Harlem Nights

Harlem Nights is a 1989 American crime comedy-drama film starring and directed by Eddie Murphy, who also wrote. The film co-stars Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx (in his last film appearance before his death in 1991), Danny Aiello, Michael Lerner, Della Reese, and Murphy's older brother Charlie. The film was released theatrically on November 17, 1989, by Paramount Pictures. The film tells the story of "Sugar" Ray and Vernest "Quick" Brown as a team running a nightclub in the late 1930s in Harlem while contending with gangsters and corrupt police officials. Harlem Nights was Eddie Murphy's only directorial effort. He had always wanted to direct and star in a period piece, as well as work with Pryor, whom he considered his greatest influence in stand-up comedy. Reviewers panned the film, with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert choosing Harlem Nights as ranking among the worst films of 1989. At the 10th Golden Raspberry Awards, Murphy won the Razzie for Worst Screenplay. Despite having a strong opening, the $30-million film was a disappointment at the box office, grossing $60,864,870 million domestically and $95 million worldwide, about half the gross of Murphy's previous hit pictures. Plot In 1918, Harlem, small-time hustler Sugar Ray is running a craps game. Nearly killed by an angry gambler who threatens him with a switchblade, Ray is saved by seven-year-old errand boy Vernest Brown, who shoots the man with Ray's gun. After being told that his parents are dead, Ray decides to raise the boy as his own, naming him "Quick" on account of his savvy. Twenty years later, Ray and Quick, now wealthy club owners, run a nightclub called "Club Sugar Ray", with gambling and dancing in the front, and a brothel in the back that's run by Ray's old friend Madame Vera.