Plot
The true story of The Temptations, the Soul vocal group of the 1960s, as seen from the viewpoint of the last surviving member, Otis Williams. Beginning from their humble origins in the late 50s and continuing through the 90s and the deaths of the other 4 members.
Keywords: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, african-american, alcoholism, argument, band, based-on-book, based-on-true-story
The unforgettable story of one of Motown's hottest acts.
The story of a dream come true and the struggle to keep that dream alive.
Their sound made them famous. Their struggle made them legends.
David Ruffin: I'm the one sellin' the records. They're comin' to see me.::Otis Williams: They're comin' to see the Temptations.::David Ruffin: Ain't nobody comin' to see you, Otis! You wish you could work it the way I do, but you can't! Because there is only one David Ruffin. And without him, the Temps ain't nothin' but a group in SEARCH of a David Ruffin. Matter of fact, I been thinkin'. We should call the group David Ruffin And The Temptations. Yeah, that sound good to me. Y'all beggin' me not to leave you. [sings] "And I refuse to let you go." Yeah, David Ruffin And The Temptations. Whatcha think?::Otis Williams: [stands up] That ain't never gonna happen.
Otis Williams: [after David has jumped up on stage with the Temptations] David, are you out of your damn mind? I will whoop your ass!
David Ruffin: [after reading a memo firing him from the group] Y'all are stupid! You can't fire me! I made your asses! Do you hear me? DO YOU HEAR ME? You can't do me like this! You ungrateful son of a bitches!
David Ruffin: I heard about Paul.::Eddie Kendricks: They got the doctors and everybody in on it.::David Ruffin: And you next.::Eddie Kendricks: Me?::David Ruffin: Yeah, you. I sang "My Girl", "Ain't Too Proud To Beg". Look what they did to me. Paul's gonna be gone and that's your boy. Shark's eatin' his own guts, Corn. And after you, ain't gonna be nothin' but O and Blue. And he gonna eat Blue, too, 'cause that's the way them types is. You better quit, save yourself some dignity.::Eddie Kendricks: You don't know what you're talking about, Ruff. We're supposed to be back in the studio. When Paul gets better, we got the tour.::David Ruffin: Yeah, the tour. Hey, Corn, you bigger than them, Corn. Just like I was bigger than them. You wait till your next hit, they gonna come after you. You better leave before you get fired.
David Ruffin: I'm back! I quit all that stuff, O.::Eddie Kendricks: I told you he was clean.::Otis Williams: I don't care!::David Ruffin: [takes off his glasses] Look, I'm straight, man. Can't you see I'm straight?::Eddie Kendricks: He's straight. Listen to him.::David Ruffin: I'm back in the group, O. Tell me I'm back in the group.::Otis Williams: You ain't in this group. Don't you get it? You blew it!::Eddie Kendricks: The crowd went wild when he jumped on stage.::Otis Williams: He's the one who blew it, Corn!::David Ruffin: Paul... Corn... Blue, baby, all I'm asking y'all is for another chance. Come on now!::Melvin Franklin: David, I'm sorry, but you got to go.::Otis Williams: Get out or get carried out.::David Ruffin: I ain't goin' nowhere! You said I was a Temp for life. How 'bout that promise, huh O?::Otis Williams: You ain't no Temptation no more!::[Otis tries to beat up David, but Melvin holds him back]
[last lines]::Otis Williams: Temptations... Forever
[Melvin is in the hospital after being shot by a carjacker who stole his car]::Melvin Franklin: He shot me, then he recognized me, and then he kicked my butt out of MY car.::Otis Williams: Was it Ruffin? [they both laugh]::Melvin Franklin: No, Ruffin would've killed me.
[During a concert break, Paul rushes off stage into the bathroom, coughs and throws up]::Shelly Berger: That was a disaster.::Melvin Franklin: Yeah, Shelly, we know. All right?::Shelly Berger: The next set's in 45 minutes. There's no way he'll be ready.::Eddie Kendricks: He'll be ready.::Shelly Berger: Falling down drunk doesn't get better in 45 minutes, Eddie. You know what we have to do, Otis...::Eddie Kendricks: No! If Paul's not on that stage, I'm not on that stage.::Shelly Berger: The Temptations are known for precision, Eddie. I don't know what that was, but that wasn't it.::Eddie Kendricks: What's it to you, Shelley? You ain't up there.::Shelly Berger: I might as well be. Mr. Gordy holds me responsible for everything that goes on out there.::Eddie Kendricks: I'm responsible for Paul.::Shelly Berger: Oh, yeah? Then where were you when he was getting plastered?::Eddie Kendricks: I said it. I'm not going on without Paul
Otis Williams: Oh yeah, not the same but nominated for a Grammy!
David Ruffin: Y'all ain't the same without me.::Otis Williams: Oh, yeah? Not the same but nominated for a Grammy!::David Ruffin: That's mine!::Otis Williams: No, no, that ain't you on "Cloud Nine". That's Dennis' voice!
Plot
The Jacksons are your average working-class family in Gary, Indiana; but when their father discovers the kids have an extraordinary musical talent they form a band. Winning talent show after talent show they soon hit it big when Motown calls. From there they become the now famous Jackson 5. But along the way their success brings trouble and turmoil
Keywords: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, african-american, airplane, baby, brother-brother-relationship, celebrity
There's fame...there's fortune...and then there's family. Sometimes it's hard to choose.
Joseph Jackson: Black Beatles, that's what they call 'em! Black Beatles!
Michael Jackson: Berry once told me a song has to tell a story. I've got a million stories in my head. I can't sleep just thinking about them, and I want to sing them. I'm filled up with music. I just want it to come out.::Katherine Jackson: And it will, because there's no stopping it.
Marlon: You know, I'm sick of this- promotional tours. When do we get to perform again?::Jackie: Hey, man, ask Michael.::Marlon: Yeah, sure. "Ask Michael." Who ever sees Michael?::Jackie: You need an appointment to see your own little brother.
Michael Jackson: We're embarking on this tour for many reasons, but mainly because of our mother. Our father, too, for the dream that they had... an American dream... that started a long, long time ago, when our ancestors came here... slaves... oppressed people... beaten down, beaten up... You know, we've come a long, long way from 2300 Jackson Street, when my brothers and I used to long for a color T.V. We weren't beaten down by poverty, and we're not going to be beaten down by fame, either. 'Cause this is what it's all about. This tour is a celebration. It's a victory.
Joseph Jackson: You know, Berry Gordy's not gonna be satisfied until he has one of my boys calling him "Daddy".
Katherine Jackson: She never should've given the microphone to Michael. She may never get it back!
Michael Jackson: Tell them I liked riding in the ambulance. It was wild with the sirens wailing.
Jackie: Hey, Jermaine, why don't you help out the brothers? Talk to Berry. He is your father-in-law.::Jermaine: Look, father-in-law is one thing, group is another. Anyway. we got a winning combination. A seven-year run of hits.::Marlon: Got no more hits.::Jermaine: We'll get it back, man. I'm not running to my father-in-law every time someone's got a complaint. You wanna talk to him, talk to him.::Jackie: I wanna talk to him, but he ain't gonna wanna listen.
Jermaine Jackson: They ripped off my medallion!::Jackie: Hey, I kind of like the whole thing.
Suzanne de Passe: How about a giant chocolate candy bar? You can eat it on the plane.::Michael Jackson: No.::Jermaine: Michael! You never turn down candy.::Michael Jackson: Please don't make me go on that plane. I'm scared. I don't want to go on anymore planes ever. Ever!
Berry Gordy, Jr. (born November 28, 1929) is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.
Berry Gordy, Jr. (born in Detroit, Michigan) was the seventh of eight children (Fuller, Esther, Anna, Loucye, George, Gwen, Berry and Robert), born to the middle-class family of Berry Gordy II (a.k.a. Berry Gordy, Sr.) and Bertha Fuller Gordy (1899–1975), who had relocated to Detroit from Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1922. Gordy was brought up in a tight-knit family with strong morals.[citation needed] Berry Gordy II (1888–1978) was the son of Berry Gordy I and a woman named Lucy Hellum. Berry Gordy I was the son of James Thomas Gordy, a white plantation owner in Georgia, and his female slave Esther Johnson. Berry Gordy, Jr. is distantly related to former president Jimmy Carter through Carter's mother, Bessie Lillian Gordy.
Berry Gordy II was lured to Detroit by the many job opportunities for black people offered by booming automotive businesses.
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer, record producer, and actress.
Diana Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that has included successful ventures into film and Broadway. She received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues (1972), for which she won a Golden Globe award. She has won seven American Music Awards, was honored with a 2012 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, and won a Tony Award for her one-woman show, An Evening with Diana Ross, in 1977.
In 1976, Billboard magazine named her the "Female Entertainer of the Century." In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts with a career total of 18 number one records in the United States. Diana Ross has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.
In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.
Oprah Winfrey (born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. She has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and was for a time the world's only black billionaire. She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.
Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother and later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. She experienced considerable hardship during her childhood, claiming to be raped at age nine and becoming pregnant at 14; her son died in infancy. Sent to live with the man she calls her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime-talk-show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.
Tavis Smiley (pronounced /ˈtævɨs/; born September 13, 1964) is a talk show host, author, liberal political commentator, entrepreneur, advocate and philanthropist. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Kokomo, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles. Smiley became a radio commentator in 1991, and starting in 1996, he hosted the talk show BET Talk (later renamed BET Tonight) on BET. Controversially, after Smiley sold an exclusive interview of Sara Jane Olson to ABC News in 2001, BET declined to renew Smiley's contract that year. Smiley then began hosting The Tavis Smiley Show on NPR from 2002 to 2004 and currently hosts Tavis Smiley on PBS on the weekdays and "The Tavis Smiley Show" from PRI. In 2010 Smiley and Dr. Cornel West have joined forces for their own radio talk show, Smiley & West. They were featured together interviewing musician Bill Withers in the 2009 documentary film Still Bill.
(Berry Gordy)
Now you're moving on up, pretty baby
You're leaving me behind
Everybody seems to love you
Ooh, you're doing just fine, fine, fine
Take away your good looks
And all your fancy clothes
I bet you want to try it baby
And you'll see
That nobody loves you but me
Now what do you think about that?
Hey, Melvin
Now you tell me that you so busy
Ooh, baby you ain't got much time
Oh, how will I remember, babe
When all your time was mine, mine, mine
Well move on back cross the track
Yeah, where you came from
Yeah, why don't you just try it baby
And you'll see
Nobody loves you but me
Yeah, nobody but me
Try it
If you think I'm lying
Try it
Try it baby
Ooh, well move on back cross the track, baby
Yeah, where you came from
Come on and try, try it honey, try it baby, try it sweet
And you'll see
Nobody loves you but me
Nobody loves you but me
Listen, I really want to hold you, pretty baby
In my arms again
But I can't get close to you
For all your love afraid
But take your name from the bad list
And tear me your arms through
Come on and try it baby
I'm gonna try it sweetheart
Try it honey
You'll see, nobody loves you but me
Nobody but me
(Berry Gordy)
Come on boy
My eyes are calling you
Come on boy
Can't you feel that my love is true
Don't make me lose my pride
Don't you know I wanna be dignified
Come on boy, and take your heart
And bring it on to me
Come on boy
You mean the world to me
Come on boy
I love you secretly
I dream each night
That you are gonna hold me tight
Come on boy, come on boy
And take your heart
And bring it on to meCome on boy
The first move is up to you
Come on boy
This is something a girl can't do
Make the first move you see
Then baby leave it up to me
Come on boy, come on boy
And take your heart
And bring it on to me
Come on boy, come on boy
And bring it on to me
Boy, boy
And bring it on to me
Boy, hey boy
(Berry Gordy)
Do you love me?
I can really move
Do you love me?
I'm in the groove
Now, do you love me?
Do you love me?
Now that I can dance?
Watch me now (work it out)
Shake it, shake it baby
Work it out baby
Oh, shake it, shake it down now
Work it out now
Just a little bit of soul now
Oh, I can mash potatoes
I can do the twist
Now tell me baby
Do you like it like this
Tell me, tell me, tell me
Do you love me
Do you love me
Do you love me
Do you love me
Now that I can dance?Watch me now (work it out)
Get it, get it, baby
Work it out
You're driving me crazy
Work it out
Just a little bit of soul now
Oh, I can mash potatoes
I can do the twist
Well, now tell me baby
Do you like it like this
Tell me, tell me, tell me
Do you love me
Do you love me
Do you love me
Do you love me
Now that I can dance?
Do you love me?
I can really move
Do you love me?
I'm in the groove
Do you love me?
Do you love me?
Now that I can dance?
Watch me now (work it out)
Shake it, shake it baby
Work it out
Oh, shake it, shake it down now
Work it out now
Just a little bit of soul now
(Berry Gordy)
Now you're moving on up, pretty baby
You're leaving me behind
Everybody seems to love you
Oh, you're doing just fine, fine, fine
But take away your good looks
And all your fancy clothes
Why don't you just
Try it baby
Try it baby
Try it baby
Try it baby
You'll see
Nobody loves you but me
Now you tell me that you so busy, pretty baby
You ain't got much time
Oh, how will I remember
When all your time was mine, mine, mine
Well move on back cross the track, baby
Where you came from
Why don't you just
Try it baby
Try it baby
Try it baby
Try it baby
You'll see
That nobody loves you but me
Nobody loves you but me
I really want to hold you, pretty baby
In my arms again
But I can't get close to you
For all your loving friend, friend, friend
But take your name from the bright lights baby
And tell me that you are all through
Come on and
Try it honey
Try it baby
Try it sweetheart
Try it honey
You'll see, nobody loves you but me
[fade...]