Harlem Nights (1989) - Murphy in over his head as writer/director/co-star

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The two stars in contrasting suits are "up to something big" on this stylish poster for Eddie Murphy's Harlem Nights

A guy, who as a boy becomes a murderer for gambling nightclub owner Ray, as an adult works as his right-hand man, as a white man moves in to try to take their 'cake' away from them.

 

Harlem Nights is written and directed by debuting Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop II (1987, story)), who also co-stars as said right-hand man.

Harlem Nights is dead on arrival, an incredible bore and very long to sit through. The tone and genre is hard to define, - the public at the time would also likely have been confused by the poster above, which seems to recall such fare as George Roy Hill's masterpiece The Sting (1973) instead of anything resembling the comedies hitherto connected to Murphy's 1980s super-star status. In any case Harlem Nights is neither funny, touching nor exciting. Not Murphy, not Richard Pryor (Wild in the Streets (1968)), not Danny Aiello (Wilbur Falls (1998)) - nor any of the other stars in it raise matters.

Furthermore the language is extremely filthy and there are plenty of noisy but uninteresting shooting scenes. Just about the only quality to attribute Harlem Nights is the colorful visuals and the exterior street scenes, which have some nice visual texture to them.

 

Related posts:

 

Eddie Murphy: Tower Heist (2011) - Ratner's so-so financial crisis comedy (co-star) 

Shrek the Third (2007) - Declined quality but still loads of fun to be had with third Shrek (voice co-star)

Dreamgirls (2006) - Rousing star turns in unreal and sentimental musical (co-star)

Shrek 2 (2004) - Fun and adventure reign supreme in tremendous family animation romp (voice co-star)

Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) - Murphy brings down the house (star)

Bowfinger (1999) or, Making Chubby Rain (co-star) 

Mulan (1998) - Another fine Disney animation (voice co-star)

Another 48 Hrs. (1990) - More of the same from your buddies Hill, Murphy & Nolte (co-writer/co-star) 

Coming to America (1988) - Landis and Murphy's second, amusing but less well-constructed collaboration (star/story) 

The Golden Child (1986) - Get silly with this! (star)

48 Hrs. (1982) or, Reluctant Partners! (co-star)

 

Watch a TV spot for the film here

 

Cost: 30 mil. $

Box office: 95 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.16 times its cost)

[Harlem Nights was released 17 November (USA) and runs 116 minutes. Shooting took place from April - July in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #1 to a 16 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends (#2-#3) in the top 5 and grossed 60.8 mil. $ (64 % of the total gross). It was nominated for the Best Costumes Oscar, lost to Henry V. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Murphy said about the experience in 1990: "It wasn’t a pleasurable experience. I just wanted to direct—just to see if I can do it. And I found out that I can’t, and I won’t do it anymore. And the biggest thing is I didn’t enjoy doing it. The problem with Harlem Nights wasn’t the directing as much as it was the writing of it. It was just written fucked up, and that’s because I threw it together real quick. And then it was disappointing because Richard wasn’t the way I thought Richard was gonna be. I thought it would be like a collaborative thing where I would get to work with my idol, and then it would be like, “This is great.” But Richard would come to the set, say his line and leave, it wasn't like a collaborative thing." Pryor talked highly of Murphy around the time of the film's release but later in his autobiography stated: "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 never directed again but returned as a star in Another 48 Hrs. (1990). Pryor returned in Another You (1991). Harlem Nights is rotten at 23 % with a 3.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Harlem Nights?