A Rage in Harlem.

Review #2513: A Rage in Harlem.

Cast: 

Forest Whitaker (Jackson), Gregory Hines (Goldy/Sherman), Robin Givens (Imabelle), Zakes Mokae (Big Kathy), Danny Glover (Easy Money), Badja Djola (Slim), John Toles-Bey (Jodie), Tyler Collins (Teena), Ron Taylor (Hank), Samm-Art Williams (Gus Parsons), Stack Pierce (Detective Ed "Coffin Ed" Johnson), Willard E. Pugh (Claude X), Helen Martin (Mrs. Canfield), Wendell Pierce (Louis), T. K. Carter (Smitty), Jalacy Hawkins (Jay "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins), Beatrice Winde (Clerk), and George Wallace (Detective "Gravedigger" Jones) Directed by Bill Duke.

Review: 

“I’m not interested in making ‘Black’ movies. I’m interested in making movies that reflect my reality as I perceive it.”

Honestly, this movie was lightly on my mind for a few years. You might remember that Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) and Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972) were loosely based on the works of Chester Himes involving Harlem detectives that had Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques as the stars.  But first, let's talk a bit about this being the feature film debut of Bill Duke. Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, Duke was curious about writing from a young age, mainly because he wrote a journal from a young age because in his words, he wasn't a good verbal communicator but his poems were liked by a teacher of his. He attended Dutchess Community College and was encouraged to enroll in drama that saw him want to do acting. He studied at Boston University and subsequently New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before getting a role on Broadway in 1971 with "Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death.”  Duke broke into film with Car Wash (1976) before eventually coming onto the need to study film, which he did with the AFI Conservatory. Duke became a director for a variety of television shows in the 1980s that ranged from Falcon Crest to Knots Landing. Duke made his directorial debut with the made-for-PBS The Killing Floor (1984) before moving into film with this movie. William Horberg got the rights to the Himes novel and eventually got the efforts of Stephen Woolley to get the idea of doing a film sold to Miramax Films. John Toles-Bey and Bobby Crawford were credited as having written the film. Apparently, halfway through the production, Woolley claimed that the film was meant to be a comedy and that Duke disagreed with that sentiment. At any rate, the movie made roughly $10 million. Duke's next film was with Deep Cover (1992).

You've got a movie wrapped in the vibrant atmosphere of Harlem (okay it was filmed in Cincinnati but still) that has a carefully wound-up game of wits and oddball characters for a few interesting moments (and, arguably, a few chuckles, so maybe Woolley wasn't too far off). Its tale of lust and larceny isn't too far off from a B-movie or, say, those 70s movies I had mentioned earlier that makes for a decent first effort. It doesn't exactly have every plot beat down to a T, mainly because the chemistry between the characters work far better than any motivations involving gold and sheer hokum. Of course, it also is an off-kilter romance (when not dealing in clash of street/book smart) that basically lends itself to a handful of curious moments of who really is in control of their own desires and sense of self. In that sense, Whitaker and Hines make for a couple of entertaining leads to counteract each other as if one was in a hardboiled buddy film (with perhaps a bit of a coming-of-age sprinkled in, neo-noir style). This was the first prominent film role for Givens, who previously had been featured in Head of the Class for television. She makes for a quality femme fatale, one with sultry grace that manages to have the right time of timing to make the tenuous dynamic between her and Whitaker a compelling one. There are a wide variety of characters to come and go with charm to spare, whether that involves a cross-dresser played by Mokae or with heavies in Glover and Djola (or Williams, but he is only in it for a while). In general, the film is quick on its feet to make its 115-minute runtime feel like a breeze worth passing through to see it play all the way to the finish that manages to hit most of the right notes for a fairly satisfying first effort.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars. 

Another Movie Night Song of the day

Hollywood Shuffle.

Review #2348: Hollywood Shuffle.

Cast: 

Robert Townsend (Bobby Taylor), Anne-Marie Johnson (Lydia), Craigus R. Johnson (Stevie Taylor), Helen Martin (Bobby's Grandmother), Starletta DuPois (Bobby's Mother), David McKnight (Uncle Ray), Keenen Ivory Wayans (Donald), Lou B. Washington (Tiny), Brad Sanders (B. B. Sanders/Batty Boy), John Witherspoon (Mr. Jones), Eugene Robert Glazer (Director), Lisa Mende (Casting Director), and Dom Irrera (Writer) Directed by Robert Townsend (#1315 - Eddie Murphy Raw)

Review: 

There is always enough time to do a movie where with an actor-star double threat, and this time is no different here. Born in Chicago, Robert Townsend found an interest in acting as a teenager, even in the face of studying at Illinois State University, as he found that his passion for acting, whether in workshops, standup, or appearances in movies such as Cooley High [1975] and A Soldier's Story [1984]. Incidentally, Townsend auditioned for Saturday Night Live in 1980 only to be passed over for Eddie Murphy. When it came to this movie, Townsend shifted interest into directing by the early 1980s and he would bring the help of Keenan Ivory Wayans (who he had known for a handful of years) into writing the film together, which was funded by a row of pre-approved credit card applications. The movie was shot over the course of nearly two years (while actually only having filming done in fourteen days) because Townsend had to make sure the budget would not go under by going on tour with his standup routines. As it turned out, the scene in the film involving looking for “Eddie Murphy-type,” was so amusing to Murphy that when he saw the movie, he asked for Townsend to direct the concert film Eddie Murphy Raw, which was released a few months after Shuffle. In his career, Townsend has directed seven theatrical films to go along with occasional acting roles and work in television, as highlighted by works such as The Five Heartbeats and The Parent 'Hood.

Technically the movie could be thought of as a sketch movie, because there are a handful of vignettes dedicated to making light of certain experiences and viewpoints, whether that involves a "Black Acting School" or, well, making light of Siskel & Ebert with "Sneaking into the Movies". One finds a clear passion by Townsend in poking at people who seem to believe that people have look and act a certain type of way just to even be considered for movies, right down to having a character even remark that it isn't about the art for them but the "sequel". It stings to see the depths people will go in treating people as cogs to throw in and out on a whim and asks the question of what it takes to "play the game" when it really is a matter of one's soul on the selling line. Sure, it comes and goes in getting its target down with bite to match, but it manages to hold together for 78 minutes with pretty game people for those bits spent in mockery, such as the vignette about a private eye is particularly funny to play with the cliches in sharp energy. Others come and go in varying levels of interest, whether that involves the interludes spent in dead-end nature with Witherspoon/Wayans/Washington or the sharp seasonable presence in Martin or most significantly, the one-scene wonder with the helpful McKnight. I like the last sequences in showing a key message not merely by preaching to the pulpit but by just showing how it looks to people around them (and one callback about making a honest living). Life will crush you down regardless of one's race, but that doesn't mean you have to let your dream pass you by. In that sense, Hollywood Shuffle has relevant chuckles at the expense of an industry that likes to pigeon-hole people in a certain way that can only be remedied by looking at the options laid in front of them and moving forward on one's own path. In short: it is a biting movie with a good deal of laughs.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.