A Rage in Harlem

Plot

Bill Duke directs this quirky film adaptation of Chester Himes' crime novel -- a heavily plotted gangster tale with a sweet love story hidden underneath. The film begins in Natchez, Mississippi in 1956. During a police shoot-out with the mob leader Slim's (Badja Djola) gang, Slim's moll Imabelle (Robin Givens) takes off with a cadre of stolen gold. As a result, Imabelle is chased by Slim's mob from Mississippi to New York. By the time she reaches Harlem, she is broke and has to figure out a way to ditch the trunk full of gold. She finds herself at the annual Undertaker's Ball, where she sees the big and dumb Jackson (Forest Whitaker), a bumbling undertaker's assistant. She spots Jackson as a mark that she can use as a cover and latches onto him immediately. She moves in with him to hide out, but Imabelle becomes taken with his innocence. For his part, Jackson falls head over heels in love with her. But the Mississippi mob catches up with her and takes her away. Jackson calls in his street-wise brother Goldy (Gregory Hines) to help him rescue Imabelle. Jackson fears that Imabelle has been kidnapped. But Goldy knows better -- he still agrees to help him but Goldy wants the gold for himself. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Review

From its tense but amusing opening scene, in which a vicious black gangster has his henchman cut a huge mole off the nose of a double-crossing racist crime lord, director Bill Duke's A Rage in Harlem forgoes good taste in the name of exuberant entertainment. Forest Whitaker, who had worked primarily in more dramatic roles at the time, gives a genuinely hilarious performance as Jackson, the shy, naïve mortuary worker. Robin Givens vamps impressively as the pragmatic Imabelle, who flees Natchez and her boyfriend, Slim (the impressively menacing Badja Djola), with a trunk full of stolen gold. Danny Glover is also impressive as the soft-spoken but ruthless kingpin Easy Money. Duke elicits pitch-perfect performances from his cast. Jackson, Imabelle, and the rest of the characters teeter on the brink of cartoonishness, but these actors make them believable enough to lend their story surprising emotional weight. Author Chester Himes' work had previously been brought to the screen in Ossie Davis' Cotton Comes to Harlem, an enjoyable film from the blaxploitation era. Eddie Murphy had mined similar territory in his Harlem Nights, a creative and financial failure. But Duke's noteworthy feature debut, which competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, succeeds at capturing the irreverent tone of Himes' novel, and creates a memorable vision of Harlem in the 1950s. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Cast

• Forest Whitaker - Jackson
• Gregory Hines - Goldy
• Robin Givens - Imabelle
• Zakes Mokae - Big Kathy
• Danny Glover - Easy-Money

Badja Djola - Slim; Ron Taylor - Hank; Willard E. Pugh - Claude X; Jack Beatty - Sheriff; John Toles-Bey - Jodie; Arthur Burghardt - Bo; T.K. Carter - Smitty; Tyler Collins - Teena; James Copeland - Jailer; Leslie Dockery - Chorus Dancer; Anthonia Dotson - 1st Female Mourner; Clebert Ford - Porter; Edgar Godineaux, Jr. - Chorus Dancer; Birdie M. Hale - 1st Domestic; Kimberly Hester - Chorus Dancer; Leonard Jackson - Mr. Clay; Helen Martin - Mrs. Canfield; Olivette Miller-Briggs - 2nd Domestic; Hajna O. Moss - Chorus Dancer; Tasha O'Bryant - Minna; Joni Palmer - Chorus Dancer; John Parks - Chorus Dancer; Stack Pierce - Coffin Ed; Ernest Perry, Jr. - Jackie; Wendell Pierce - Louis; Herbert Rawlins - Chorus Dancer; Romelle Reaux - Chorus Dancer; Reynaldo Rey - Blind Man; Eugene Robinson, Jr. - Henchman; Mike Roscoe - Chorus Dancer; Kevin Ruthven - Bus Driver; William L. Schwarber - Goon; Kiki Sheppard; Wynonna Smith - Chorus Dancer; James Spinks - Bartender; Cornelius Stafford - Weasel; Tracy A. Taylor - Skanky Whore; Sam Williams - Gus Parsons; Beatrice Winde - Clerk; Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Himself; John Seitz - Lester Bunton; Aleta Helena Chappelle; George Wallace - Grave Digger; John W. Hardy - Reverend Gaines

Credit

Nina Ruscio - Art Director, Otis Sallid - Choreography, John Nicolella - Co-producer, Forest Whitaker - Co-producer, Nile H. Samples - Costume Designer, Bill Duke - Director, Curtiss Clayton - Editor, Terry Glinwood - Executive Producer, William Horberg - Executive Producer, Nik Powell - Executive Producer, Bob Weinstein - Executive Producer, Harvey Weinstein - Executive Producer, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Steven G. Legler - Production Designer, Thomas A. Razzano - Production Designer, Toyomichi Kurita - Cinematographer, Kerry Boyle - Producer, Stephen Woolley - Producer, K.C. Fox - Set Designer, Julius Le Flore - Stunts, John Toles-Bey - Screenwriter, Bobby Crawford - Screenwriter, Robert Crawford - Screenwriter, Chester Himes - Book Author

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