Harlem Nights * (1989, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Danny Aiello, Michael Lerner, Della Reese) – Classic Movie Review 9158

Danny Aiello stars as Phil Cantone in Harlem Nights (1989).

Writer-executive producer-director-star Eddie Murphy’s 1989 Thirties gangster movie Harlem Nights is a very handsome-looking film, produced on opulent sets, with a terrific score by Herbie Hancock and soundtrack by Duke Ellington, and charismatic acting from Richard Pryor (as Sugar Ray), Redd Foxx (as Bennie Wilson), Danny Aiello (as Phil Cantone), Michael Lerner (as Irish mobster Bugsy Calhoune) and Della Reese (as Vera). Joe I Tompkins was Oscar nominated for Best Costume Design.

But Murphy has given himself an unattractive, alienating role as Harlem illegal gambling house owner Quick, a smiling murderer who doesn’t flinch from punching a woman, and his own script and direction are both extremely slack. Harlem Nights is an uneasy, violent, occasionally dislikeable entertainment, but it is undemandingly watchable.

Pryor plays a Harlem club boss and Murphy plays his adopted son, who together take on protection racket mobster (Aiello).

Also in the cast are Berlinda Tolbert, Stan Shaw, Jasmine Guy, Vic Polizos, Lela Rochon, David Marciano, Thomas Mikal Ford, Uncle Ray Murphy Robin Harris, and Arsenio Hall in a cameo as a Crying Man.

Harlem Nights is directed by Eddie Murphy, runs 115 minutes, is made by Eddie Murphy Productions and Paramount Pictures, is released by Paramount, is written by Eddie Murphy, is shot in Technicolor by Woody Omens, produced by Eddie Murphy (executive producer), Robert D Wachs and Mark Lipsky, is scored by Herbie Hancock, and is designed by Lawrence G Paull.

Murphy got two Golden Raspberry Award nominations for Worst Director and Worst Screenplay, and it won the 1990 Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay. And it won the 1989 Stinkers Bad Movie Award for Worst Picture.

Pryor recalled he ‘never connected with Eddie. People talked about how my work had influenced Eddie, and perhaps it did. But I always thought Eddie’s comedy was mean. I used to say “Eddie, be a little nice” and that would piss him off. I finished Harlem Nights thinking that Eddie didn’t like me.’

Murphy recalled that his jokes with Pryor, Foxx, Harris, and Reese on set were much funnier than anything in the film.

It cost $30,000,000 and grossed $60,864,870 in the US.

It is the final cinema movie of Redd Foxx.

The F-word is spoken 133 times.

The movie remains the only movie directed by Murphy, who felt that he didn’t dedicate enough thought or care to the direction and was more concerned with figuring out where the next party was going to be. Murphy won a Golden Globe for Dreamgirls (2006) and is a nominee for Dolemite Is My Name (2019).

Though set in Harlem, the entire film is shot in Los Angeles.

The film’s story of Irish mobster Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner) trying to take over Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor)’s night club to control black Harlem is inspired by the battle between Jewish gangster Dutch Schultz and black gangster Bumpy Johnson to control Harlem’s numbers rackets in the mid-Thirties.

The soundtrack features seven tracks by Duke Ellington: ‘Black Beauty”, “Mood Indigo”, “Take The ‘A’ Train”, “The Gal From Joe’s”, “Sophisticated Lady”, “Drop Me Off In Harlem”, and “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)’.

RIP Danny Aiello (1933–2019), who stars as Phil Cantone in Harlem Nights (1989).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9158

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