I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning watching this movie, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I thought the acting was wonderful, especially the stars Laurence Fishburn and Angela Bassett as Ike and Tina Turner. The 1993 movie is based on legendary singer Tina Turner’s autobiography “I, Tina.”

For me the movie was an emotional grabber from the beginning. Little Anna Mae Bullock “had the music in her” as a young child, but she wasn’t able to really be herself trying to sing in the church choir, whose director didn’t approve of her “jivin’’” and dragged her out by the ear. Deserted by her mother as a young child, Anna Mae (later Tina) knew what it felt like to be left behind. That’s one of the things that kept her staying with Ike long after he had become abusive. She couldn’t stand to hurt him. (typical of an abusive relationship).

In the late 1950’s, teenaged Anna Mae traveled from Nutbush, Tennessee, to St. Louis to finally live with her mother and sister. That is where she met Ike, who recognized her talent the minute he heard her sing, and she fell in love with him. Ike’s selfishness showed early with the mother of his two older children, who he never married. In fact, Tina raised those boys along with her own. When her baby was born (before she and Ike were married) he refused to believe the doctor that Tina was sick with anemia and needed a long rest. Instead he sneaked her out of the hospital and to Mexico for a wedding before taking her on the road. He couldn’t let her mess up his big break; the time was right, he said. And their career started to take off.

The movie follows the couple’s music career as Tina’s fame flamed Ike’s insecurities. As he snorted cocaine, his verbal and physical abuse of her increased until Tina finally gathered her strength and courage to flee the marriage.

the acting in this movie. Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburn both did an excellent job in their roles, and the musical scenes were first rate.

watch it again, soon. And to wonder, what ever became of Ike Turner?

admiration for Tina Turner for her strength and courage. It was a very powerful scene when Tina-- battered and bleeding--fled the hotel while Ike was sleeping, rushed across the busy street, and told the manager of the Ramada Inn who she was. She told him she had 32 cents in her pocket, but if he would give her a room she would pay him back. It was hard to have much sympathy for Ike Turner by the end of the movie, although Fishburn made him very attractive at the beginning.

it was exciting to watch. The final scene flows from Angela Bassett to the real Tina Turner singing the title song, “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”

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Created May 06, 2007 at 10:59pm • Submit your own review...