into this film. I know just about everyone has this film and they always tried to put it in when I would go over their house. Lately, I have been fiending (no pun) for this film again! I ended up getting my own DVD. I wish it were in wide-screen and on Blu-Ray, but we will have to see what they want to do...


After watching this film again, I realized that this was based on a book by Otis Williams - the most obscure Temtptation! What I gathered after watching it again was that Otis and Melvin was portrayed as good guys who did not touch drugs and were clean-cut, caring people who just wanted to do the right things in life. Every other Tempt was portrayed as out of control, egomanic drug addicts who wanted everthing for themselves! Granted, David Ruffins's ego is something I had never heard of before this film, but I can only imagine how he was in real life! I am sure that drugs helped to fuel his ego. When a person writes a book, they have a tendacy to put themselves in the focal point (as he could since it's from his perspective) and make himself and HIS buddy Melvin look like saints while all others who joined were trouble makers who had to be let go. Yes, it appears as if Otis was quick to pull the trigger on singers.

There is a cleary hate directed toward Otis looking at the reviews and some may very well be justified. However, upon looking at Youtube and seeing the videos/lineups, they seem to coincide with the story that Otis is told. The lead singers always changed but Melvin and Otis always remained. So it is clear that Otis must have been in control so to speak. I also suspect that since Otis let Ruffin go and Dennis Edwards came in and they still had hist AND Grammies, he may have felt that he did not need him at all and other singers can easily be replaced and success would continue. Clearly this seems to have happened because leads kept getting replaced!

It always boggled my mind why I would see The Tempts with the little guy with the mustache but when I saw footage from the 60's he was not there and neither was Edwards. I did not realized that this groupd had so much drama. This film helped bring some things to light. What I did not like about ti - and other biographical films is when they show things that did NOT happen! If Melvin of David did not die that way in the film, why change it? When people watch a film beased on real people, it would be good to see what actually happened as opposed to us having to look at the real history to find out if it were ture or not. Sure, films are entertianment, but when they are based on real people, we should get those real events, not fake ones.

I am not sure is all scenes on this DVD are what aired as you don't watch something in TV and expect an edited version on DVD, but it would have bee nice to show that they had a TV show and to talk about ALBUMS that were relased as opposed to singles. While long, the scope of the film could have been better. They showed many shows that they did, but I did not get the sense that they played in large arenas or just how large and popular they were. TV show appearances (not just people watching them on TV), magazines, papers, people on the street going crazy would have helped with the scope of the groups popularity being realized on film. If they were Motwon's biggest group, I would love to have seen this being shown in the film. It was mentioned, but I did not see it. I know budgets are limited, especially for TV, maybe they could have named something bigger than The Copa? You know, like where sports teams play at.

They focused a little on their reunion, but they did not get into the colabbo with Rick James. To me, this was key in the 80's. I remeber when Rick James had "Superfreak" and he said "Temptaions sing!" I did not know that they were still together! I also though that it was sampled! I did not even know that Rick was Melvins' newphew! It goes to show that the entertainment world is like secret societies. Only those with insider info can get in. Those without have to fight to get in.

All in all, it was good. I still cannot believe Ruffin had such and ego. It may have been entertaining and frustrating to see it in person. I would also agree that Otis may have been jealous of all of the lead singers and this could be another reason he keeps firing them. They get popular - he get's rid of them. The group has continued to have success despite these changes and people will always feel bad that they could not hear more from the "original five," but Eddie and David's solo careers put them in the same position as the Tempts - looking for SONGS.

I listened to Eddie's solo stuff and he had some hot beats on his stuff! David's solo stuff sounded good for his singing, but I guess they hope that his voice alone could make hits. The Tempts did not become big out the gate because they were always dependent upon someone else writing them a hit. They were more performers than artists. Artists create and performers perform other's creations! So clearly these guys did not know what makes a hit or how to write a hit. They had to keep seeking out hits from others. I know some will say Gordy had control, but the singer should know if something sounds like a hit or not.

This is a good film. If there are any deledted footage, put it on the Blu-Ray version and wide-screen it! I know since it was filmed on film, it should have had some type of letter boxing. With the length of this DVD, compression artifacts are seen - especially on HDTV's with upconversion on the player. Re-relase a Blu-Ray extravaganza with ALL know footage of the real performances during the era of the film and any and all deleted scenes. I would buy it in a - "heartbeat!"



5/5 If you love the Temps.........
  by V. Fitzsimmons (pgh. new york)
If you love the Temptations, you will absolutely love this movie...the music alone is awesome...the story entertaining..but also sad...this is a movie that played on VH1, so I was extremely happy to be able to purchase this movie so that I can watch it whenever I went..my honey and I are major fans as is my son, who is 26 years old...having grown up with doo-wop and motown sound he just loves this movie..