Clarence Williams III

There`s the right way, the wrong way and the Army way. But there`s no way military investigator Brenner is going to join in when officials try to cover up the murder of a female officer.

Thurgood (Dave Chappelle), Scarface (Guillermo Diaz), Brian (Jim Breur) and Kenny (Harland Williams) are childhood friends who discover marijuana. They grow up together and live in an apartment in New York. During a smoke, they send Kenny to get food. Kenny sees a horse, and starts feeding it treats. The horse dies (it's apparently diabetic), and Kenny goes to jail. His bail is set at $1,000,000. The guys get a lift home by a hot Mary Jane Potman (Rachel True), and Thurgood falls in love. Thurgood is given some medicinal marijuana by a scientist, and the guys decide to sell more of it to raise bail money. Meanwhile, Thurgood and Mary Jane go on a date, and Thurgood promises not to smoke. He fails. The weed sales go through the roof, and many customers partake (John Stewart, Snoop Dog, Willie Nelson, Stephen Baldwin, Jeneane Garofalo, Bob Saget and others). Scarface and Brian leave their jobs to spend more time selling. Thurgood tries to stay righteous as Brian and Scarface start spending their profits. When Mary Jane breaks up with Thurgood, he promises to stop smoking. Meanwhile, Samson, a rival drug dealer, discovers the guys and trashes their apartment. He demands a meeting with the guys and tells them to pay him half their profits. The Guy on the Couch (Steven Wright) suggests they rob the lab for weed, but get caught. Thurgood offers to set up Samson. The cops allow them to get high before the deal, and the cops get high and forget to make the bust. The guys defeat Samson's hench-women, and Brian summons the spirit of Jerry Garcia (David Bluestein) to defeat Samson. The cops honor the deal to release Kenny, and Thurgood reunites with Mary Jane, giving up pot for good. The end.

In 1934, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (Laurence Fishburne) is released from Sing Sing and returns to Harlem, where mobster Dutch Schultz (Tim Roth) asserts his control of the lucrative numbers game. Schultz begrudgingly reports to Mafia boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano (Andy Garcia), who pays bribes to special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey (William Atherton) to protect his business. Reuniting with his cousin "Illinois" Gordon (Chi McBride), Bumpy returns to the employ of Harlem crime boss Madame Queen (Cicely Tyson), whose business is threatened by Schultz. Bumpy is introduced to Francine (Vanessa Williams), a friend of Illinois' girlfriend Mary (Loretta Devine). Schultz's meeting with the Queen ends in a standoff when he presents her with a rival's testicles. Walking Francine home from a club, Bumpy charms her with his poetry. Madame Queen is attacked by Schultz's men, led by black enforcer Bub Hewlett (Clarence Williams III), but Bumpy and fellow mobster Whispers (Paul Benjamin) repel the assassins and rescue her. At a meeting of the Commission, Schultz states his determination to take over Harlem. After robbing Schultz's operation with Illinois, Bumpy is chastised by Madame Queen for making his own decisions. Schultz then hires two hit men, the Salke brothers, to kill Bumpy, and has his police contact, NYPD Captain Foley (Richard Bradford), arrange for Madame Queen's arrest. At a party, a 17-year-old named Tyrone asks Bumpy for a job, and Francine struggles to reconcile her feelings for Bumpy with his criminal ways. The Salkes break into Bumpy's home, killing his guards, but Bumpy ambushes them and kills one while a terrified Francine shoots the other dead. Illinois is beaten and robbed by Foley and his officers, while Madame Queen is arrested for illegal gambling. Taking over her operation, Bumpy enlists Tyrone as a runner, and ignores the Queen's orders to avoid violence. By May 1935, he is locked in an all-out war with Schultz. His wealth and power grow, as does the body count, including Tyrone. Bumpy's attempt to comfort Tyrone's mother at his funeral is rejected. At an ice cream parlor with Francine, Bumpy realizes his banana split has been poisoned. When the shop owner reveals that Bumpy's associate Vallie ordered him to hire the new teenage employee responsible, Bumpy forces the boy to eat the poisoned ice cream despite his attempts to apologize. Whispers then kills Vallie with a razor. Bumpy confronts Schultz at the Cotton Club with Vallie's severed finger, demanding he cease his Harlem operations, but Schultz refuses. Disguised as truck drivers, Bumpy and Illinois deliver a bomb to one of Schultz's illicit breweries, narrowly escaping before the warehouse explodes. Illinois returns home to find Schultz had Mary killed in retaliation. Threatened by Dewey to end the bloodshed in Harlem, Luciano invites Bumpy and Schultz to a meeting, against both their wills. Visiting Madame Queen in prison, Bumpy is rebuked for inciting a gang war. Finding she can no longer accept who he is, Francine leaves him, and Illinois drunkenly confronts him over the innocent lives lost. Illinois is abducted and tortured by Foley, to Hewlett's disgust, but refuses to betray his cousin. At Luciano's meeting, Bumpy and Schultz refuse to settle their dispute. After finding Illinois' corpse left as a message, Bumpy slits Foley's throat while he's with a black prostitute, but spares Hewlett's life and offers him a partnership. Bumpy accepts an alliance with Luciano, and Luciano's driver - on Bumpy's orders - informs Schultz that Bumpy will be meeting with Luciano's accountant. Schultz and his men burst in but find only the accountant, whom Schultz kills. At a restaurant, Schultz's long-suffering henchman Lulu (Ed O'Ross) shoots him in the bathroom, and Schultz calmly returns to his table before dying. Meeting Luciano outside for payment, Lulu is shot dead. With Dutch eliminated and the gang war settled, Dewey - having received an enormous bribe from Bumpy, delivered by Hewlett - warns Luciano to stay away from Harlem. Hewlett and Bumpy part ways, and Bumpy arrives at Illinois' funeral. After exchanging looks with Francine and Madame Queen, Bumpy walks out into the rain alone.

The film opens at the First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis where the band 'The Revolution' is playing their song "Let's Go Crazy". The lead singer, The Kid (Prince) has an energetic style that the people seem to dig. Arriving at the nightclub is aspiring performer Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero), who wants to see the manager. He's not there, so one of the ladies that works there takes down Apollonia's information. After The Revolution is done playing, Morris Day and The Time begin to play, the former having a rivalry with The Kid. The Kid lives at home with his mother (Olga Karlatos) and his father (Clarence Willliams III), a mixed race couple. The father physically abuses the mother, and strikes back at The Kid whenever he tries to defend her. The next day, Morris and the club's owner Billy (Billy Sparks) discuss getting a new group to replace The Revolution since people are getting tired of The Kid's schtick. Morris wants to organize an all-girl group, and Billy appears to be on board. The Kid pursues Apollonia. He takes her for a ride on his motorcycle and rides to a nearby lake, where he tells her he will help her break out if she gets into the water of Lake Minnetonka. Apollonia strips down to her underwear and jumps into the water. The Kid then says that it's not Lake Minnetonka. He gets on his motorcycle and begins to ride away, leaving Apollonia naked and pissed off. However, he stays and lets her climb back on. Two members of The Revolution, the assistant guitarist Wendy (Wendy Melvoin) and keyboardist Lisa (Lisa Coleman), frequently write music for the band and ask The Kid to give it a listen, but he never does and he continues to refuse to use their music, which causes tension between the band. The Kid mocks their sentiments using a puppet. Morris approaches Apollonia to join the girl group. He buys some fancy champagne and tries to convince her that The Kid can't help her kick-start her career since he can hardly get his own career off the ground. As The Kid performs, he watches the two of them sitting together. With The Revolution, he sings "The Beautiful Ones," which brings Apollonia to tears. After the show, The Kid brings Apollonia to his home. He plays a record track in his room that sounds like a woman moaning erotically, but he tells Apollonia that the woman is crying, and he is just playing the track backwards. The Kid then passionately kisses Apollonia and they make love for the first time. A few days later, Morris eventually persuades Apollonia into joining the group. She goes to The Kid's home and gives him the news. He reacts by angrily slapping her the same way his father does to his mother. The Kid learns from Billy that he plans to cut one of the acts for the club. This leads The Kid to go on a motorcycle ride to have time with his thoughts (while "When Doves Cry" plays). This is cut between moments of memories he shared with Apollonia. When he returns home, he finds his mother on the front steps crying. He enters his home to confront his father. The Kid finds him in the basement smoking a cigarette and playing the piano. He learns that his father has composed several musical pieces of his own, but he claims to have not written them down. When he asks his son if he has a girlfriend, The Kid says 'yes', and his father tells him not to get married. Back at the First Avenue, The Revolution performs "Computer Blue", with The Kid acting out like he's getting a blowjob on stage. The audience doesn't appear to be digging his music. Apollonia and Morris show up. The band starts playing the very provocative "Darling Nikki", which makes Apollonia uncomfortable and humiliated. After she leaves, The Kid goes into his dressing room and starts taking out his anger. Billy enters and criticizes him, comparing him to his father and his own failed musical career. Soon, the girl group, Apollonia 6, make their debut at the club. Their song, "Sex Shooter", is a hit, and Billy continues to hint at The Kid that they'll be taking his spot. After the show, Apollonia and Morris (who is drunk) are walking together. The Kid comes to get her on his motorcycle once Morris starts to get fresh. They ride by a bridge, where The Kid starts getting aggressive with Apollonia. She leaves him. When The Kid returns home, he sees that the place is a mess, and his mother is gone. He goes down to the basement, and his father attempts suicide by shooting himself in the head with a shotgun, but the wound only grazes his head. The medics take him away. The Kid starts raging out in the basement, whereupon he discovers his father's compositions. The following morning, he picks up a tape of a song that Wendy and Lisa wrote, "Slow Groove". It inspires him to start composing. That night, The Time plays their set to a satisfied crowd. After the performance, Morris goes by The Revolution's dressing room and tauntingly asks The Kid, "How's the family?" His buddies laugh, but Morris quickly regrets what he said. The Revolution goes up to play. Before the song, The Kid announces that they're playing a song written by Wendy and Lisa, which he dedicates to his father. The song is "Purple Rain". It thrills the crowd so much that even Billy sheds a tear. Once the song ends, The Kid goes backstage and plans to hop on his motorcycle, but he hears the enthusiastic cheering and goes back, where the other musicians congratulate him and cheer him on. He sees Apollonia as well, who appears to have forgiven him. He returns to the stage and plays "I Would Die 4 U". This is cut between scenes of him visiting his father at the hospital with his mother, as well as Apollonia visiting The Kid in the basement. The film concludes with a shot of The Kid giving the audience one more intense look.