Harlem Nights is a 1989 comedy-drama crime film starring Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor. The film also featured Michael Lerner, Danny Aiello, Redd Foxx, Della Reese and Murphy's brother Charlie Murphy. Murphy and Pryor star as a team running a nightclub in late-1930s Harlem, New York while contending with gangsters and corrupt police officials.
Murphy wrote, and directed the film (Murphy was nominated for Worst Director at the 10th Golden Raspberry Awards, his only directorial effort; the film "won" Worst Screenplay) and served as an executive producer. 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. Although Harlem Nights was a critical failure, it was a financial success, grossing 3½ times the amount it cost to make it (worldwide); it is well known for starring three generations of Black-American comedians (Redd Foxx, 1922-1991; Pryor, 1940-2005 & Murphy, 1961- ).
Famous quotes containing the words harlem and/or nights:
“Morality becomes hypocrisy if it means accepting mothers’ suffering or dying in connection with unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortions and unwanted children.”
—Gro Harlem Brundtland (b. 1939)
“As for the nights I warn you the nights are dangerous
The wind changes at night and the dreams come
It is very cold
there are strange stars near Arcturus
Voices are crying an unknown name in the sky”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)