Following that movie where the funny-looking little guy winds up getting killed in a wood chipper, the movie where the funny-looking little guy winds up killing it on the wooden First Avenue stage is now the second Minnesota-made entry in the National Film Registry.
"Purple Rain" was announced as part of the Class of 2019 to join the national registry Tuesday alongside other cinematic classics such as "Gaslight," "Platoon," "Boys Don't Cry" and three other classics based off the lives of real-life music icons, "Coal Miner's Daughter," "The Last Waltz" and "Amadeus." Prince's pal Spike Lee also landed another entry in the registry with "She's Gotta Have It."
Shot mostly in Minnesota in 1983 and released over the summer of 1984, "Purple Rain" wasn't exactly a critical favorite upon arrival – "the offstage stuff is utter nonsense," read the New York Times' review – but the musical montages have held up as some of the most influential and electrifying concert scenes on film. All of those were shot at First Avenue, which director Albert Magnoli and members of Prince's band the Revolution have consistently heralded as a "co-star" of the movie in the decades since then.
"Fargo," of course, is the other Minnesota-made movie already in the registry. The fact that "Grumpy Old Men" also isn't already in sure seems, um, fishy.
