Colors is a 1988 American police procedural action crime film starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall, and directed by Dennis Hopper.

He is diplomatic on the surface, preaching "rapport" to gang members to encourage them to offer help when it is truly needed, recognizing that every action cops take is scrutinized by the people they are trying to help.

Although the pair bond quickly, life lessons are seemingly lost on the aggressive, cavalier McGavin, whose stunts soon bring him notoriety among the gang members and the regular citizens, such as attacking a graffiti artist by spraying his eyes with the paint can.

A series of seemingly random incidents culminates with the two partners finding themselves in the middle of the Crips, Bloods and Hispanic barrio war.

Its replacement is vivid yellow, resulting in McGavin being nicknamed "Pac-Man" by officers and gang members alike.

The 21st Street Gang, led by a criminal named Frog, attempts to negotiate a peace and steer clear of the violence.

The 21st Street Gang retaliates against the Crips, assaulting their building with shotguns, automatic rifles, machine pistols, and grenades.

Each group attempts to right the wrongs against their respective crews as police strive to prevent the violence and regain their authority.

Sometime later, a more reserved McGavin has a rookie partner, a black cop who grew up in the neighborhood where they patrol and sports an attitude like the "Pac-Man".

The original script by Richard Di Lello took place in Chicago and was more about drug dealing than gang members.

[5] On April 2, 1987, Sean Penn was arrested for punching an extra on the set of this film who was taking photos of him without permission.

The theme song, "Colors", was written and performed by American rapper Ice-T, and issued as the title track for the soundtrack to the film.

The film has a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 39 reviews, with the consensus; "Colors takes a hard-hitting yet nuanced look at urban gang violence, further elevated by strong performances from a pair of well-matched leads.

"[7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[8] Janet Maslin of The New York Times stated that it "has a superb eye for the poisonous flowering of gang culture amid ghetto life, and an ear to match; along with brilliant cinematography by Haskell Wexler, it's also got a fierce, rollicking sense of motion.

"[10] The Washington Post's critics, Desson Howe and Hal Hinson were split, with Howe stating that Hopper "covers the mayhem with unadorned, documentary immediacy that transcends otherwise formulaic cop-fare"[11] and Hinson stating that it "must be the least incendiary film about gang life ever made.