A Rage in Harlem (1991)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Bill Duke

Writers (WGA):

Chester Himes (novel)
John Toles-Bey (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

3 May 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Plot:

A beautiful black gangster's moll flees to Harlem with a trunkload of gold after a shootout, unaware that the rest of the gang...

Plot Keywords:

Moll | Gold | Harlem | Gangster | Mortuary

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Forest Whitaker	...	Jackson
Gregory Hines	...	Goldy
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	...	Coffin Ed
Willard E. Pugh	...	Claude X
Helen Martin	...	Mrs. Canfield
Wendell Pierce	...	Louis
T.K. Carter	...	Smitty

Runtime:

Spain:108 min | USA:115 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-16 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

Features the policemen Coffin Ed and the Grave Digger, also seen in the previously released Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) and Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972), both from the 1970's. Those films took place in the then contemporary 1970's (despite adapting novels written in 1965 and 1966, respectively). However, A Rage in Harlem takes place in the 1950's (when the novel was published).

Movie Connections:

Follows Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972)

Yeech!

Nasty, unforgiving, unrelenting blood sport. I watch war movies and don't bat an eye except for Saving Private Ryan, but this is downright sickening. I went because I liked Forrest Whittaker, but it was so savage, so sick with violence just for violent's sake that I was shocked. I also took a date and it was lucky that we had seen other movies together because she would have had real doubts about me if this was my kind of movie. The movie reminded me of news stories about people killing puppies and torturing cats. I still have nightmares about this movie. The reviewer for the Washington Post at the time called it an urban comedy. If this is his version of a comedy, I never want to see another one.