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HARLEM NIGHTS
Review by Gordon Justesen
Stars: Eddie Murphy,
Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Della Reese, Danny Aiello, Michael Lerner, Jasmine
Guy, Arsenio Hall
Director: Eddie Murphy
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround, French Dolby Stereo
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Studio: Paramount
Features: Theatrical Trailer
Length: 115 Minutes
Release Date: January 29, 2002
“C’mon now, Vera, put that
razor away! I’m warning you, put that razor away or I’m gonna shoot your
pinky toe off!”
“Oh! Now your gonna shoot me in
my pinky toe.”
“Bitch, I’m not playin’. You
gonna be the nine-toe havingest, limpin’est bitch in Harlem, you don’t put
that razor away!”
What a beating Harlem Nights got in its initial
release. The movie, which marked Eddie Murphy’s directorial debut, was a
moderate success at the box office, though it didn’t pull in the big box
office bucks Murphy’s previous films, such as Coming to America and the
Beverly Hills Cop movies. The biggest blows of all came from the critics,
many of which did not hesitate to include this among their list of the worst
movies of the year. It looks as if the movie got targeted by those who had heard
all the so-called hype surrounding the film, and Harlem Nights certainly
had some hype. Not only did you have Eddie Murphy directing, but you also had
him starring in the lead alongside the all-time comedy great, Richard Pryor, a
combination that one could only dream of. Having the chance to finally see the
movie after all these years, thanks to its arrival on DVD, I found the movie was
not a remarkably great movie, but a sharp and roaringly funny piece of
entertainment, good for many a laugh.
The movie recalls the nightclub days of Harlem in the late
30s. You could sort of call it The Cotton Club with laughs. Murphy, as a
director, has done a much impressive job of recreating the era, from the streets
to the glitzy nightclub atmosphere. The movie opens in 1913, as card dealer and
supplier Sugar Ray (Pryor) gets a harsh threat from an angry gambler who accuses
him of cheating him out. When the man pulls a knife out, the man is then shot
and killed instantly, not by Sugar Ray, or any of his associates, but by a young
boy standing next to Ray. He then adopts the boy, who has no family, and cut to
twenty five years later, and he is now working for him as his right hand. The
man’s named is simply Quick (Murphy).
Sugar Ray is now the proud owner of the most popular
nightclub in all of Harlem, Club Sugar Ray’s, and Quick has long been at
Ray’s side to prevent any muscle from taking over. The club is taking in over
$15,000 a week, a notion that attracts the attention of local rival gangster
Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner). Bugsy then organizes a combination of crooked
cops and femme fatales to assist him in putting pressure on Quick and Ray to
issue some of their money to him weekly; $10,000 a week to be precise.
For Quick and Sugar Ray, handling a problem like this is,
if anything, a cinch, even if it’s a complicated scenario like the one they
devise to fool Bugsy. It’s a clever scheme that is somewhat similar to that of
the flawless heist set up George Clooney and company in the recent Ocean’s
Eleven, which needless to say, excels this film by a thousand miles. It
involves looting a bunch of money during the night of a boxing match. I won’t
go into great detail, because it needs to be seen to be enjoyed.
Harlem Nights does consist of many supporting
characters, which may be a weakness in some cases, but in this case they result
in some of the movie’s biggest laughs. One such scene is when Quick is pursued
in a chase by a gun crazy crybaby (Arsenio Hall) who has mistaken Quick for his
brother’s killer. And I could not stop howling at an early scene in the movie
when Quick goes head to head with gargantuan Vera (Della Reese), who runs the
showgirls of the nightclub.
Critics disliked the movie immensely, but many audiences have seem to somewhat embrace this movie. It’s rare to see comedic legends like Murphy and Pryor in the same movie, and for that reason alone this makes a most entertaining package. Following the slamming of the critics, Murphy’s next shot at directing seems iffy. I, on the other hand, think he has a quite an eye behind the camera, especially in recreating the atmosphere of the Harlem nightlife in this movie.
I can’t help but
conclude after viewing this disc that Paramount didn’t have faith in this
particular release. Either that, or some of the film stock was simply hard to
convert to the digital format. However, this is one of the weaker transfers
I’ve seen from Paramount in quite a while. It starts out with some promise, as
several opening scenes appear quite clear and alive. But for the most part, what
follows is an on-again-off-again series of grain and image softness, which seem
to pop up for a few seconds in nearly every other scene. For a movie that takes
place completely at night, I guess this was the only way to convert the film.
The audio job presents
itself a tad bit better than that of the video. Paramount issues a moderate
sounding 5.1 Digital track that stands out mostly during the scenes involving
rampant gunfire and background music. Other such scenes, including mostly
dialogue-oriented scenes, all appear to come from the front area.
Only a trailer.
Summary: