Purple Rain is a 1984 movie directed by Albert Magnoli and written by him and William Blinn. Prince stars in this semi-autobiographical movie, which is very clearly developed around him and his particular talents.

The movie is tied in to the album of the same name, which spawned three chart-topping singles: the opening number "Let's Go Crazy," "Purple Rain," and "When Doves Cry." Much of the movie's cinematography, by Donald Thorin, is closer to that of 1980s music videos than conventional film.

Prince plays "The Kid", an aspiring Minneapolis musician with a difficult home life. He runs into singer Apollonia Kotero and they become involved in an untidy relationship. The plot centres around Prince trying not to repeat the pattern of his abusive father (Clarence Williams III ) and keep his group, The Revolution, and his relationship with his girlfriend, together. His main antagonist is fellow musician Morris Day and his group The Time. But the plot is only a very light pretext for including the soundtrack. Oddly, excluding Prince, almost every actor in the movie uses their actual name for their character.

The movie idea was apparently developed by Prince during his Triple Threat tour. Initially with a rather darker and more coherent script, Prince had intended to play opposite girlfriend Vanity, until they fell out. Her role was offered to Jennifer Beals before going to Apollonia.

The movie won an Academy Award for Original Music Score.