View source for A Rage in Harlem

{{Short description|1991 film by Bill Duke}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = A Rage in Harlem
| image          = Rage in Harlem.jpg
| caption        = Home video release poster
| alt            = A woman in a red dress, holding a gun behind her back.
| director       = [[Bill Duke]]
| producer       = Kerry Rock <br />[[Stephen Woolley]]
| writer         = John Toles-Bey <br /> Bobby Crawford
| based_on       = ''A Rage in Harlem'' by [[Chester Himes]]
| starring       = {{plainlist|
* [[Forest Whitaker]]
* [[Gregory Hines]]
* [[Robin Givens]]
* [[Zakes Mokae]]
* [[Danny Glover]]
}}
| music          = [[Elmer Bernstein]]<br />Jeff Vincent
| cinematography = [[Toyomichi Kurita]]
| editing        = Curtiss Clayton
| studio         = Palace Productions<ref name="latimes90"/>
| distributor    = [[Miramax Films]]<ref name="latimes90"/>
| released       = {{Film date|1991|5|3}}
| runtime        = 115 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $8 million<ref name="latimes90"/>
| gross          = $10.4 million (USA)<ref name="mojo"/>
}}
'''''A Rage in Harlem''''' is a 1991 American [[crime film]] directed by [[Bill Duke]] and loosely based on [[Chester Himes]]' novel ''A Rage in Harlem''. The film stars [[Forest Whitaker]], [[Danny Glover]], [[Badja Djola]], [[Robin Givens]] and [[Gregory Hines]]. Producer [[Stephen Woolley]] intended it to be a [[comedy film]],<ref name="filmprog"/> and several reviewers have described it as such,<ref name="Canby" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1991/04/a-rage-in-harlem/ |title=A Rage in Harlem &#124; Jonathan Rosenbaum |access-date=2019-10-01 |archive-date=2024-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240904191807/https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/1991/04/a-rage-in-harlem/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Gleiberman" /> but this categorization has been disputed by director Bill Duke.<ref name="filmprog"/>
The film premiered in competition at the [[1991 Cannes Film Festival|44th Cannes Film Festival]]<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/80/year/1991.html |title=Festival de Cannes: A Rage in Harlem |access-date=August 9, 2009|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref> in its Grand Palais, receiving a "five-minute [[standing ovation]]."<ref name="horberg"/>  It was also shown at the 2nd [[Stockholm International Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.stockholmfilmfestival.se/film/a_rage_in_harlem | title= A Rage in Harlem av Bill Duke | publisher= [[Stockholm International Film Festival]] | access-date= November 6, 2010 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100825190525/http://www.stockholmfilmfestival.se/film/a_rage_in_harlem | archive-date= August 25, 2010 }}</ref>
==Plot==
It is 1956, in Natchez, Mississippi. Slim and his crew, Hank and Jodie, are negotiating with Lester, a fence; they are trying to sell the gold they stole in a mining robbery. The deal goes south, and under duress Lester discloses that the only other person capable of fencing the gold is Easy Money in Harlem, New York. The Sheriff shows up, and in the confusion Imabelle, Slim's [[gun moll]], drives off with the gold in a trunk, and travels to [[New York City]].
In Harlem, Jackson is a devout and naive young man, working as a bookkeeper for H. Exodus Clay at his [[funeral parlor]]. His estranged step brother, Goldy, is a small-time hoodlum and also impersonates a priest in order sell fake "tickets to heaven." Jackson has skimped to save $1,500.
Imabelle arrives with her trunk, but has no money. She attends the Undertaker's Ball, looking for a source of support, and meets Jackson. She [[seduces]] him, and moves into his apartment.
Slim and crew travel to Harlem, and enlist Imabelle to help them take Jackson's money, using "The Blow," a scam whereby money is seemingly changed to a higher [[Denomination (currency)|denomination]] by baking it in an oven. They claim they can turn Jackson's $1,500 into $15,000, but he is reluctant at first. During the scam, the oven explodes and Slim bursts into the room, impersonating a [[United States Marshall]].
Jackson bribes Slim with $200, but must steal the money from Mr. Clay since his money is now gone. Jackson learns that Slim has "arrested" Imabelle and taken her away, so he approaches Goldy to help find her, due to his knowledge of Harlem's criminal underworld. Goldy agrees, but insists that he retains the gold. Goldy learns the crew is using the gold to run a fake gold mine scam, and gives Jackson a fake bank roll in order to lure Gus, the crew's contact man. Gus and Jackson travel to the crew's headquarters, with Goldy and Big Kathy following. Goldy overpowers Gus, then he and Big Kathy enter the apartment posing as the police. Jackson runs up to the apartment, followed closely by uniformed police and the two detectives. In the ensuing melee, Gus is shot and a police officer has acid thrown in his face. The crew escapes with Imabelle in tow, and retreat to Slim's office. Jackson, Goldy and Big Kathy acquire the hearse from Mr. Clay's funeral parlor, in order to transport the gold. The crew departs again, leaving Imabelle with the gold. They drive by as Imabelle goes down stairs, and abduct her. They stop when they see the gold, which has been transferred to the hearse, and Slim kills Big Kathy when he intervenes. Goldy leaves with Imabelle, intending to avenge his death.
Slim and crew meet with Easy Money the enact the sale of the gold, but Slim calls off the deal out of annoyance with him. There is a shoot out where Hank and Josie are killed. When Goldy bursts in, he is shot and Easy Money is mortally wounded. Slim escapes with Imabelle, and Jackson arrives to confront him. They tussle, but as Slim prepares to slit Jackson's throat it is Imabelle who shoots Slim dead. While Grave Digger and Coffin Ed apprehend Jackson for his initial theft of Mr. Clay's money, Imabelle leaves with the money from the deal, heading back to Mississippi. Mr. Clay makes bail for Jackson because he appreciates the business Jackson has drummed up for him; the money found on Slim's thugs will go towards their funerals, to be performed by Mr. Clay. Jackson hurries to the train station, where Imabelle has left $50,000 for Goldy and a similar sum for Jackson, along with a note telling him that he is too good for her. Jackson and Goldy briefly reconcile, then Jackson boards the train while leaving his money behind. Jackson and Imabelle reunite, and depart for Mississippi together.
==Cast==
* [[Forest Whitaker]] as Jackson
* [[Gregory Hines]] as Goldy/Sherman
* [[Robin Givens]] as Imabelle
* [[Zakes Mokae]] as Big Kathy
* [[Danny Glover]] as Easy Money
* [[Badja Djola]] as Slim
* John Toles-Bey as Jodie
* [[Tyler Collins (singer)|Tyler Collins]] as Teena
* [[Ron Taylor (actor)|Ron Taylor]] as Hank
* [[Samm-Art Williams]] as Gus Parsons
* [[Stack Pierce]] as Detective [[Harlem Detective|Ed "Coffin Ed" Johnson]]
* [[Willard E. Pugh]] as Claude X
* [[Helen Martin]] as Mrs. Canfield
* [[Wendell Pierce]] as Louis
* [[T. K. Carter]] as Smitty
* [[Screamin' Jay Hawkins|Jalacy Hawkins]] as Jay "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins
* [[Beatrice Winde]] as Clerk
* [[George Wallace (American comedian)|George Wallace]] as Detective [[Harlem Detective|"Gravedigger" Jones]]
==Movie compared to novel==
The novel and the movie differ significantly in several ways. In the book, Harlem is shown as gritty and seedy, while in the movie it is relatively vibrant. Imabelle and Slim are married in the book, but this in not mentioned in the movie. Gold ore, which is actually fool's gold, is central to the novel, while in the movie it is real gold. In the novel, Goldy is Jackson's
==Development==
[[William Horberg]], eventually credited as an executive producer, got the project started when he optioned the rights to Himes' novel.<ref name="horberg"/>  Hornberg, a first-time producer approached John Toles-Bey, a Chicago-based actor with no screenwriting credits, to draft the film's first script; the development effort gained steam after Hornberg met Kerry Boyle of Palace Productions, and through the efforts of Boyle and [[Stephen Woolley]], the film was sold to [[Miramax Films]] and given the [[green-light]].<ref name="horberg"/>
According to publicity leading up to the start of [[principal photography]], [[Forest Whitaker]] was the first of the two lead actors to commit to the film, described as an action-comedy with "very dark" comedy.<ref name="latimes90"/>  Whitaker among others, was consulted as Boyle and Woolley sought an African American to direct the film, doing so because they believed "maintaining the cultural integrity of the novel demanded a black director"; they also wanted "someone who was older and secure enough to collaborate and make a picture that we could distribute widely, but who still had a passion for the material."<ref name="galecbb"/>  They chose Duke in part for his experience directing ''[[Hill Street Blues]]'', experience that was key "because of the way that series mixed humor and violence."<ref name="galecbb"/>  Duke later cast [[Robin Givens]] to play the female lead after considering 300 women for the part.<ref name="galecbb"/>
==Production==
The film was shot in the [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]], neighborhood of [[Over-the-Rhine]], whose "un-[[Gentrification|gentrified area]] of the old [[Downtown Cincinnati|downtown]] lower depths stood in quite nicely for ... 1950s Harlem."<ref name="horberg"/>  About midway during production, it turned out that Duke and Woolley had undiscussed differences about the tone the film was going to take:<ref name="filmprog"/>
<blockquote>About halfway through we [Woolley and Duke] were looking at a scene, and I turned to Bill [Duke] and said 'You know, that wasn't quite as funny as it was in the script. And I don't know why. And he said to me, 'We're not making no god-damn comedy.' I'd raised the entire money for this film on the basis that it was a comedy.  It was Chester Himes, it was supposed to be funny.  And a shiver went down my spine...I hoped that Bill was joking.  But I realized he thought we were making ''[[Porgy and Bess]]''.</blockquote>
==Reception==
{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|68|6.2|37|If it can't quite live up to its source material, ''A Rage in Harlem'' still proves a stylishly effective period thriller.|ref=yes|access-date=September 2, 2023}}
[[Vincent Canby]], reviewing the film for ''[[The New York Times]]'', called it "painless, occasionally funny" but with a "heedlessly incomprehensible plot"; according to Canby, "Because the screenplay is so thin, the characters are revealed entirely by the actors who play them. Miss Givens does particularly well as a doxy with a heart of gold as well as a trunk full of it. She looks great and shows a real flair for absurd comedy. Mr. Hines, Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Glover also are in good form, as are Badja Djola, who plays Imabelle's intimidatingly large former lover, the guy she's stolen the gold from, and Mr. Toles-Bey, who, in addition to working on the screenplay, appears as one of the bad guys."<ref name="Canby" /> [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave it 3 out of 4 and wrote: "What's best in the movie is the chemistry between Whitaker and Givens, who is surprisingly effective in her first feature role."<ref name="Ebert" /> Owen Gleiberman of ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' was positive about the atmosphere, comedy, and raw acting talent, but critical of the plot which he called "a complete shambles".
Gleiberman gave it "C−" grade.<ref name="Gleiberman" />
{{Anchor|Box office}}
The film grossed $10.4 million in the United States.<ref name="mojo"/><ref name="numbers">{{cite web |title=A Rage in Harlem (1991) - Financial Information |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Rage-in-Harlem-A#tab=summary |website=[[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]] }}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="latimes90">{{cite news | date= February 18, 1990 | author= Pat H. Broeske | title= Fabulous '50s | url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-18-ca-1677-story.html | work= [[Los Angeles Times]] | access-date= February 2, 2020 | archive-date= February 28, 2022 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220228162639/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-18-ca-1677-story.html | url-status= live }}</ref>
<ref name="mojo">{{Cite Box Office Mojo|id=rageinharlem|title=A Rage in Harlem |access-date=October 10, 2010 }}</ref>
<ref name="horberg">{{cite web | url= http://williamhorberg.typepad.com/william_horberg/2008/11/the-last-chester-himes-movie-pt-2.html | title= The Last Chester Himes Movie? pt 2 | date= November 7, 2008 | author= William Horberg | author-link= William Horberg | publisher= [[Typepad]] | access-date= November 5, 2010 | archive-date= July 17, 2011 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110717125139/http://williamhorberg.typepad.com/william_horberg/2008/11/the-last-chester-himes-movie-pt-2.html | url-status= live }}</ref>
<ref name="galecbb">{{cite web| url= http://www.answers.com/topic/bill-duke | title=  Bill Duke | work= [[Gale (publisher)|Gale Group]]'s Contemporary Black Biography  | publisher= [[Answers.com]]| access-date=November 6, 2010}}</ref>
<ref name="Canby">{{cite web | title=  Panning for Gold in 1950s Harlem, via Himes Novel | url= https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/03/movies/review-film-panning-for-gold-in-1950-s-harlem-via-himes-novel.html | date= May 3, 1991| author= Vincent Canby| author-link= Vincent Canby| work= [[The New York Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525222819/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/03/movies/review-film-panning-for-gold-in-1950-s-harlem-via-himes-novel.html |archive-date=May 25, 2015 | access-date=February 2, 2020 }}</ref>
<ref name="Ebert">{{cite web |date=May 3, 1991 |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |author1-link=Roger Ebert |title=A Rage In Harlem |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-rage-in-harlem-1991 |website=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |access-date=February 28, 2022 |archive-date=February 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228162642/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-rage-in-harlem-1991 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="Gleiberman">{{Cite magazine |date=May 17, 1991 |author=Owen Gleiberman |author-link=Owen Gleiberman |title=A Rage in Harlem |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |url=https://ew.com/article/1991/05/17/rage-harlem/ |access-date=October 1, 2019 |archive-date=June 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190621171319/https://ew.com/article/1991/05/17/rage-harlem/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="filmprog">{{cite interview |subject=[[Stephen Woolley]] |interviewer=[[Francine Stock]] |date= 17 September 2010 |work=The Film programme |title=Francine Stock talks to Stephen Woolley ... |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tq1vt |publisher=[[BBC Radio 4]] |access-date= November 6, 2010 |time= 10:22 &ndash; 11:14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101026121254/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tq1vt |archive-date= October 26, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0102749}}
{{Bill Duke}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rage In Harlem}}
[[Category:1991 films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Bill Duke]]
[[Category:American independent films]]
[[Category:African-American comedy films]]
[[Category:American comedy thriller films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Elmer Bernstein]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films based on thriller novels]]
[[Category:Films shot in Ohio]]
[[Category:Films set in Harlem]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1950s]]
[[Category:1990s crime comedy films]]
[[Category:Miramax films]]
[[Category:American crime comedy films]]
[[Category:American crime thriller films]]
[[Category:1991 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:1991 comedy films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:English-language crime comedy films]]