Harlem Nights
Harlem Nights
R | 17 November 1989 (USA)
Harlem Nights Trailers

'Sugar' Ray is the owner of an illegal casino and must contend with the pressure of vicious gangsters and corrupt police who want to see him go out of business. In the world of organised crime and police corruption in the 1920s, any dastardly trick is fair.

Reviews
Interesteg What makes it different from others?
Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece
Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.
SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling
Predrag Both Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx are not with us anymore, but this is here. This film shows us the comedic talent of both these men, and to have stars like Eddie Murphy, Danny Aiello, and Della Reese is delicious icing on the cake. Pryor as Sugar Ray and Murphey as Quick try to keep a vicious mobster from taking over their business. As you might think, they turn the tables on the bad buys! Jasmine Guy stands out particularly as the mobster's girlfriend, and so does Della Resse as the hard-fighting madam with a heart of gold.The style and feel of the film is perfectly evocative of the thirties, and although the plot is rather derivative, its pulled together by a great supporting cast including Redd Foxx, Charlie Murphy and Arsenio Hall. The one major flaw is that Richard Pryor is miscast as the straight guy to Eddies hot headed youngster, but on the other hand it shows he could play more subtle roles if needed. Overall rating: 8 out of 10.
popcorninhell Harlem Nights is an ostentatious late-eighties crime comedy written and directed by the affable Eddie Murphy during the apex of his career. The film details the rags-to-riches rise of a crime boss named Sugar Ray (Pryor) and his high swinging Harlem jazz club during the 1920's and 30's. Branding himself as a bit of a bon vivant, Ray willingly embraces illegal hooch, prostitution and gambling. To help him, he takes the young Quick (Murphy), a street tough-turned second-in-command, under his wing. Unfortunately years of easy success brings un-welcomed competition from New York mafia head Bugsy Calhoune (Lerner) and envious scorn from corrupt cops and the white establishment at- large.The plot then hinges on what the denizens of Harlem's bootlegger class will ultimately do to save face. Ray, a fair-minded and uncommonly cautious miscreant wants to gather his chips and skip town while Quick is itching for a fight. Much of the film's moral messaging is dropped in the fast-paced conversations between Ray and Quick - Ray of course being the voice of reason. "What are they gonna put on your tombstone? 'Here lies a man, 27 years old. He died, but he ain't no punk.' Hey man, that's bulls**t." Ray's words tower over the movie like a totem.The mood of Harlem Nights veers wildly from low-brow comedy to a fiery mobster film, even within the same scene. All the while, Eddie Murphy's motor-mouth delivery, Richard Pryor's innocuous bumbling and the gruff inclusion of Red Foxx, keeps the seams of this film from popping open with reckless abandon. It's an uneasy mix. One which nearly breaks its ability to transport in tone-deaf scenes that include Arsenio Hall as a bereaved hood and Della Reese as Sugar Ray's resident madam. It's easy to see why Harlem Nights was initially panned given three generations of comedic giants are on screen yet none go for the big titters.Yet what Harlem Nights accomplishes goes beyond a cursory look at the film's rocky production history (rumor is Pryor and Murphy did not get along). With this film comes a time capsule - a lovingly developed recreation of the Harlem Renaissance as told by those who have a stake in seeing that period on the big screen. Being enveloped by Harlem Nights means visiting the busy epicenter of a foreign country that no longer exists. It's overwhelming, jarring and even a little scary but you can't deny its vibrancy.Thus the language may be a little blue, but it does come with unfettered urgency. The humor may be too broad and mean but it dozily leans on some incredibly lush world-building. There are no big comedic payoffs in the traditional sense, but there is a heart to this picture that channels the oral-history, stubborn divergence and tumult of the Harlem Renaissance. Surely we can give a film a second chance based on that alone, cant we?
Michael Rae This is the first movie i remember with the brothers actually don't die early and come out on top. its quite funny and my favorite line is at the end when cantone says to quick i cant for the life of me figure out why you want to make a withdrawal from a bank closed for 5 years and quick responds not making a withdrawal but making a deposit You. and cantone says not much air and quick says if you take short breaths you may last an hour or two. It is one of my top 5 behind shawshank redemption, dirty harry, the good bad and ugly and the longest yard (original). this movie is too funny. and Bennie (red foxx) needs some glasses. della reece is good also with arsenio hall crying and shooting his brother in the back of the head. then that one shot pistol.
Andrew Jerome Harlem Nights" is beyond bad - it's narcissistic, misogynistic and extremely mean-spirited. There's maybe two funny moments in this shrill directorial bomb from Eddie Murphy, and breaks absolutely no new ground in its tale of gangsters, speakeasies and double-crosses. In this limping vanity production, Murphy's script isn't in the least bit clever or surprising, his characters are bland and the dialogue is stultifying. Murphy hasn't done as well by himself, though. His directorial work is amateurish at best. And as a performer he looks as if he is in agony, as if his mother made him stand in front of the camera for punishment. The script is painfully workmanlike, the pacing is comatose and the entire movie radiates a sense of overindulgence.