Movies starring Darlene Love
Born Darlene Wright in Los Angeles in 1938, she began her career as lead singer with vocal trio The Blossoms. After a spell as regulars on ABC TV's variety show "Shindig" in the early 60s, the trio went on to sing backup on a variety of Elvis Presley recordings, and even backed him on his 1968 NBC TV special "Elvis". For a while they backed Tom Jones during some of his Las Vegas shows. The Blossoms have the rare distinction of recording a number one hit without ever receiving any credit. Years before the advent of Milli Vanilli, Darlene Love, Fanita James and Gracie Nitzsche sang vocals on the ...
show all Born Darlene Wright in Los Angeles in 1938, she began her career as lead singer with vocal trio The Blossoms. After a spell as regulars on ABC TV's variety show "Shindig" in the early 60s, the trio went on to sing backup on a variety of Elvis Presley recordings, and even backed him on his 1968 NBC TV special "Elvis". For a while they backed Tom Jones during some of his Las Vegas shows. The Blossoms have the rare distinction of recording a number one hit without ever receiving any credit. Years before the advent of Milli Vanilli, Darlene Love, Fanita James and Gracie Nitzsche sang vocals on the Gene Pitney-penned song "He's a Rebel" that was championed as The Crystals' first (and only) no. 1 US hit. Because of confounding logistics, record producer Phil Spector had to use The Blossoms because The Crystals were on the wrong coast of the US at the time. And since he was up against the clock in L.A. attempting to get his production on the airwaves before the Vikki Carr version, he had no choice. Love also sang vocals on the Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans top twenty hit "Zip-a-Dee Doo Dah".
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In this action romp par excellence, each overblown set piece becomes ever more ludicrous — implausibility is, after all, a large part of the entertainment here. The basic buddy-buddy situation is a familiar one, but Mel Gibson, as the loose-cannon detective whose disregard for danger reaches new heights when he investigates a drugs ring, and Danny Glover, as his by-the-book, ever-fretful partner, bring a great deal of spirit and fun to the mindless mayhem. The chalk-and-cheese chemistry of the two leads was so popular that three further sequels were made over the next ten years.
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The Lethal Weapon series just gets progressively dumber. It’s meant in the nicest possible way, however, as mindless mayhem doesn’t come much slicker than in these action extravaganzas. Even though the law of diminishing returns is starting to have an effect, the sheer scale of the set pieces in this second sequel will keep fans of the first two movies more than satisfied. This time around, Mel Gibson gets a girl after his own heart (cop Rene Russo with an equally impressive collection of battle scars), soon-to-retire partner Danny Glover looks more worried than ever, and Joe Pesci finds himself the butt of the duo’s jokes. Stuart Wilson, meanwhile, takes over from Joss Ackland as the obligatory imported British villain and enjoys himself immensely as the former cop-turned-monstrous crime lord. Disengage the brain and enjoy.
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This action thriller sequel is the weakest of the cop sagas, let down by its tiresomely inconsistent script about South African drug runners and their crooked accountant. Director Richard Donner accents humour rather than explosive action and the result is an oddly toned, cartoon-like adventure with the comedy elements making the nasty violence seem even more gratuitous. That said, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover’s accomplished rapport continues to delight, and Joe Pesci is very entertaining as the accountant.
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