Like a previous writer I too found this film by accident, watching late night TV one night and it came on and I was hooked. Imagine my delight when I saw it for sale for 99p in a bargain basket. Terron Brooks(Eddie Kendricks), DB Woodside (Melvin Franklin), Charles Malik Whitfield(Otis Williams), Christian Payton(Paul Williams), and Leon(David Ruffin) all did amazing job acting as the temptations, especially Leon as David Ruffin, the likenesses were really good and they did a really good job when performing the Temptations hits.
Although I did think that DB Woodside (Melvin Franklin), Charles Malik Whitfield (Otis Williams) should have swapped roles.
I love the Temptations music in all its incarnations. It is a shame that the film had such a slant towards Otis, but then it was based on his book so I guess that was bound to happen. However the real truth about Paul Williams death seems suspicious and suicide was probably unlikely.
I would have loved to have seen more Motown stars featured, where was Stevie Wonder? Also those Motown artist that were shown there seemed to have been little if any effort to make them at least look like who they were playing.
The Supremes were nothing like the real ones, nor was Marvin Gaye.
However this is still one of the best music biopics and the music of the Temptations will live on through this movie and introduce others to their great songs, and for that reason this film is a must for any fan.
Review of The Temptations
