After viewing Colors you have got to wonder about what our Founding Fathers had in mind when that Second Bill of Rights was passed to amend the Constitution. I don't think this is what they had in mind concerning the right to bear arms.

Colors is a film about gang wars in Los Angeles and it's seen through the eyes of two police officers on the gang task force. Older officer Robert Duvall and his young new partner Sean Penn. Penn's a young man in a big hurry looking to make an impression. Duvall is just trying to live through the day and make retirement.

Penn gets quite a lesson in police work and in life from Duvall and from his days on the gang task force. His involvement with Maria Conchita Alonso who's seeing it from both sides helps a bit too for Sean, though not how he'd have liked it.

Don Cheadle and Trinidad Silva lead a good supporting cast of gang bangers. If you don't recognize him because he hasn't bulked up yet, see Mario Lopez in a small role as a kid who Sean Penn sprays with a can of spray paint to give him an object lesson on the evils of tagging.

Duvall and Penn do a fine job each. I doubt this film is on the National Rifle Association recommended list.

Young brash officer Danny McGavin (Sean Penn) is newly teamed up with old veteran officer Bob Hodges (Robert Duvall). They patrol the gang infested neighborhoods of East L.A. between the Bloods and the Crips as well as the Latino gangs. McGavin is hot for Louisa (María Conchita Alonso). While McGavin is itching to make arrests, Hodges tries to stay in touch with the gangs. The duo gets into the middle of a complicated gang battle.

Director Dennis Hopper is trying to bring some sort of gritty realism and stereotypes to this Hollywood construct. All the 80s gang stereotypes are here but it's done well. There are some great minority actors. In addition to Penn and Duvall, they form wide range of colors to give a wide swath of life in the streets. It's wild and random as it paves the way for other gangster rap movies of its kind in the 90s and its accompanying cop drama. Heck this is years before 'Boyz n the Hood'. It's probably the first time a lot of this gang inner workings is seen on screen. It's the first time I noticed somebody being beaten into a gang. Looking back, the stereotypes and the lingo can make this look dated but that time has come and gone. The movie is bound to look dated.

Now I do understand that some read something into the movie and the way it portrays certain things. Like gang warfare and how the police "tries" to clean everything up. While I was watching it, I did not think of this as a propaganda movie, but it can easily be seen as one, to further a police is good talking point, criminals are bad.

Now remember this is a movie, even though it does everything to be as real as possible. It has more than one goal and I don't think you can overall call Hopper a friend of the police. Having said that, the spotlight is on the police and this movie made people angry enough to go out and make movies like Menace 2 Society and Boyz'N'the Hood (allegedly).

Having said that, the central performances by Penn and Duvall are extraordinary. Also you get a young Cheadle and other really good actors in this. And the dialog seems very real. The struggle to be a hot head on the streets seems also very real. Maybe there can be a lesson here ... but is it really there and can it be taught? Try to see beyond the obvious or just try to enjoy this as a movie, without any other reason if you can. It works story wise and it has enough action (even if some has not aged too well)