Product Description

Experience for yourself the powerful true-life story of Tina Turner -- rock 'n' roll's remarkable and talented superstar. Laurence Fishburne (THE MATRIX) and Angela Bassett (HOW STELLA GOT HER GROVE BACK) deliver winning performances as Ike and Tina Turner -- whose turbulent relationship eventually forces Tina to leave and face the fear, pay the price, and find the courage to believe in herself. Don't miss WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT -- the amazing and uplifting story of one of the world's most exciting, high-energy entertainers!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5978 in DVD
• Brand: BUENA VISTA HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 1999-08-24
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Tina Turner, that dynamic diva of pop/soul/R&B from the '60s to the '90s, sings like a woman whose life story is every bit as rough and tough as her voice. And What's Love Got to Do With It, based on her autobiographical account (in I, Tina, written with Kurt Loder) of her years under the iron fist of her abusive husband and musical partner/Svengali Ike, is further proof of what we've always known about Tina: She's what you call a survivor. The movie is sort of the Disney version of Tina Turner's story--a glossy but thoroughly enjoyable, old-fashioned showbiz biopic with laughs, tears, great music, and outrageous (but faithful) period decor, costumes, makeup, and hairstyles. Our Heroine triumphs not only over the rigorous demands of her career in the music business, but finally manages to bust out of her troubled, violent marriage as well and become her own person. This is a movie that'll have you shouting at the top of your lungs: "You go, girl!" --Jim Emerson

From The New Yorker
The film version of Tina Turner's life isn't bad, considering that her story inconveniently lacks the tragic ending that filmmakers usually require to give shape to the rambling, unstructured existence of a musician. Tina, at fifty-three, is still performing and recording, and in the absence of the snuffed-out-in-her-prime option, the screenwriter, Kate Lanier, and the director, Brian Gibson, have constructed the movie as a kind of feminist survival story: Tina (Angela Bassett) rises to fame as part of a husband-and-wife act, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, but then breaks away from her brutal, domineering spouse (Laurence Fishburne) and climbs back to the top of the charts on her own. Much of the movie is grim and disturbing: Ike abuses Tina in just about every way a man can abuse a woman, and the domestic-violence scenes are intense, harrowingly graphic. The movie has a manic-depressive rhythm that keeps the audience absorbed: Gibson alternates scenes of Tina's misery with rousing, superbly staged musical numbers. Bassett scrupulously imitates Tina's spectacular dance moves, but there's no let-it-rip joy in her performances, and not much sex either. Fishburne's astonishing portrayal of Ike is what holds the movie together. The actor builds, in precise increments, a devastating portrait of a macho control freak; he even finds a kind of ghastly humor in the character's madness. Also with Jenifer Lewis and Vanessa Bell Calloway. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A TRIUMPHANT STORY OF A REAL LIFE SURVIVOR....
This is an incredible, highly energized film about the life of rock and roll diva, Tina Turner, and her stormy relationship with her controlling and physically abusive husband, Ike Turner. Award calibre performances are turned in by Angela Bassett, as Tina, and Laurence Fishburne, as Ike. They are both absolutely riveting.

Ms. Bassett plays Tina with all the earthy charm and sexual magnetism of the real life Tina Turner. Laurence Fishburne gives an amazingly effective performance as Ike, at once both repellent and charismatic. The movie focuses on their relationship, one which sowed the seeds for the Tina Turner we know today.

What started out as a match made in heaven, quickly soured as Tina naturally took the lead musically in their Ike and Tina Turner Revue. When it became clear that Tina was the one for which the fans were clamoring, Ike did not take lightly to being second banana, and their relationship became one of domestic discord and abuse, with Ike easing into the role of abusive husband with relative ease.

When Tina finally had had enough, she divorced Ike, taking nothing from the marriage except her children and her show business name, the name she earned. From there, she went on to rebuild her life and career, becoming the world reknowned rock and roll diva she is today. Ike, a substance abuser, ended up in prison for narcotics possession and fell into relative obscurity, little more than a footnote in rock and roll history.

This is a film well worth watching, with great performances and great music. Look for the live stage performance by the real life Tina Turner at the end of the film. That alone is worth the price of this video.

Legend of Our Time
I never really listened to Tina Turner except on the radio but one day I decided to watch What's Love Got To Do With It and I was absolutly blown away. The power and feeling Angela Bassett put into her character as Tina Turner was so convincing I actually started to believe it was the true superstar, not just an actress. Laurence Fishburne is an incrediable actor and he did a wonderful job portraying Ike Turner, to the point where I wanted to reach inside the television screen and hurt him as much as he was hurting Tina. He was so good being bad I can't believe he never won an Oscar for this incrediable role. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is a big Tina Turner fan or anyone who just want's to watch a very powerful and emotional film, full of extremly talented actors and actresses. May God always be with Tina Turner after the Hell on Earth she went through, thanks to Ike Turner.

Intense and Extremely Well Performed
Celebrity bio-pics are very hit or miss, but once in a great while a really good one comes along--and WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT is one of them. Based on the autobiography of Tina Turner, the film offers a glossy but intense portrait of her rapid rise to stardom under the sponsorship of husband-manager Ike Turner--a relationship that quickly turned dark and became increasingly abusive as Tina's fame began to outstrip Ike's own.

Although the film is a bit on the obvious side, it is well-crafted and the two leads offer powerhouse performances. Angela Bassett is simply astonishing as Tina Turner; where most other actresses might have simply imitated, Bassett accomplishes the impossible: she makes you believe that she is Tina Turner, capturing both Tina's famous on-stage performing style (the concert scenes are really exciting) and giving a completely believable interpretation of her off-stage personality as well. The script offers Laurence Fishburne little more than a one-dimensional role, but he plays it brilliantly from start to finish, and both are well supported by the overall cast.

There is certainly a great deal more to the lives of both Ike and Tina Turner than this film conveys--but what it does show it presents with considerable power and conviction, and by the time Tina finally hits back at Ike you'll be roaring for her to hit him again--and again--and again--and eager to see her finally triumph entirely on her own. Recommended.