Harlem Nights
Harlem Nights is an American comedy film directed by and with Eddie Murphy from 1989 .
action
The action takes place in Harlem at the beginning of the 20th century. The shop owner Sugar Ray is attacked by a man. Vernest Brown, a young boy, defends Sugar Ray by shooting the attacker in the head. After Ray learns that Vernest no longer has parents, he decides to take the boy in and raise him up. Because of his quick comprehension, the boy is only called "Quick".
Twenty years later, Ray and Quick started a nightclub called Club Sugar Ray with gambling, dancing and also a brothel run by Vera. Your competitor Bugsy Calhoune wants to take over the business and the corrupt policeman Phil Cantone supports him. The fight for the club flares up in full force and many of those involved die. Ray and Quick have to use all their skills and lots of tricks to hold their own against Calhoune, playing off his own people against him. In the end, however, their club is burned down by Calhoune. Sugar Ray and Quick can save themselves, but otherwise have lost everything and decide to leave town.
Ray and Quick take one last look at Harlem. They know that they can never return and that there will never be another city like this for them.
background
Harlem Nights is Eddie Murphy's only directorial work. The film was shot in New York City . The film was a financial success that grossed $ 95 million versus a budget of $ 30 million. In the cinemas of the United States alone, he played more than 60 million US dollars a.
Actor Redd Foxx can be seen in his last film in Harlem Nights , because he died in 1991. Murphy's brother Charly , on the other hand, plays here in his first film. The film was released by Paramount Pictures on November 17, 1989.
Reviews
Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on November 17, 1989 that the film was an uninspired mix of Cotton Club and the characters developed by Damon Runyon . The story is told in cliché. The dialogues would not correspond to the 1930s. Eddie Murphy is a talented and funny actor, but he needs a better screenwriter and director than himself.
Desson Howe wrote in the Washington Post on November 24, 1989 that it appeared that Eddie Murphy didn't care whether the film was good or bad. The characters other than the one Murphy plays himself are reduced. The critic suspected that Murphy was surrounded by people who would cheer any idea Murphy had.
The lexicon of international films wrote that the film was "despite great effort, a disappointingly sterile directorial debut" by Eddie Murphy and a "conventional" crook comedy ", overstretched and without any particular joke".
Cinema magazine wrote that the “opulent furnishings” could not “hide the poor story”.
Awards
Joe I. Tompkins was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design in 1990 . Eddie Murphy received the Golden Raspberry Award in 1990 for the script and was nominated for another Golden Raspberry Award for directing.
Web links
- Harlem Nights in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Harlem Nights at rotten tomatoes (English)
- Harlem Nights at Metacritic (English)
- Harlem Nights in the online movie database
- Harlem Nights in the German dubbing index
Individual evidence
- ↑ Filming locations for Harlem Nights , accessed July 20, 2007.
- ↑ Box office / business for Harlem Nights , accessed July 20, 2007
- ^ Review by Roger Ebert , accessed on July 20, 2007
- ^ Review by Desson Howe , accessed July 20, 2007
- ↑ Harlem Nights. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed July 20, 2007 .
- ↑ Harlem Nights , cinema.de, accessed July 20, 2007