Film Review: Harlem Nights (1989)

When film stars used to be bigger than they are today, film studios were quite willing to indulge them with various vanity projects that, in retrospect, turned out to be misguided. In late 1980s Eddie Murphy is Hollywood’s top comic and, as such, didn’t have to work hard to realise his dream project – a period piece in which he would star with his idol and role model Richard Pryor. The result was 1989 crime comedy Harlem Nights, which also represented Murphy’s directorial debut.

The plot is set in late 1930s New York and Murphy, who also produced and wrote the film, appears in the role of Vernest “Quick” Brown, adopted son and right hand man of “Sugar” Ray (played by Richard Pryor), candy store owner who actually runs a classy and popular night club in Harlem. Sugar Ray’s club, which also serves as casino and brothel, is so profitable that he brings attention of white mobster Bugsy Calhoune (played by Michael Lerner). He sends corrupt police sergeant Phil Cantone (played by Danny Aiello) to Sugar Ray, demanding two thirds of the profit. Knowing that he couldn’t stand to Calhoune and his gang in open fight, Sugar Ray and Quick develop a scheme around upcoming boxing match featuring champion Jack Jenkins (played by Stan Shaw). They bet against him, making Calhoune believe that the match is fixed and when he starts making large bets against Jenkins, Sugar Ray and Quick have a plan how to steal the money.

Harlem Nights had more than decent budget, which allowed late 1930s Harlem to be faithfully recreated in Los Angeles studios. Herbie Hancock provided good music score, complemented by classic jazz hits. What this film didn’t have was coherent script. Murphy was obviously inspired by popular period crime comedy Sting and had the plot also partially inspired on real life 1930s rivarly between black mobster Bumpy Johnson and white mobster Dutch Schutltz. However, his sense of humour utterly failed him. Harlem Nights is simply not funny and in many scenes it is too violent or mean-spirited. Quick is actually portrayed as cold-blooded killer and at many times violent towards women, especially in supposedly funny but actually unpleasant fight scene between him and Vera Walker, madam at Sugar Ray’s club (played by famous jazz singer Della Reece). Use of foul language at most inappropriate occasions also at times make the film sound anachronistic. Richard Pryor, on the other hand, gives surprising amount of dignity to the film, but he, just like the comic legend Redd Foxx who plays Sugar Ray’s croupier in his last screen role, can’t rescue this film from turning into major disappointment. Although it had some success at the box office, Harlem Nights was savaged by critics and Murphy received Razzie for Worst Screenplay. He never directed again, later explaining the failure of the film with his inexperience as director. His career would recover in 1990s, but not enough to pursue similar vanity projects.

RATING: 3/10 (+)

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