Sparkle (1976 film)
Encyclopedia
Sparkle is a 1976
1976 in film
The year 1976 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars science fiction film...
American film directed by Sam O'Steen
Sam O'Steen
Samuel Alexander O'Steen was an American film editor and director. He had an extended, notable collaboration with the director Mike Nichols, with whom he edited twelve films between 1966 and 1994...
and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. Inspired by The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
, Sparkle is a period film set in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, New York during the late 1950s and early 1960s which follows the rough lives and careers of singer Sparkle Williams and her family and friends.
The film stars Philip Michael Thomas
Philip Michael Thomas
Philip Michael Thomas is an American actor. Thomas's most famous role is that of detective Ricardo Tubbs on the hit 1980s TV series Miami Vice. His first notable roles were in Coonskin and opposite Irene Cara in the 1976 film Sparkle...
(later of Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
fame), Irene Cara
Irene Cara
Irene Cara is an American singer and actress. Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling." She is also known for her recording of the song "Fame", and she also starred in the 1980 film Fame.She married Hollywood stuntman...
, Lonette McKee
Lonette McKee
Lonette McKee is an American film and television actress, music composer/producer/songwriter, screenwriter and director.-Biography:...
, Dwan Smith, Mary Alice
Mary Alice
Mary Alice is an American actress.Alice was born Mary Alice Smith in Indianola, Mississippi, the daughter of Ozelar and Sam Smith. In 1987 she received a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her work in Fences...
, Dorian Harewood
Dorian Harewood
W. Dorian Harewood is an American actor. He first garnered attention for his portrayal of Simon Haley in the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations.-Career:...
, and Tony King. Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
served as the composer and producer of Sparkle's songs and score.
Plot synopsis
Harlem, New York, 1958. The Williams sisters – Sister (Lonette McKeeLonette McKee
Lonette McKee is an American film and television actress, music composer/producer/songwriter, screenwriter and director.-Biography:...
), Dolores (Dwan Smith), and Sparkle (Irene Cara
Irene Cara
Irene Cara is an American singer and actress. Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling." She is also known for her recording of the song "Fame", and she also starred in the 1980 film Fame.She married Hollywood stuntman...
) – are singers in their local church's teenagers' choir along with their friends Stix (Philip Michael Thomas
Philip Michael Thomas
Philip Michael Thomas is an American actor. Thomas's most famous role is that of detective Ricardo Tubbs on the hit 1980s TV series Miami Vice. His first notable roles were in Coonskin and opposite Irene Cara in the 1976 film Sparkle...
) and Levi (Dorian Harewood
Dorian Harewood
W. Dorian Harewood is an American actor. He first garnered attention for his portrayal of Simon Haley in the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations.-Career:...
). The girls' mother Effie (Mary Alice
Mary Alice
Mary Alice is an American actress.Alice was born Mary Alice Smith in Indianola, Mississippi, the daughter of Ozelar and Sam Smith. In 1987 she received a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her work in Fences...
), works hard as a maid for the Gerber family in Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, and struggles to keep her girls, especially the "high-spirited" Sister, safe. Stix, a budding songwriter is in love with Sparkle, wants to start a group, and arranges the five of them into a quintet called "The Hearts". The Hearts enter a local talent show contest, which they win with the help of Sister's stage appeal. Shortly afterwards, however, Levi drops out of the group so that he can become an important man in the operations of local gangster Satin (Tony King).
Stix decides to repackage the group as an all-girl trio, appointing Sister lead singer and reducing his role in the act to manager and songwriter. The girls, now known as "Sister & the Sisters", debut at the seedy Shan-Doo Club; their immediate success gains them a position as regular performers there. Satin, invited to the show by Levi, takes up with Sister, who leaves home to move in with him. Sister begins showing up at the Shan-Doo with bruises from Satin's abuse, and begins taking cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
. When Dolores learns that Satin has gotten Sister hooked on drugs, she plots revenge, coming on to one of Satin's flunkies in order to set the kingpin up. Dolores calls the police to let them know when and where Satin's next drug pick-up will be, but Levi is the one caught in the sting. Regretful and weary of life in Harlem, Dolores packs up and leaves home in order to pursue her dreams of racial equality.
Sister's drug use and her life in the "big time" caused Sister to relinquish her position as lead singer of the group, and a frustrated Stix gives up on music. He leaves Harlem to work in construction upstate, breaking Sparkle's heart in the process. Several months later, Sister dies of a drug overdose, and Stix reconciles with Sparkle after her funeral. By this time, Stix has moved back to New York and gained employment with a record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, and offers to produce Sparkle as a solo star. He borrows money from Effie's employer Max Gerber (Paul Lambert
Paul Lambert
Paul Christopher Lambert is a Scottish football manager and former player who is the manager of Norwich City. He won numerous trophies as a player, winning the Scottish Cup with St...
), to fund a recording session, and Sparkle's first single becomes a smash hit. Stix lands Sparkle a gig at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
as Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
' opening act, but finds himself kidnapped by Gerber's partners in the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
for refusing to agree to a partnership in owning the rights to Sparkle's fame. Despite being threatened with death, however, Stix refuses to give in, and the impressed Gerber lets Stix go free. Stix arrives at Carnegie Hall just in time to see Sparkle finish her set.
Cast
- Philip Michael ThomasPhilip Michael ThomasPhilip Michael Thomas is an American actor. Thomas's most famous role is that of detective Ricardo Tubbs on the hit 1980s TV series Miami Vice. His first notable roles were in Coonskin and opposite Irene Cara in the 1976 film Sparkle...
as Stix - Irene CaraIrene CaraIrene Cara is an American singer and actress. Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling." She is also known for her recording of the song "Fame", and she also starred in the 1980 film Fame.She married Hollywood stuntman...
as Sparkle - Lonette McKeeLonette McKeeLonette McKee is an American film and television actress, music composer/producer/songwriter, screenwriter and director.-Biography:...
as Sister - Dwan Smith as Delores
- Mary AliceMary AliceMary Alice is an American actress.Alice was born Mary Alice Smith in Indianola, Mississippi, the daughter of Ozelar and Sam Smith. In 1987 she received a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her work in Fences...
as Effie - Dorian HarewoodDorian HarewoodW. Dorian Harewood is an American actor. He first garnered attention for his portrayal of Simon Haley in the ABC miniseries Roots: The Next Generations.-Career:...
as Levi - Tony KingTony KingTony King is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Chris Coghill. He was the partner of established character Bianca Jackson , and a father-figure to her four children...
as Satin - Beatrice WindeBeatrice WindeBeatrice Winde was an American actress.Born Beatrice Lucille Williams in Chicago, she graduated from the Chicago Music Conservatory as a voice student and continued her voice studies briefly at the Yale University School of Music and at Juilliard.Winde appeared on Broadway in the 1971 Melvin Van...
as Mrs Waters - Paul LambertPaul LambertPaul Christopher Lambert is a Scottish football manager and former player who is the manager of Norwich City. He won numerous trophies as a player, winning the Scottish Cup with St...
as Moe - Joyce Easton as Lee
- Otis Day as Ham
- Norma MillerNorma MillerNorma Miller is an American swing dancer known to many people as The Queen of Swing. The daughter of parents from Bridgetown, Barbados, Miller was born and raised in Harlem, New York. She was interviewed along with dance partner Frankie Manning in Ken Burns documentary Jazz...
as Doreen - Talya Ferro as Miss Taylor
- Bob DelegallBob DelegallBob Delegall was an American actor, television director and producer. He has guest starred in number of notable television series namely Adam-12, Good Times, The Six Million Dollar Man, Knots Landing and among other series.-Life and career:Delegall was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
as Mr Daniels - Armelia McQueenArmelia McQueenArmelia McQueen is an American actress. A native of North Carolina, she has played roles in both film and TV.-Films:* Sparkle as Ann* Quartet by James Ivory, as Night Club Singer...
as Ann - Don BexleyDon BexleyDonald Thomas Bexley was an American actor and comedian, best known for playing Fred Sanford 's friend Bubba Bexley on the 1970s television sitcom Sanford and Son. He was a standup comedian on the Chitlin' Circuit as a solo act and as part of comedy teams, during which time he became acquainted...
as Bubbles
History
Sparkle was a successful film, and is something of a cult classic among African-American audiences. Its success was inspirational in the creation of the musical that would eventually debut on Broadway in 1981 as DreamgirlsDreamgirls
Dreamgirls is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. Based upon the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Supremes, The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others, the musical follows the story of a young female singing trio...
. In fact, one of Dreamgirls central characters is named "Effie", the name of the Mary Alice character in Sparkle. The film's soundtrack album, featuring Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
in place of the actresses in the film, was also a success. Two of Sparkle's stars, Dorian Harewood and Irene Cara, portray Alex Haley
Alex Haley
Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was an African-American writer. He is best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and the coauthor of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.-Early life:...
's parents in the 1979 miniseries Roots: The Next Generations
Roots: The Next Generations
Roots: The Next Generations is a 1979 television miniseries that continues the story of the family of Alex Haley from the 1880s, and their life in Henning, Tennessee, to the 1960s, with Haley researching his family history and his travels to Africa to learn of his ancestor, Kunta Kinte...
.
Sparkle was released on VHS in the early 1990s. After being long out of print and unavailable save for television broadcasts, Sparkle was released on DVD in 2007. An abbreviated edition of the accompanying Aretha Franklin album was included on a bonus disc.
Remake
In 2011, Sony PicturesSony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
announced that it was remaking Sparkle
Sparkle (2012 film)
Sparkle is an upcoming American film directed by Salim Akil and produdec by Stage 6 Films, set for release in 2012 by TriStar Pictures. Inspired by The Supremes, Sparkle is a remake of the 1976 film of the same name, which centered on three singing teenage sisters in late 1950s Harlem who form a...
, with Debra Martin Chase
Debra Martin Chase
Debra Martin Chase is a Hollywood producer and former lawyer who was named by Savoy magazine in August 2003 as one of the 100 most influential African Americans in the United States and by Black Enterprise magazine in 2007 as one of the Top 50 Powerbrokers in Hollywood. Chase is the first African...
as producer, and husband-and-wife team Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil
Mara Brock Akil
Mara Brock Akil is an American television writer and producer.-Early life:Muslim American born in Los Angeles, California, Brock Akil was raised primarily in Kansas City. She is a graduate of Raytown South High School in 1988...
as writer and director, respectively. The Akils will also co-produce the film. The new version will star R&B singer Jordin Sparks
Jordin Sparks
Jordin Brianna Sparks is an American pop / R&B singer-songwriter and actress. She hails from Glendale, Arizona who rose to fame as the winner of the sixth season of American Idol. Sparks won when she was 17 years old, making her the youngest winner in Idol history...
as Sparkle, with R&B/pop singer Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
(an executive produceer on the film) as her mother.
Production began on the Sparkle remake in October 2011, with Sony's TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...
set to release the film.