WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1993 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This film biography of Tina Turner
shows Tina abused by her ex-husband Ike and by her mother,
but remaining a sweet and wonderful person. It is based on
her own account in her autobiography. Fights that should not
have occurred and if they did should have been private, take
place in public and now people are paying to see them on the
wide screen. The film will probably do well with Turner
fans. Rating: low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
A number of critics considered RAGING BULL to be the best film of the 1980s. I cannot say I was all that keen on it. While I will accept that the acting and the style gave the film a feel of authenticity, the film really just gave me two hours to be around people I would cross a street to avoid. Perhaps even a highway. I got that same feeling of wanting to get away from the people in WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT, without the feel of authenticity. This is what I would call a "dirty linen" story, like MOMMIE DEAREST. Tina Turner (nee Anna Mae Bullock) got divorced and is now telling the world what terrible things her husband did and how she remained a sweet, loving mother to her children and all the while how terrible she felt. Not that I am doubting the accuracy. I am sure Ike Turner was this bad from Tina's point of view, and I am sure Tina was a good person from her own point of view. Still, she was not an unbiased observer and her character may be a bit too good to be true albeit a little too naive.
The story starts with young Anna Mae (played at this age by Rae'ven Kelly) being dragged by the ear out of a rural church's choir practice because she insists on jazzing up her singing beyond what passed in churches in those days. Apparently it would not be the last time she would be physically abused for not singing the way someone wanted her to sing. Anna Mae goes home only to see her mother leaving home and leaving her in the care of Anna Mae's grandmother. Flash forward to 1958 St. Louis and Anna Mae (now played by Angela Bassett) has come to the city to be with her mother. The rage with her sister is rhythm and blues singer Ike Turner (played by Laurence Fishburne) who, as part of his act, brings women in the audience up to the stage to sing with him. Ike hears Anna Mae sing this way, realizes she is a belter, and sweet-talks her first into joining his band--named Ike Turner and the Ike-ettes--and then into marrying him. As they work together, Ike realizes the power of Anna Mae's voice could be his ticket to success. He dumps the "Ike-ettes" from the group's name, redubs Anna Mae ad Tina, and forms the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. The operative wording is that he forms the group since Anna Mae is given little say. As they work, more and more of the brutal side of Ike comes out, until he is beating and even raping his wife. He insists on running both careers even though he is making mistakes and getting hooked on narcotics. Eventually through a conversion to Buddhism Tina gets the strength to fight back, then to leave Ike.
Angela Bassett does a good acting job as a person in Tina Turner's position, easily winning audience sympathy. The problem, of course, is that she does not really resemble Tina Turner and her speaking voice does not have the same almost-purring quality. She does lip-sync to Tina Turner's singing fairly well. But somehow her appearance keeps her from transforming into her character the way Denzel Washington transformed into Malcolm X on the screen. Laurence (a.k.a. Larry) Fishburne does a good job in a role that destroys his former nice-guy image. He also does his own singing.
I think I might have had more interest in this film had I been a Tina Turner fan. But for this one viewer the film rates a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. Fans can adjust accordingly.
Mark R. Leeper
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