BET Brings Tyler Perry's "The Oval" and "Madea" to Tues., Feb. 16tj

BET to Air Mega Night of Tyler Perry Must-Watch Originals With the Return of “Tyler Perry’s The Oval” and the World Television Debut of “Madea’s Farewell Play” Airing Tuesday, February 16, 2021

“Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Farewell Play” Will Kick off the Television Event at 8 PM ET/PT Followed by the Return of Hit-Series “Tyler Perry’s The Oval” All New and Moving to Tuesdays

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BET announced the premiere date of the much-anticipated original drama “Tyler Perry’s The Oval” season two and the television debut of acclaimed stage play “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Farewell Play” airing Tuesday, February 16, 2021 starting at 8 PM ET/PT. “The Oval” was the #1 new series for African Americans P2+ on cable in calendar year 2020*. “Tyler Perry’s The Oval” season two returns Tuesday, February 16, at a special time 10:30 PM ET/PT. The series will then move to its regular time slot of 9 PM ET/PT starting Tuesday, February 23, 2021. Come home to BET for a night of Black joy, entertainment and more of the Tyler Perry content we all can’t get enough of!

About “Tyler Perry’s The Oval” season two airing on a *NEW* night TUESDAYS on BET & BET Her:

The one-hour drama, “Tyler Perry’s The Oval,” returns with its second jaw-breaking season and lifts the veil of what can happen when the leader of the free world, his wife and family are crazed maniacs. The series also highlights the personal side and everyday lives of the staff who run the inner workings of the nation’s most iconic residence. The talented ensemble cast for season two includes Ed Quinn, Kron Moore, Paige Hurd, Daniel Croix Henderson, Javon Johnson, Ptosha Storey, Vaughn Hebron, Teesha Renee, Lodric Collins, Ciera Payton, Taja V. Simpson, Walter Fauntleroy, Brad Benedict, Travis Cure, Matthew Law, Bill Barrett and Derek A. Dixon star in the 22-episodes original series.

“Tyler Perry’s The Oval” is executive produced, directed, and written by Tyler Perry. Michelle Sneed will also serve as Executive Producer of the series for Tyler Perry Studios.

About “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Farewell Play”:

In Tyler Perry’s final stage run as Madea, he pulls together some of his audience’s favorite characters for a family gathering. Madea, Mr. Brown, Cora, and Aunt Bam are all under one roof for over two hours of pure joy. Madea is in rare form, as she tries to support her great-grandchildren, and daughter Cora. While at her granddaughter’s home, Madea uses her combination of tough love and old southern wisdom to help the family navigate their new normal. All seems fine until Mr. Brown takes a trip that leaves audiences in stitches. As always, Perry’s blend of incredible music and laugh out loud moments make the “Madea’s Farewell Play” great food for the soul.

“Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Farewell Play” stars Tyler Perry as Madea, Cassi Davis Patton as Betty Ann "Aunt Bam" Murphy, David Mann as Leroy Brown, Tamela Mann as Cora Jean Simmons-Brown, Kwaylon Rogers (BlameitonKway) as Tiffany "TiTi" Samuels, Alexis Hollins as Darlene Samuels, Anthony Lewis as Devin, Jacobi Brown as Malik Samuels, Ashlee B. Gillum as Robin, Walter Fauntleroy as Omar, RaVaughn Brown as Sylvia, and Kendrick Mays as William Samuels. “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Farewell Play” launched exclusively on BET+ in August 2020.

“Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Farewell Play” is executive produced, directed, and written by Tyler Perry. Michelle Sneed and Mark E. Swinton will also serve as executive producers for Tyler Perry Studios.

For more information, viewers can log on to BET.com and join the conversation on social media by using the hashtags #TheOvalOnBET and #FarewellMadea on all social platforms.

*Source: Nielsen Live + SD, Live+3 for timeslot claims, Premieres airing M-Sun 7p-12a, 1/1/20-12/13/20, excluding sports, news, kids, Spanish-nets, rankings on impressions (000), 4+ telecast min (2+ on timeslot claims)

ABOUT BET:
BET, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIACA, VIAC), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel is in 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa and France. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions including BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American Woman; BET Music Networks - BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET around the globe.

ABOUT TYLER PERRY STUDIOS:
Tyler Perry Studios is a state-of-the-art film and television production facility founded in 2006 by actor, producer, filmmaker, playwright, and philanthropist Tyler Perry. Located in Atlanta, Georgia on the historic grounds of the former Fort McPherson army base, the new 330-acre campus is one of the largest production studios in the country. It boasts a variety of shooting locations including 40 buildings on the national register of historic places, 12 purpose-built sound stages, 200 acres of green space and an expansive backlot.

#28DaysofBlack Review: "A Madea Family Funeral"

[I could not imagine committing to a focus on black films and not offer at least one film from media mogul, Tyler Perry.  Within a decade, Perry became a successful performer and producer of stage plays.  He entered the film business with his 2005 film, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” and owned a film production studio, Tyler Perry Studios, by 2006.  Perry's signature character, Mabel "Madea" Earlene Simmons, has played a significant part in Perry's rags to riches story, and he apparently brought the film saga of Madea to an end with “A Madea Family Funeral.”]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 of 2021 (No. 1751) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Madea Family Funeral (2019)
Running time:  109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for crude sexual content, language, and drug references throughout
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Tyler Perry
PRODUCERS:  Ozzie Areu, Will Areu, Tyler Perry, and Mark E. Swinton
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Richard Vialet (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Larry Sexton
COMPOSER:  Philip White

COMEDY

Starring:  Tyler Perry, Cassi Davis, Patrice Lovely, Jen Harper, Courtney Burrell, Ciera Payton, Rome Flynn, KJ Smith, Aeriél Miranda, David Otunga, Quin Walters, Ary Katz, and Derek Morgan

A Madea Family Funeral is a 2019 comedy-drama from writer-director Tyler Perry.  It is the eleventh and (supposedly) final film in the Madea film series.  A Madea Family Funeral focuses on an anniversary celebration that unexpectedly turns into a funeral that unveils unsavory family secrets.

A Madea Family Funeral opens in the home of Vianne (Jen Harper) and Anthony Thompson (Derek Morgan).  Their children are planning a surprise party to celebrate their parents' 40th wedding anniversary.  Sylvia (Ciera Payton) is with her husband, Will (David Otunga).  Carol (KJ Smith), who is married to older brother, A.J. (Courtney Burrell), is awaiting his arrival.  Younger brother, Jesse (Rome Flynn), is awaiting the arrival of his fiancé, Gia (Aeriél Miranda).

Meanwhile Mabel “Madea” Simmons (Tyler Perry), Uncle Joe (Tyler Perry), Betty Ann Murphy a.k.a. “Aunt Bam” (Cassi Davis), Hattie (Patrice Lovely), and Joe's son, Brian Simmons (Tyler Perry), are also traveling to the reunion.  Vianne and Anthony's family is also the family of Madea and Joe's brother, Heathrow (Tyler Perry), a lecherous, wheelchair bound Vietnam veteran.

Not long after Madea and company arrive at their hotel, they discover that A.J. is also there with Gia, with whom he is having an affair.  Even more shocking is that they discover that Anthony is in a room next to A.J. and Gia's and is engaged in kinky sex with Renee (Quin Walters), a friend of both Vianne and Anthony's.  Anthony suffers a heart attack from the sexual activity and is taken to a hospital where he dies.

Now, Madea is charged with planning Anthony's funeral, which Vianne wants to occur in two days.  In the meantime, Anthony's secret life and the secrets of his two sons threaten to spill over.

A Madea Family Funeral qualifies as a dramatic film because of the secrets and lies and melodrama that apparently have long been a part of Vianne and Anthony's family.  Writer-director Tyler Perry deals with this the way he normally does – with soap opera, gospel theatrics, and Christian philosophizing.  Still, this family drama is pretty dark, and I do credit Perry for once again telling a story about mothers who make tough choices in order to provide for, to protect, and to keep their families together.  What might seem like weakness and stupidity might actually be strength and practicality.

A Madea Family Funeral is a comedy because of … well, because of Madea, Joe, Aunt Bam, and Hattie.  I have to be honest; I think much of the humor in this film as being an inappropriate match for the dramatic side of this film.  Still, I found myself vigorously laughing through more than half this film.  In a way, Anthony's funeral becomes a hilarious nightmare, both because of the unsavory family secrets and because of Madea and company.  But, hell, sometimes laughter helps a family get through a funeral, especially a hot mess of a death and funeral like Anthony's.

If A Madea Family Funeral is indeed the final Madea film, I can say that it went out on a relatively high note.  Perry gives us his trademark Christian moralizing, and Madea gives us the shameless, shameful comedy.  Truthfully, only Tyler Perry could be Madea, so there can be no other true Madea films unless he makes them.  So I hope A Madea Family Funeral doesn't put the Madea film franchise to rest.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, February 10, 2021


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#28DaysofBlack Review: Denzel and Viola Tear it Up in "FENCES"

[Over a decade after his death, August Wilson's acclaimed stage play, Fences, finally made it to the big screen, three decades after word came that it was to be adapted into film.  Every time I think that Denzel Washington:  the film's star, director, and one of its producers, can no longer amaze me, he amazes us all.  It turns out that America's greatest male actor is also a really fine director.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 of 2021 (No. 1750) by Leroy Douresseaux

Fences (2016)
Running time: 139 minutes (2 hours, 19 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for thematic elements, language and some suggestive references
DIRECTOR:  Denzel Washington
WRITER:  August Wilson (based upon his play, Fences)
PRODUCERS:  Todd Black, Scott Rudin, and Denzel Washington
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Charlotte Bruus Christensen (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Hughes Winborne
COMPOSER:  Marcelo Zarvos
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring:  Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson, and Saniyya Sidney

Fences is a 2016 period drama film directed by Denzel Washington.  It is based on playwright, August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Fences (1985).  Wilson also wrote the film adaptation's screenplay before he died in 2005 at the age of 60.  Fences focuses on a working-class African-American father in the 1950s who tries to come to terms with the events of his troubled life.

Fences opens in 1950s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and introduces 53-year-old Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington).  Troy lives with his wife, Rose Lee Maxson (Viola Davis), and their son, Cory (Jovan Adepo).  Troy works as a garbage collector alongside his best friend, Jim Bono (Stephen McKinley Henderson).  Troy has a younger brother, Gabriel (Mykelti Williamson), who sustained a head injury in World War II that left him mentally impaired.  Gabriel received a $3,000 government payout that Troy subsequently used as a down payment on a home for his family.  Troy sometimes wonders if he has done right by Gabriel, who now lives at “Miss Pearl's house.”

Troy also has an adult son from a previous relationship, Lyons Maxson (Russell Hornsby), an apparently talented musician who visits Troy on payday when he wants to borrow money.  Troy's relationship with Lyons is strained, as are his relationships with just about everyone else.  Troy is especially bitter about his professional baseball career.  He played professionally in the Negro Leagues, but never played Major League Baseball, which had a “color barrier” until 1947 that prohibited Black players from joining the majors.  Now, Troy refuses to give permission for Cory to play football because he does not want the teen to fail in sports as he did … he says.  This decision, his general contrarian ways, and his rancor about his life is pushing his family and friends away from him.

Fences is the sixth play in August Wilson's ten-part, “Pittsburgh Cycle,” of plays.  Like all the plays in the cycle, Fences explores the evolving African-American experience and examines race relations, among other themes.  Back in the late 1980s, actor Eddie Murphy had the film rights to Fences, but his planned film never came about.  Wilson and Murphy clashed over Wilson's insistence that the film adaptation of Fences be directed by an African-American because, more or less, only a black man could understand Troy Maxson's life.  At least, that is how I remember the behind-the-scenes happenings concerning Murphy's planed Fences film.

Watching Denzel Washington play Troy Maxson made me realize how universal Fences action and especially its themes are.  Washington is one of the film's producers as well as being the director, so he could make the film he wanted, and he filmed Fences in the city of Pittsburgh, where it is set.  It seems to me that Washington made Fences in its original setting, but played Troy Maxson and presented his world as a story in which audiences, practically from around the world and most certainly in the United States, could recognize and even identify.

Troy isn't just bitter about not being a Major League Baseball player; he is also always yearning.  Troy knows what he's got, but surpassing that is the desire to have more.  It is as if he is constantly thinking, “I have a good wife, son, home, and job, but …”  I have never seen Fences the play or read its text, so I am assuming that Fences the film is true to its source.  However, I interpret Fences the film as revealing that Troy's biggest obstacle isn't race, but is him always believing that what he has now will no longer make him happy, if it ever did.  He always believes that if he gets this “next thing” he will be happy or, at least, happier than he is at the present.

Washington's performance as Troy Maxson in his film, Fences, is a performance for the ages.  If this isn't his best acting, it is his best since The Hurricane.  And what do you know, Washington was nominated for the “Best Actor” Oscar for his performances in both Fences and The Hurricane, and he lost to actors who gave good but inferior performances to Washington's.

At least, Viola Davis finally won an Oscar – for “Best Supporting Actress” – for her performance in Fences.  She was long overdue, and in Fences, as Rose Maxson, she grounds the story and keeps Washington and Troy Maxson from dominating the entire story.  Some thought that Davis should have been nominated in the lead actress category, but Rose Maxson is a supporting character in this film.  Fences the film needs Viola Davis and Rose Maxson's support.

Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, and Mykelti Williamson give some of the best performances of their careers.  I have no doubt that Henderson would have been nominated in the “Best Supporting Actor” category if he were a white actor...

That's okay.  All these black folks make Fences a major cinematic accomplishment.  They make it an African-American experience writ large, and anyone who can comprehend a movie, regardless of ethnic background, can take into Fences into his or her soul.

10 of 10

Wednesday, February 10, 2021


NOTES:
2017 Academy Awards, USA:  1 winner: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Viola Davis); 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Todd Black, Scott Rudin, and Denzel Washington), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Denzel Washington), and “Best Adapted Screenplay” (August Wilson-Posthumously)

2017 Golden Globes, USA:  1 winner: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Viola Davis) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Denzel Washington)

2017 BAFTA Awards:  1 winner: “Best Supporting Actress” (Viola Davis)

The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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27 Animated Films Eligible for 93rd Academy Awards

ANIMATED, FEATURE FILMS ELIGIBLE FOR 93RD OSCARS® ANNOUNCED

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the feature films eligible for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 93rd Academy Awards®.  Eligibility lists by category can be viewed at Oscars.org/93rdFeatureEligibility.  Complete 93rd Academy Awards rules can be found at Oscars.org/rules.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
Twenty-seven features are eligible for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 93rd Academy Awards.  Some of the films have not yet had their required qualifying release and must fulfill that requirement and comply with all the category’s other qualifying rules to advance in the voting process.

To determine the five nominees, members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch are automatically eligible to vote in the category.  Academy members outside of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch are invited to opt in to participate and must meet a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.  Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture.

93RD ACADEMY AWARDS®ELIGIBLE FOR CONSIDERATION IN THE ANIMATED FEATURE FILM CATEGORY:

“Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus”

“Bombay Rose”

“Calamity”

“The Croods: A New Age”

“Demon Slayer -Kimetsu No Yaiba-The Movie: Mugen Train”

“Dreambuilders”

“Earwig and the Witch”

“Kill It and Leave This Town”

“Lupin III: The First”

“Mosley”

“My Favorite War”

“Nos Ili Zagovor Ne Takikh”

“No.7 Cherry Lane”

“On-Gaku: Our Sound”

“Onward”

“Over the Moon”

“Red Shoes and theSeven Dwarfs”

“Ride Your Wave”

“Scoob!”

“A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon”

“Soul”

“The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run”

“Terra Willy”

“Trolls World Tour”

“A Whisker Away”

“The Willoughbys”

“Wolfwalkers”

All dates and rules for the 93rd Academy Awards are subject to change based on national guidelines, state-mandated government orders and Academy-determined best practices.

Nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards will be announced on Monday, March 15, 2021.

The 93rd Oscars® will be held on Sunday, April 25, 2021, and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

###

ABOUT THE ACADEMY
:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a global community of more than 10,000 of the most accomplished artists, filmmakers and executives working in film. In addition to celebrating and recognizing excellence in filmmaking through the Oscars, the Academy supports a wide range of initiatives to promote the art and science of the movies, including public programming, educational outreach and the upcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

 

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Fantagraphics to Publish Ed Piskor's "Red Room" Sci-Fi Horror Comic

Ed Piskor’s Red Room Comics to be Published by Fantagraphics

Murder on the dark web, for fun and profit! A shared universe of sci-fi horror debuts In May with an oversized 64-page first issue.

SEATTLE, WA—Eisner Award-winning, indie cartoonist Ed Piskor is releasing Red Room, an ambitious, new sci-fi horror comic with Fantagraphics. Best known for documenting the history of hip hop with the best-selling Hip Hop Family Tree graphic novels and for distilling more than 8,000 pages of Marvel Comics continuity into the seamless masterpiece X-Men Grand Design, Red Room represents a significant milestone for the cartoonist: the creation of his first creator-owned, shared universe. Red Room will debut from Fantagraphics in May with an oversized 64-page first issue.

“Red Room is a cyberpunk, outlaw, splatterpunk comic that you can't unsee once you feast your eyes on the mayhem,” said Piskor. “Think of Red Room as modern day E.C. Comics, infused with the dream of Black Mirror. These are subversive, stand alone stories that are all part of a larger, twisted narrative.”

In Red Room, criminals livestream murders on the dark web for fun and profit. The series will be told through a series of interconnected, stand alone stories, focusing on unsavory characters that lurk in the most grotesque corners of cyberspace. The murders are a mystery, the victims unknown. Aided by the anonymous dark web and nearly untraceable crypto-currency, business is booming and the viewership is ever-growing.

Piskor has been teasing Red Room on Patreon and Cartoonist Kayfabe, his popular podcast with cartoonist Jim Rugg. “We’re going to be talking about Red Room on each and every episode of Cartoonist Kayfabe,” said Jim Rugg. “Comic book shops are going to want to have plenty on hand with issue 1 drops in May.

Red Room will be released in a variety of formats. The series will be published as monthly, four-issue arcs in a standard 32-page comic book format at $3.99 each, with the exception of May’s first issue, which will be a specially priced, 64-page double-sized issue selling for $6.99. In the fall of 2021, the first four issues will be collected into a trade paperback. Once the Red Room saga is complete, there will be a total of 12 single issues and three trade paperbacks.

“This is no-holds-barred cartooning,” said Piskor. “Fantagraphics is the perfect publisher for this book, because Gary Groth is a fighter. I’m going to push the boundaries with this book and I knew I needed to have a publisher that will unequivocally have my back.”

“We’re thrilled to both be continuing our relationship with Ed, who’s given us the perfect opportunity to get back into the monthly comic book periodical business,” said Fantagraphics Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds. “Red Room peels back the curtain on a shadowy side of humanity. The series is chock full of graphically horrific imagery, punctuated by Ed’s sharp sense of humor, gorgeous cartooning, and dynamic storytelling.”

Red Room #1 is available for pre-order now via Fantagraphics: Fantagraphics.com/products/red-room-1

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#28DaysofBlack Review: Eddie Murphy's "HARLEM NIGHTS" is Still Cool

[A little over 21 years after its initial release, Harlem Nights remains unique.  It was the dream project of an African-American movie star, Eddie Murphy, who had reached heights that few African-American stars ever have.  I'm glad Eddie Murphy made this movie.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 of 2021 (No. 1749) by Leroy Douresseaux

Harlem Nights (1989)
Running time:  116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Eddie Murphy
PRODUCER:  Mark Lipsky and Robert D. Wachs
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Woody Omens (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Alan Balsam and George Bowers   
COMPOSER:  Herbie Hancock
Academy Award nominee

CRIME/DRAMA with elements of comedy

Starring:  Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Danny Aiello, Michael Lerner, Della Reese, Berlinda Tobert, Stan Shaw, Jasmine Guy, Vic Polizos, Lela Rochon, David Marciano, Arsenio Hall, Thomas Mikal Ford, Joe Pecoraro, Robin Harris, Charles Q. Murphy, Uncle Ray Murphy, Desi Arnez Hines II, Roberto Duran, and Gene Hartline

Harlem Nights is a 1989 crime film and period drama written and directed by Eddie Murphy.  The film is set during the 1930s and focuses on a New York City club owner and his associates as they battle gangsters and corrupt cops.

Harlem Nights introduces Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor).  In 1938, Ray and his surrogate son, Vernest Brown, best known as “Quick,” run a nightclub, dance hall, and gambling house called “Club Sugar Ray,” located in New York City's Harlem neighborhood.  Ray's other associates include Madame Vera Walker (Della Reese), who runs the brothel at the back of Club Sugar Ray, and her longtime companion, Bennie Wilson (Redd Foxx), the craps table dealer.

Club Sugar Ray is wildly successful, making fifteen to twenty thousand dollars a week, and that has drawn the attention of a white gangster, Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner).  Calhoune wants the majority share of Sugar Ray's revenues, and to that end, employs his criminal associates:  his black enforcer, Tommy Smalls (Thomas Mikal Ford); his Creole mistress, Dominique La Rue (Jasmine Guy), and a corrupt police detective, Sgt. Phil Cantone (Danny Aiello).

Ray decides that he will have to give up his business and move on, although Quick is vehemently against this.  Ray decides to use an upcoming championship boxing match between the world heavy weight champion, black boxer Jack Jenkins (Stan Shaw), and a white challenger, Michael Kirkpatrick (Gene Hartline), the “Irish Ironman,” to disguise his ultimate heist plan against Calhoune.  But for the plan to work, Quick will have to avoid all the people trying to kill him?

Harlem Nights has some of the best production values that I have ever seen in an Eddie Murphy film.  The costumes (which were Oscar-nominated), the art direction and set decoration, and the cinematography are gorgeous.  Herbie Hancock's score captures Harlem Nights shifting tones – from jazzy and sexy to mixes of comic and dramatic violence.  The film's soundtrack offers a buffet of songs written, co-written and performed by the great Duke Ellington, plus performances by Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Buddy Clark, to name a few.

Yet, upon its initial release, that is not what some critics noted about Harlem Nights.  They were obsessed with how many times Eddie Murphy's name appeared on the poster.  They counted:  Eddie was star, writer, director, and executive producer; it was too much – at least according to them.  That all played into the “Eddie Murphy is arrogant” argument that many of these critics, mostly jealous white guys, made.

Harlem Nights remains the only film that Eddie Murphy has ever directed, which is a shame.  Granted that his acting is stiff in this film.  Granted that the screenwriting is average; it is never strong on character drama, and sometimes the story really needs it to be.  Still, Harlem Nights moves smoothly through its narrative.  It is slow and easy, although there have been those that have claimed that the film is “too slow.”  Still, Eddie Murphy has a silken touch at directing.

None of Harlem Nights' problems matter to me.  At the time, there had never been a film like it.  Harlem Nights is a big budget, lavish, Hollywood period film that is thoroughly Black.  Its cast is a once-in-a-life-time event.  I'm not sure a black director could have gotten funding with Harlem Night's cast even as a low budget film.  Harlem Nights is a film that only Eddie Murphy could get produced, and one could argue that it was not until well into the twenty-first century that any other black filmmaker could get something like Harlem Nights made.  So I'm good with its problems, and I am simply happy that it exists.

Harlem Nights is an entertaining film, and I have highly enjoyed it every time that I have seen it.  It stands as a testament to what Eddie Murphy became by the late 1980s – the only African-American who was a real Hollywood “player.”  Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, and Della Reese:  they were a dream lineup, a fleeting coming together that seemed to be gone in an instant.  Harlem Nights lives on, as a gorgeous, strange hybrid drama-comedy-gangster-period film.  And I, for one, am always ready to recommend it.

B+
7 of 10

Tuesday, February 9, 2021


NOTES:
1990 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Costume Design” (Joe I. Tompkins)


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#28DaysofBlack Review: Pam Grier Does It for Herself in "COFFY"

[African-American actress Pam Grier has had a long career, one that few Black women of her generation have had.  Some of her most memorable work came in a period during the 1970s when she usually played what was basically a “one-chick hit-squad.”  That character type first came to life in writer-director Jack Hill's Coffy.]

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 of 2021 (No. 1748) by Leroy Douresseaux

Coffy (1973)
Running time: 90 minutes (1 hour, 30 minutes)
MPAA – R
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Jack Hill
PRODUCER:  Robert A. Papazian
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Paul Lohmann (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Charles McClelland
COMPOSER:  Roy Ayers

ACTION/CRIME

Starring:  Pam Grier, Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui, William Elliott, Allan Arbus, Sid Haig, Barry Cahill, Lee de Broux, Ruben Moreno, Carol Locatell, Linda Haynes, John Perak, Mwako Cumbuka, Morris Buchanan, Karen Williams, and Bob Minor

Coffy is a 1973 action and crime film written and directed by Jack Hill.  A blaxploitation film (black exploitation film), Coffy focuses on an African-American nurse who turns vigilante against a ring of heroin dealers.

Coffy introduces sexy Black nurse, Flower Child Coffin, better known by the nickname, “Coffy.”  She is distressed that her 16-year-old sister, LuBelle (Karen Williams), is staying at a juvenile rehabilitation center because she is addicted to heroin.  As the story begins, Coffy kills “Sugarman” (Morris Buchanan), the pusher who sold heroin to LuBelle.

After speaking with a her long time friend, Carter Brown (William Elliot), a police officer, Coffy decides that if she wants to stop people from getting heroin, she will have to go to the source.  That means the drug pusher and pimp, King George (Robert DoQui), and his supplier, Arturo Vitroni (Allan Arbus).  Going undercover as a Jamaican prostitute looking to work for a big player, Coffy quickly infiltrates the supply chain.  However, someone close to her is also close to the drug dealers.

Exploitation films are generally low-budget films (but not always), and are generally considered “B-movies” with stories belonging to certain genres (action, crime, horror).  They feature lurid content of a violent and/or sexual nature, and they may even exploit current trends in pop culture or in the wider culture.  Black exploitation films, now known as “blaxploitation films,” were exploitation films aimed at African-American audiences and emerged in the early 1970s.  The heroes or protagonists of blaxploitation films were generally anti-heroes, vigilantes, and criminals.  Sometimes, the heroes of such films were ordinary citizens who became vigilantes and used criminal methods to fights criminals and corrupt public officials and law enforcement.

Coffy is a pure exploitation film and is quintessential blaxploitation.  It is lurid, and it exploits the social, political, and racial states of affair of its time.  I could not help but notice how often the actresses in this film, white and black, had their breasts exposed.  Clearly this is sexual exploitation, but in the spirit of being non-hypocritical, I have to admit that I am a big fan of the breast-types exposed in Coffy.  So, yeah, I enjoyed seeing the breasts … even knowing that some or all of the actresses were forced to expose themselves.

It is easy to call Coffy trash, but I won't.  I am in love with Pam Grier the movie star.  Coffy is conceptually interesting, but the plot and narrative are executed for efficiency and speed more so than for storytelling.  The production values are low, although the costumes are … interesting.  Without Grier, this would be a D-list movie.

With Pam Grier, Coffy seems like something special.  In the past, film critics have criticized the Jamaican accent she uses in this film; one called her delivery of her lines stiff.  When Pam Grier speaks out loud in one of her classic blaxploitation films – and they are indeed classics – she probably makes some men experience a certain kind of stiffness.  Grier is not just a movie star; she is a radiant movie star.  Every moment that she is on screen, Pam Grier lifts mere elements of exploitation into riveting, two-fisted, crime fiction cinema.  I could have watched at least a half hour more of this film … as long as Pam Grier was in it.

Writer-director Quentin Tarantino, who wrote a film for Pam Grier (1997's Jackie Brown), called her the first female action movie star.  This may be true, and Grier made Coffy her first calling card, her notice of arrival as the leading lady of blaxploitation action films.  Now, I need a cigarette.

8 of 10
A

Monday, February 8, 2021


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