In the mid-80s, three women, each one claiming that she is Frankie Lymon's widow, are fighting in a trial. One is a music star, former member of the Platters (Zola Taylor), one is a petty thief (Elizabeth Waters) and the other is a school teacher in a small Georgia town (Emira Eagle). They want their part of estate, which was never shared by Lymon's manager, Morris Levy.
During the trial, flashbacks tell the story of each one's life. Three true stories, three versions of the same man's intense life. On one hand, Frankie Lymon was an extremely talented artist (singer, songwriter and dancer), but on the other hand he was a troubled character and a heroin addict. In his short life (he died at 25), he loved life, fame, women, but most of all music.
His success begins when he was only 13, with "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". At 15, he met Zola Taylor (19) and he fell in love. Lymon's slowly declining sales fell sharply after his voice changed and he lost his signature soprano voice.
Lymon began a relationship with Elizabeth Waters, who became his first wife in January 1964. Lymon's marriage to Waters was not legal in the beginning, because she was still married to her first husband. After the marriage failed, he moved to Los Angeles in the mid-60s, where he returned to Zola Taylor.
In 1965 (aged 22), Lymon was drafted into the United States Army and reported to Fort Gordon, Georgia, for training. There, Lymon met and fell in love with Emira Eagle, a schoolteacher. The two married in June 1967 and Lymon moved into his wife's home, continuing to perform sporadically. But one day he decided to return to New York, where he hoped to regain fame. One week after, he was found dead of a heroin overdose, at age 25. Frankie was a huge talent, whose wings were broken by the use of drugs.
At its best, this uneven but often entertaining movie, written by Tina Andrews and directed by Gregory Nava, manages to recapture some of the excitement and turmoil of those days, revel in high spirits and lowdown humour and provide a happy sampler of hits like the title song, as well as "Goody Goody," "ABC's of Love," Little Richard's hit "Tutti Frutti" and the Platters' hit "The Great Pretender."
At its most mediocre, this post-mortem farce, built around a battle for Lymon's estate among three women, each claiming to be his wife and the heir to his royalties, is compounded of courtroom scenes that will leave lawyers gnashing their teeth, shaky acting, ludicrous lines, unconvincing locations and backgrounds and cliched efforts to evoke nostalgia and achieve psychological depth through many grainy montages.
Musically speaking, Frankie Lymon was pretty much of a one-trick pony who was a 13-year-old soprano from Upper Manhattan at the end of 1955, when his recording of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" with four neighborhood boys called the Teenagers catapulted them to doo-wop fame.
By the summer of 1957, after four hits, a cross-country tour, recordings for an Alan Freed film and an appearance at the London Palladium, Lymon had parted company with the rest of the quintet. His solo career was a failure. He drifted into despair and picked up a heroin habit. But he seemed to have overcome it when, just before a scheduled recording date in a comeback effort in 1968, he died of an overdose.
The film picks up the story in 1985, a few years after the Diana Ross version of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" made the song a hit all over again. According to the film, this brought the major women in Lymon's life out of the woodwork. Halle Berry as Zola Taylor, the glamourous lead singer of the Platters, the supposed first wife: Vivica A. Fox as Elizabeth Waters, a shoplifter who met Lymon after his heyday and said she turned to prostitution to try to help him overcome his drug habit, and Lela Rochon as Emira Eagle, the reserved Southern schoolteacher who married Lymon while he was in the Army, settled him into a serene domestic life, saw him off on his last fatal trip and buried him. All seem to have a good time with their roles, and Larenz Tate, though far less baby-faced than the original, makes an appealing Lymon.
The indecorous courtroom contest that makes enemies and friends of the three women as their lives with Lymon are depicted in flashback also brings to the stand Little Richard as an irrepressible witness, situates Pamela Reed on the Surrogate's Court bench as the incredulous and incredibly lenient judge and casts Paul Mazursky as the villain of the piece, Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records who collected millions in proceeds from the success of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.
Lymon's career may have been short and sad, but "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" finds the melodrama of his life in the exciting music of his time and the tumult of his romances. As a coda to the film, we are shown a brief, black-and-white clip of the real Frankie Lymon, singing and dancing with the face, voice and body of an angelic munchkin. It's ironic that the filmmakers have chosen to leave us with the very mystery that the movie purports, but fails, to address: Who was that charismatic man-child?
But before we get to the main feature, let's enjoy...
The Pre-Show:
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Our "Film Extra" folder hands us a few short documentaries surrounding Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers lives. I would highlight a special interview which involves, Herman Santiago & Jimmy Marchante, the two surviving original members of Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers. Interesting stories and funny to see their reaction concerning Zola Taylor and Frankie's relationship!! That very interview ends with the "new" formation of the Teenagers singing live "Goody Goody" and of course, "Why Do Fools Fall In Love!" Plus, our "TV on Deck" section, where we'll enjoy an extension of last week's adventures of 60s and 70s half hour comic sitcoms. By the way, "Three's Company" opens its second season!! To top it all, The Batman and its white-knuckle thrilling adventures (we have to remember it was waaaay back then!) with his faithful Robin by his side.
The Main Feature:
Title: Why Do Fools Fall In Love
Director: Gregory Nava
Cast: Larenz Tate / Little Richard / Halle Berry / Vivica A. Fox / Lela Rochon
Release Date: August 28, 1998
Country: United States Of America
On Your Way Out:
Our 32nd edition of Saturday Night at the Movies, where we take the opportunity to watch (or re-watch) films that are related to music. In each and everyone of these editions we've enjoyed stacks of extras, and today won't be any different. All these resources which Shade's Vintage Radio shares with you has the unique purpose of, hopefully, enhancing your experience, through sights and sounds.
Cheers Shade.
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