Harlem Nights

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Harlem Nights

Promotional poster for Harlem Nights
Directed by Eddie Murphy
Produced by Mark Lipsky
Robert D. Wachs
Written by Eddie Murphy
Starring Eddie Murphy
Richard Pryor
Redd Foxx
Danny Aiello
Michael Lerner
Della Reese
Stan Shaw
Jasmine Guy
Berlinda Tolbert
Vic Polizos
Lela Rochon
David Marciano
And Arsenio Hall
Music by Herbie Hancock
Cinematography Woody Omens
Editing by George Bowers
Alan Balsam
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) November 17, 1989 (USA)
Running time 116 min.
Country US
Language English
Budget $30,000,000 (USA)
Box office $60,864,870 (USA)
$95,900,000 (Worldwide)

Harlem Nights is a 1989 comedy-drama crime film starring Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor. The film also featured Michael Lerner, Danny Aiello, Redd Foxx, Della Reese and Murphy's brother Charlie Murphy. Murphy and Pryor star as a father-and-son team running a nightclub in late-1930s Harlem, New York while contending with gangsters and corrupt police officials.

Murphy wrote, and directed the film (Murphy was nominated for Worst Director at the 10th Golden Raspberry Awards, his only directorial effort; the film "won" Worst Screenplay) and served as an executive producer. He had always wanted to direct and star in a period piece, as well as work with Pryor, whom he considered his greatest influence in stand-up comedy. Although Harlem Nights was a critical failure, it was a financial success, grossing 3½ times the amount it cost to make it (worldwide); it is well known for starring three generations of African-American comedians (Foxx, b. 1922 d. 1991; Pryor, b. 1940 d. 2005; and Murphy, b. 1961).

Contents

[edit] Plot

 This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (January 2009)

In Harlem, New York, 1918, Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor) has a dice game going in the back of his candy store. After nearly being killed by an angry man who lost money, Ray is saved when an 8-year-old errand boy shoots the man in the head. The orphan, who goes by the name "Quick," becomes the "good luck charm" for Ray, who raises him.

Twenty years later (1938), Ray and a grown-up Quick (Eddie Murphy) now run a highly successful nightclub called "Club Sugar Ray", a speakeasy with a brothel in back run by tough-talking madam Vera (Della Reese).

In walks Tommy Smalls (Thomas Mikal Ford), who works for the notorious gangster Bugsy Calhoun (Michael Lerner) at the Pitty Pat Club, along with beautiful Miss Dominique LaRue (Jasmine Guy). Smalls and LaRue have come to check out the club and report back to Calhoun, who has received word that Club Sugar Ray is outgrossing him on a nightly basis.

Ray tells Quick not to mess with Miss LaRue as she is Calhoun's mistress. Calhoun sends corrupt police detective Phil Cantone (Danny Aiello) to threaten Ray, vowing to shut the club down unless Calhoun gets a huge cut of the action.

All but forced out of business, Ray refuses to go without first making sure he's provided for his friends and workers. An upcoming heavyweight championship fight between challenger Mickey Kirkpatrick and defending champion (and loyal Club Sugar Ray patron) Jack Jenkins (Stan Shaw) will command a lot of money. Ray's plan is to place a bet on Kirkpatrick to make Calhoun think they have talked Jenkins into throwing the fight. The plan also is to rob Calhoun's booking houses. A sexy hooker is used to distract Calhoun's bag man, Richie Vinto.

Quick goes to Tommy Smalls' apartment but finds him executed. Smalls was killed by Cantone after being accused by Calhoun of coming up short with the nightly receipts at the Pitty Pat Club. Smalls' brother (Arsenio Hall) sees Quick leaving. A car chase and gunfight ensues, Quick pursued by Smalls' brother and henchmen. In three effortless shots, Quick kills them all.

Earlier that day, Quick had received an invitation to dinner from Dominique LaRue. It turned out to be a recruiting pitch from Bugsy Calhoun, who sends Miss LaRue to seduce Quick or kill him. Quick turns the tables and kills her after they have sex.

Quick explains to Ray what has happened. Ray tells him to lie low. Cantone arrives at Club Sugar Ray, has everyone there arrested and sent to jail. Ray bails them out, then takes a last look at Club Sugar Ray, which has been gutted by a fire set by Calhoun's men.

Throughout all of this there is a love-hate relationship between Vera and Quick. After he accused Vera and her "girls" of coming up short with profits, Vera challenged Quick to a fight, which she was winning until he hit her with a garbage can. She pulled a razor on him, so he shot her pinky toe off. Ray asks him to apologize, knowing Vera views Quick like a son. He does, and tells Vera he loves her.

Vera's girl, Sunshine (Lela Rochon), successfully seduces Richie Vinto. She convinces him that she also has a pickup to make. Richie agrees to pick her up on the way to collect money for Calhoun. Richie gets into an accident with a car driven by Ray's old friend Bennie (Redd Foxx) (who is myopic and wears very thick glasses). Ray's henchman Jimmy (Charlie Murphy) has fixed the switch to the traffic light to changes from green to red).

Ray and Quick, disguised as policemen, arrive on the scene and attempt to arrest Richie. They tell him that the woman he's riding around with is actually a notorious drug dealer known as Lady Heroin. Quick attempts to switch the bag that held Calhoun's money with the one Sunshine had placed in the car, but before he can, two white policemen arrive. Richie pulls one aside and explains that he's on a run for Bugsy Calhoun, so they let him go.

The championship fight begins. Meantime, at the Pitty Pat Club, Freddy and Willie, two of Ray's men, chase out the customers, plant a bomb and leave before it blows up. At the fight, Calhoun realizes it was not fixed as he originally thought, and receives word that his club has been destroyed.

Quick and Ray arrive at a closed bank and go inside. Cantone puts a gun on them, but one of Ray's men is pointing a gun at his head. Cantone is sealed in a bank vault and warned him that there's only enough air to last until the next day. (They advise him to take sips of air instead of deep breaths, which he does.)

Calhoun returns to his home, furious. Richie arrives to deliver Calhoun's money, but the bags have been switched. His is filled with powdered sugar. Calhoun then receives a surprise visit from Vera, who tells them how she did not want to be mixed up in robbing him. She tells Bugsy where to find Ray and Quick. Believing her, Bugsy and his men arrive at Ray's house but find it empty. One of his men trips the bomb wired into the door, instantly blowing Bugsy and his men to bits.

Near the waterfront, by a sign that reads "Hoboken," Ray and Quick pay off the two white men who were disguised as policemen earlier that night. They get into their car and head for parts unknown, but agree there's no place like Harlem.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Awards

[edit] Won

[edit] Nominated

  • Golden Raspberry Award
    • Worst Director (Eddie Murphy)

[edit] Reception

Despite being embraced by audiences, the film was savaged by most critics (21% on rottentomatoes.com). Gene Siskel was both bored and offended by it and later called it one of the worst films of 1989.[1][2][3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Shooting, violence mar 'Harlem Nights' Ludington Daily News – Nov 20, 1989
  2. ^ Theater plans detectors Ludington Daily News – Nov 21, 1989
  3. ^ "MOVIE REVIEW : Eddie Murphy's 'Harlem Nights': Slick, Slack". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1989-11-17/entertainment/ca-1571_1_eddie-murphy. Retrieved 2010-11-21. 

[edit] External links
1980-1989
1990-1999
2000-2009
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