Colors

East and South Central L.A. supply the streets on fire in Dennis Hopper's gritty police procedural teaming veteran cop Bob Hodges, played by a chilly Robert Duvall, with brash rookie Danny McGavin (Sean Penn). Members of the elite CRASH unit, they negotiate the neighborhoods where the Bloods and Crips lead the gangsta life on contested turf. Famously, Hopper's ripped-from-the-headlines drama enlisted real gang members to protect the film production. With an old-school soundtrack from Ice-T, Dr. Dre, and Salt-n-Pepa, Haskell Wexler's stark camera, and a grainy mix that heightens the sense of imminent danger, Colors is anything but black and white.

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