{"id":3564,"date":"2025-05-08T23:48:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T06:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shirscribe.com\/?p=3564"},"modified":"2025-05-11T20:06:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T03:06:19","slug":"movie-scenes-i-love-2-scenes-from-the-five-heartbeats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shirscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/08\/movie-scenes-i-love-2-scenes-from-the-five-heartbeats\/","title":{"rendered":"Movie Scenes I Love: \u00a02 Scenes from ‘The Five Heartbeats’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThe Five Heartbeats\u201d is one of my all-time favorite movies. I\u2019ve wanted to include it in this series for a while but had the hardest time deciding which scene I would choose. At one point, I was just like I\u2019ma just choose the entire movie<\/em>. Of course I never got around to that either, but lately the thought has revisited me \u2013 not choosing the entire movie but choosing a scene from this movie for this series.  So that\u2019s what I did…well, kinda. You see, I just couldn\u2019t pick one. So for the first time in Movie Scenes I Love history, I\u2019m giving you two. That\u2019s right, two scenes from one movie that I love!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This movie came out in 1991 when I was 11-years-old. I remember seeing it in the theatre either at the South Bay Galleria or the Old Towne Mall, for those of you who grew up in the LA area. Even at that tender age this movie touched me. It\u2019s about a group of boys from working-class families with hopes of becoming a professional singing group and all the things that come along with pursuing and achieving soul-star dreams in the 1960s.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film, for me, is simply a masterclass in storytelling. It\u2019s just seamless storytelling. As a storyteller myself, I have never taken any classes on storytelling and I don\u2019t think I ever will. When it comes to writing, there is just something about being self-taught that I find more attractive than formal training \u2013 not in all cases, but in many cases. I feel like in formal training people teach you their way, and their opinion of what they think is good or best. Whereas when you are self-taught, it\u2019s easier for you to figure it out and decide for yourself what you like. I watch movies like \u201cThe Five Heartbeats\u201d and marvel at them. It influences my own writing. When I write a script, I hope it will make others feel like movies like this make me feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The emotional journey that Robert Townsend the co-writer and director, takes you on in this movie is top-tier. It\u2019s funny, it\u2019s sad. It\u2019s light-hearted, it\u2019s heavy. It\u2019s tragic, it\u2019s triumphant. And it all flows. Nothing, not one scene is wasted. The story moves along so beautifully, so compellingly. These two scenes I\u2019ve chosen are just an example of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, without further ado, here are two of my favorite scenes from the movie \u201cThe Five Heartbeats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bedroom Singing Scene: We Haven\u2019t Finished Yet<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

In this scene we find Duck, one of the members of the group, and his little sister in the bedroom that they share with their other siblings. But in this moment they are alone. Duck, who writes all the songs for his group, is at his desk, hard at work churning out lyrics by hand, none of which seem to be satisfactory to him. Meanwhile, his little sister is directly behind him sweeping the floor, trying to clean their room before their parents get home, when she finds herself in the line of fire of Duck\u2019s crumpled discarded lyrics. Frustrated with his indecision, she picks up one of the tossed pieces of paper and begins singing the rejected lyrics. Then another. Soon Duck joins in. What ensues is a frantic search and rescue of other tossed lyrics and a beautifully sung inspirational song amongst siblings. See for yourself\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n