The Five Heartbeats

The Five Heartbeats is a 1991 musical drama film directed by Robert Townsend, who cowrote the script with Keenen Ivory Wayans. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, the films main cast includes Townsend, Michael Wright, Leon Robinson, Harry J. Lennix, Tico Wells, Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers, and Diahann Carroll. The plot of the film which is loosely based on the lives of several artists The Dells, The Temptations, Four Tops, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Frankie Lymon, Sam Cooke and others follows the three decade career of the RampB vocal group The Five Heartbeats. The film depicts the rise and fall of a Motown inspired soul act through the eyes of one of the Heartbeats, Donald Duck Matthews portrayed by Townsend, who serves as a narrator throughout the film.

In the early 1990s, Donald Duck Matthews browses a Rolling Stone magazine, noticing an article questioning the recent exploits of The Five Heartbeats, The Temptations, and The Four Tops and why the groups disbanded.In a flashback, Donald Matthews, Anthony Choir Boy Stone, J.T. Matthews and Terrence Dresser Williams are preparing to perform at a music contest. They are forced to prepare to sing both their vocals and those of other members since Eddie King Jr. and Bobby, the lead singers, are missing. Bobby and Eddie cheat while gambling. Bobby is shot in the leg, but Eddie arrives at the contest and performs with the Heartbeats. ........

Source: Wikipedia