The Five Heartbeats

The Five Heartbeats is a 1991 musical drama film directed by Robert Townsend, who co-wrote the script with Keenen Ivory Wayans. Produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the film's main cast includes Townsend, Michael Wright, Leon Robinson, Harry J. Lennix, Tico Wells, John Canada Terrell, Harold Nicholas, and Diahann Carroll. The plot of the film (which is loosely based on the lives of several artists: The Dells, The Temptations, Four Tops, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Frankie Lymon, Sam Cooke and others) follows the three decade career of the rhythm and blues vocal group The Five Heartbeats. The film depicts the rise and fall of a Motown-inspired soul act through the eyes of one of the Heartbeats, Donald "Duck" Matthews.

The film was released to most North American audiences on March 29, 1991; however, it was not made available to audiences in other continents until 2002, when a DVD was released. Another DVD was released in 2006 for the film's 15th anniversary. Even though the movie received mixed reviews from critics at the time of its release, it became a cult classic through VHS rentals, with many calling it Townsend's masterpiece.