Release Date: 4/11/1973 Genre: Drama/Crime Rating: R Director: Raymond St. Jacques Studio(s):Brut Productions, AVCO Embassy Pictures Running Time:81 mins.
Cast: Raymond St. Jacques, Philip Michael Thomas, Freda Payne, Hope Clarke, Willie Washington, Jr., D’Urville Martin, Doug Finell, Sterling St. Jacques, C. L. Williams, Jerry Leon, Gilbert Green, Irma P. Hall.
Story: Blueboy Harris and Dave Green are struggling to make a living as waiters in the deep South during the Depression. They assess their options and decide that there’s more money to be made on the shadier side of the law, so they set up a numbers racket. It proves to have been the right decision and things are going smoothly for them until a white crime boss finds out about their success which leads to struggles with the mafia, the KKK and a corrupt police force. Source(s): tcm.com; daarac.org.
Original Release Date:12/21/99 (Video) Genre: Horror Rating: R Director: Ted Nicolaou Studio(s):Big City Pictures, Full Moon Pictures Running Time: 90 mins.
Cast: Russell Richardson (Kwame), Freda Payne (Gran), Jennia Fredrique (Teesha), William L Johnson (Gene), Tarnell Poindexter (Little Mikey), William Stanford Davis (Pere), Troy Medley (Louis), Frederic Tucker (Shadow Man), Lamar Haywood (Agent), Jay Williams (Emcee), Danny Wooten (Gem).
Story:Seventeen- year-old Kwame has grown up listening to his grandmother talk about her magical powers. He and his friends perform in an up-and-coming hip-hop group. They are approached by Pere, a ruthless gangster who tries to extort them. Frustrated and angry, Kwame publicly refuses the offer and insults Pere in the process. Pere sends his thugs to beat up Kwame’s grandmother landing her in the hospital. Despite his grandma’s warning that placing a curse on someone can have unintended consequences, Kwame performs a voodoo ritual and summons the dark spirit known as the Shadow Man to exact revenge on the criminals. When the Shadow Man asks Kwame what he will pay in return for his help, Kwame says that he will give anything except his Grandmother.
The Shadow Man uses magic to give life to an old ragdoll, and sends it after Pere and his henchmen. Kwame soon learns that with the death of each of his enemies, the ragdoll then kills someone he cares about. When his girlfriend, Teesha, is targeted, his grandmother uses her magic to secretly trade places with Teesha. When the ragdoll kills her, the deal with the Shadow Man is broken as Kwame said his grandmother could not be harmed. Though Teesha is safe, Kwame mourns for his dead friends and grandmother as he realizes there’s a fearsome price to pay for dealing with the Shadow Man and his “killing” magic.
Notes: The film was later edited into a thirty-minute short entitled Voodoo Doll for the horror anthology Devil Dolls.
Source(s): watchinghorror.com; Video Detective; tcm.com; Wikipedia; IDMB.
Cast:Eddie Murphy (Vernest “Quick” Brown), Richard Pryor (Sugar Ray), Redd Foxx (Bennie Wilson), Della Reese (Madame Vera Walker), Danny Aiello (Phil Cantone), Michael Lerner (Bugsy Calhoune), Berlinda Tolbert (Annie), Stan Shaw (Jack Jenkins), Jasmine Guy (Dominique La Rue), Lela Rochon (Sunshine), Thomas Mikal Ford (Tommy Smalls), Vic Polizos (Richie Vento), David Marciano (Tony), Arsenio Hall (Reggie), Charlie Murphy (Jimmy), Robin Harris (Romeo), Miguel A. Nunez, Jr. (Man with Broken Nose).
Details: Harlem Nights was written, executive produced, and directed by Eddie Murphy. Murphy co-stars with Richard Pryor as a team running a nightclub in late-1930s Harlem while contending with gangsters and corrupt police officials. The film also features Redd Foxx in his last film before his death in 1991.
*Spoilers Ahead*
Story:In 1918, small-time hustler Sugar Ray takes in seven-year-old orphan and errand boy Vernest Brown, who he nicknames “Quick” after the boy saves his life. Twenty years later, Ray and Quick, now wealthy gangsters, run a Harlem 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.
A white gangster by the name of Bugsy Calhoune, sends a corrupt detective to threaten Ray with having the Club shut down unless Colhoune gets a cut of the profits. Ray decides to shut down rather than pay, but makes sure his friends and workers are taken care of. After Ray and Quick steal bets made by Calhoune’s friends and associates on an upcoming boxing match, Calhoune sends his mistress, Dominique LaRue, to seduce and kill Quick but Quick turns the tables and kills LaRue with a gun he had hidden under his pillow.
The championship fight begins. With Calhoune’s gang distracted, Ray’s men seize the opportunity to blow up Calhoune’s “Pitty Pat Club”. Vera, seemingly angry with Ray over a business dispute, visits Calhoune and tells him where to find Ray and Quick. Calhoune and his men go to Ray’s hideout, but they unknowingly trigger hidden explosives that kill them all. Ray and Quick take one last look at Harlem, knowing they can never return and that there will never be another city like it. Despite this, the two, along with their associates leave for an unknown location as the credits roll.
Notes:Harlem Nights was Eddie Murphy’s brother Charlie first film role.The part of Dominique La Rue, played by Jasmine Guy, was originally cast with actress Michael Michele. Michele was fired during production because, according to Murphy, she “wasn’t working out”. Michele sued Murphy, saying that in reality she was fired for rejecting Murphy’s romantic advances. Murphy denied the charge, and the lawsuit was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
Release Date:10/23/20;
Prime Video Genre:Comedy/Suspense Rating:NR Director: Nick Wernham Studio(s):Innis Lake Entertainment, Skylight Picture Works, Fisher Park Media. Running Time:95 mins.
Cast:Larenz Tate, Sarah Carter, Julian De Zotti, Kurtwood Smith, Lance Riddick.
Story:Fresh out of business school, Zachery Cranston seems to have all the tools necessary to succeed in the world of finance. But he is ambitious to a fault and finds himself lured by a dramatic new idea for a fund that may not be so legal. Source(s): Amazon Prime.
Details: Raven Goodwin (Being Mary Jane, The Clark Sisters), has been cast as Hattie McDaniel in a forthcoming indie biopic, Behind the Smile, Deadline reported January 7, 2021.Gregory Blair penned the screenplay for the inspiring story, which is being produced by Jami McCoy-Lankford of Hillionaire Productions and Global Genesis Group. No release date has been set.
Hattie McDaniel was the first Black person to win an Academy Award which she received for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind. Her pioneering story was filled with peaks and valleys as McDaniel found herself fighting against being typecast as a servant while fending off criticism from Black fans for taking on stereotypical roles. The night that she received her Oscar, McDaniel was forced to sit apart from the white cast at a segregated table in the back of the venue. Over the course of her film career, Hattie McDaniel appeared in over 300 movies, but reportedly received screen credits for only 83. In addition to acting, she was also a blues singer and radio performer and was the first Black woman to star in a network radio program, The Beulah Show. The series moved to television but McDaniel only filmed six episodes before she fell ill. In 1952, McDaniel died of breast cancer at age the 59. When she died, her body could not be buried at the famed Hollywood Cemetery because the graveyard was for whites only. Hattie McDaniel has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2006, she was honored with a U.S. postage stamp. Source(s): Vibe.com; MSN.com; Deadline. Photo Source: MSN.com.
Release Date: 1939 Black & White Genre: Drama Director:Oscar Micheaux Studio(s):Micheaux Film, Sack Amusement Enterprises Running Time:80 mins.
Cast: Edna Mae Harris (Elsie Bellwood), Carman Newsome (Benjamin Hadnott), Robert Earl Jones (Detective Wanzer), Frances Williams (Elizabeth Green), Cherokee Thornton (John), Slim Thompson (Clyde), Gladys Williams (Aunt Josie), Juano Hernández (Reverend Bryson), Henry ‘Gang’ Gines (Ned Green), Don De Leo (Farina), Charles Latorre (Garotti), Robert Paquin (District Attorney), George Reynolds (Lieutenant of Police), Amanda Randolph (Matron).
Story: Elsie, a popular nightclub singer, refuses to go out with the customers at the request of the white owner of the club. The owner decides to get Benjamin, the black manager of the club, to talk to Elsie and try to persuade her to cooperate. Ben refuses and quits his job. He tells Elsie about his conversation with the owner and persuades Elsie to stay on because she is popular and can make a lot of money, but he warns her to be careful. Elsie stays, but still refuses to date the customers. Later, the owner hires John and Clyde, Elsie’s uncles (note: other sources state that these are her cousins), to replace Ben as manager.
One evening, after the club closes, Elsie goes home and finds to her horror that her Aunt Josie, who lives with her, has been killed. The police arrive and question Elsie but do not believe her story, so they arrest her for the murder of her aunt. John and Clyde testify that they saw Elsie on the night of the murder leaving the club for a short time and later returning. Elizabeth Green, Clyde and John’s sister, tells the police that Elsie bought a large life insurance policy on her aunt, with herself as the beneficiary. With this evidence, Elsie is convicted of the crime and sent to prison.
Ben, who has now become a detective on the police force, and Detective Wanzer, who is a close friend of Elsie’s, do not believe that she is guilty and set out to find the real killer. After some investigation, they learn that Elizabeth Green’s husband, Ned, was actually in love with Aunt Josie. With jealousy as a possible motive, Ben and Wanzer now suspect that Elizabeth and her brothers are connected with the crime. One night the detectives confront John and accuse him of the murder. John refuses to confess, so Ben and Wanzer take him to Tolston’s Manor, which is rumored to be haunted. There they threaten to tie him up and leave him at the mercy of the ghosts. Terrified, John tells all.
He reveals the story of his sister’s family, and tells them how Ned was tricked into marrying her and that he was in love with Aunt Josie when they lived in the South. After realizing that his wife had tricked him, Ned ran north, but Elizabeth pursued him, and her two brothers threatened him. Although he stayed with Elizabeth, he continued to see Aunt Josie and threatened to leave his wife.
John admits that he and Clyde lied about seeing Elsie leave the club on the night of the murder. Furthermore, he tells them that earlier that night, Elizabeth found a note left by her husband which stated that out of despair, he had decided to kill Aunt Josie and then take his own life. John also relates that it was Elizabeth’s plan to frame Elsie for the crime. The police recover Ned’s body from the river, verifying John’s story. On this new evidence, Elsie is granted a pardon by the Governor and released from prison. Out of deep gratitude and love, Elsie marries Benjamin, who has been in love with her all the time.
Notes: Lying Lips marked the motion picture debut of actor Robert Earl Jones (1910-2006), a former boxer and stage actor who was credited onscreen as “Earl Jones.” Jones continued to act into the 1990s on stage and television, with occasional film roles, including “Luther Coleman” in the 1973 film The Sting. Jones was the father of noted stage, film and television actor James Earl Jones.
Tolston’s Manor was also featured in another Micheaux film entitled The Ghost of Tolston’s Manor which was released in either 1923 or 1924. The Ghost of Tolston’s Manor, also known as The Son of Satan starred Andrew Bishop and Lawrence Chenault and depicted the experiences of an ordinary black person going to a haunted house to stay all night as the result of an argument. No print of the film is known to exist and it is presumed to be lost.
Release Date: 4/11/1973
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