Don't Believe the Hype

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Father and son team Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor) and Quick (Eddie Murphy) run a successful gambling establishment which in turn causes them to upset local mobster Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner). Sugar Ray and Quick's lucrative business is netting them between $10,000 and $15,000 and upon learning this, Calhoune demands two thirds of their takings in order for Sugar and Quick to continue trading. Sugar and Quick refuse to give in to Calhoune's unreasonable demands and hatch a cunning plan to take down the notorious mobster.Murphy has certainly put a lot of effort into giving this a 1920's/1930's feel to it; the set designs, vehicles etc all look pretty authentic. It's a shame really that he didn't put as much thought, care or effort into anything else in the film.The first thing I noticed about this film is that Murphy never really seemed sure about what direction he wanted to take the film in; I initially thought that this was going to be some kind of parody of mob life and gangsters (the name Bugsy Calhoune is presumably a play on 'Bugsy Malone'), but aside from the amusing opening scene the film isn't actually very funny and a lot of the time it's far too serious for it to work as an out and out parody. The story in itself isn't a bad one, but Murphy offers very little in the way of tension; the idea of a mob boss who runs New York coming after two small-time business men should present an intimidating scenario, but Calhoune is not a particularly terrifying presence and even when he's supposed to be intimidating Sugar and Quick I never really felt scared for them.The film also takes a very long time to get going and the first half of the film seems a little self-indulgent - there's a lot of fighting and squabbling and lots of things happening in the first half that do little to move things forward - I personally felt that a lot of these things were done for their amusement rather than ours).I think the thing that probably ruined the film the most for me was Arsenio Hall; after putting in a great performance in Coming To America he literally puts in a 'nails on the chalkboard' performance in Harlem Nights. His whiny, irritating character and embarrassing overacting almost single-handedly ruined the film. It could also be argued that Murphy didn't get the best performance out of Richard Pryor either; Pryor is at his best when he's given a character to work with and when he's able to act daft, but Murphy has Pryor playing his character a little too straight and this also makes this a lesser film in my opinion. Like Pryor, Murphy underplays his character slightly and shows more restraint than we're used to seeing from him, but this also works slightly against the picture and results in it being more dull than it should have been. By contrast Danny Aiello probably gave the best performance and seemed to have fun, but without hamming it up.The bottom line is that it falls short on laughs, the dramatic aspects don't work too well and the film lacks any real menace or intensity. Even if you're a fan of Pryor or Murphy I'd still suggest that you skip this one.

Putting Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx in the same movie clearly wasn't a bad idea. Instead, the bad idea came in the form of Murphy deciding he could write, direct and produce that movie.Everyone in this film felt like they were wasting their talent. There's something about Della Reese saying "kiss my ass" for the twentieth time that makes it not funny anymore.As for the plot, its dramatic and comedic parts conflict with each other, as if Murphy got the script to a really bad mafia movie and then decided to put some lousy jokes in it.The movie should have been subtitled "Three Iconic Black Comedians Get Outclassed by Arsenio Hall Crying and Screaming for Five Minutes."

There has never been a film have so many African American classic comedians, actors and celebrities in one film. I really respect and appreciate Eddie Murphy doing this film. It is really good to see so many of these actors looking so good (Robin Harris, Richard Pryor, Redd Fox, etc.). A lot of them or no longer with us. I loved the fact that he put Roberto Duran in for a brief cameo. I loved what Arsenio Hall did as well. It was good to see blacks in a film figuring out how to get their piece of the pie in an already corrupt environment. It was double bad for blacks in that time period. Nice to see that their was a group like this that managed to live well and do their own thing. I hadn't seen anything like it until I saw this film. I feel like there were definitely stories coming out of Hollywood that avoided these kinds of topics.

While definitely not being a masterpiece "Harlem Nights" is a movie most people should enjoy. First of all a lot of great actors are in it - including legendary Richard Pryor (although his illness at this time was very obvious, and his physical acting is extremely limited. You can see he's having a hard time moving his hands and body), Red Foxx, Eddie Murphy of course, Jasmine Guy and many others... I think it was pretty well written, and if Murphy would've kept it at being a straight drama, the outcome would've been much better. Don't get me wrong, the comedy parts are kept to a minimum, but almost all of them are awful, repetitive and just not funny. It's labeled as comedy/drama, but it's mostly drama. As a drama/action movie, it would be very good. The acting was very good by most actors, and I'm sure a better director would've made "Harlem Nights" a bigger success, because it sure had potential - with the story, and great actors involved. The bottom line is that critics were way too harsh with this one. But the audience is the better judge here, and it was successful at the box offices, so it wasn't that bad after all, was it?