Purple Rain (partially found deleted scenes of musical drama film; 1984)

The movie poster for Purple Rain.

Status: Partially Found

Purple Rain is a 1984 musical drama starring Prince, who also wrote the music for it. It is loosely based on his childhood, and is often seen today as a cheesy, dated film. However, a closer look at the movie suggests a lot more was meant to happen in it, and that the movie that exists now is very watered down.

Plot

The Kid is a struggling singer, his band "The Revolution" at risk of losing their place at the Fifth Avenue club. His home life is a mess, with an abusive father and a broken woman for a mother. The only light in his life is his music and his relationship with the new girl in town, Apollonia. However, as his relationship with Apollonia grows and she starts getting involved with Morris Day, his competition at the club, things get even worse: the Kid finds out he has a bit more in common with his father than he ever knew.

Known Deleted Scenes

There's a number of scenes, some of which have appeared in stills and the trailer, but most are known from the script. From the trailer, there are a few moments that stick out:

• The Kid showing up at Apollonia's dance practice and getting in a fight with security; possibly cut due to the obvious stunt double. It seems to have taken place during the song 'When Doves Cry', which notably uses the radio cut in the film.

• Extra scenes from the barn sequence, which was cut from older prints of the movie.

• A strange scene where the Kid is at a stage during band set up.

Possible Deleted Scenes

It's obvious watching the movie that his father's suicide attempt was meant to end in death; the whole thing seems to have been cut down. There are multiple songs that mention this, including "Another Lonely Christmas" and "Father's Song". Notably, the latter song still has some trace in the final film in "Computer Blue", and is played by his father. It seems this was meant to be played in the basement scene at some point in development.

All of the cut songs suggest a much richer story, with a proper apology to Appolonia and a happier ending. A selection of these songs was released in the 30th anniversary CD/DVD set, and others were put out as B-Sides or released much later on down the road. There was also a deleted scene in where sex is involved an actress also says who auditioned also said this

The script was way too pornographic for me. They had stuff I wouldn’t even let my boyfriend do to me in my own bedroom.

Unfortunately, as no actual footage has surfaced for a lot of this content, it is unlikely to ever see the light of day, unless a collector stumbles upon some footage and manages to leak it.

Gallery

The original trailer, that includes some unused footage.