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Harlem Nights

Harlem Nights

Comedy · Crime · Drama · 1989

'Sugar' Ray is the owner of an illegal casino and must contend with the pressure of vicious gangsters and corrupt police who want to see him go out of business. In the world of organised crime and police corruption in the 1920s, any dastardly trick is fair.

Movie details

Harlem Nights

“They're up to something big.”

1989 Comedy · Crime · Drama 1h 56m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

'Sugar' Ray is the owner of an illegal casino and must contend with the pressure of vicious gangsters and corrupt police who want to see him go out of business. In the world of organised crime and police corruption in the 1920s, any dastardly trick is fair.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Harlem Nights?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Made

Made

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Two aspiring boxers and lifelong friends get involved in a money-laundering scheme through a low-level organized crime group.

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American Hustle

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Belly

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Hoodlum

Hoodlum

Crime · 1997

In 1934, the second most lucrative business in New York City was running 'the numbers'. When Madam Queen—the powerful woman who runs the scam in Harlem—is arrested, Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson takes over the business and must resist an invasion from a merciless mobster.

The Cotton Club

The Cotton Club

Crime · 1984

Harlem's legendary Cotton Club becomes a hotbed of passion and violence as the lives and loves of entertainers and gangsters collide.

Bugsy

Bugsy

Crime · 1991

New York gangster Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womanizer with a foul temper, Siegel doesn't hesitate to kill or maim anyone crossing him. In L.A. the life, the movies, and most of all strong-willed Virginia Hill detain him while his family wait back home. Then a trip to a run-down gambling joint at a spot in the desert known as Las Vegas gives him his big idea.

Siberian Education

Siberian Education

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The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against this backdrop two best friends, Kolyma and Gagarin, gradually become fierce enemies as they find themselves on opposite sides of the strict code of honour of the ‘honest criminal’ brotherhood.

Rounders

Rounders

Drama · 1998

Poker addict Mike McDermott knows the game inside out, but loses his money one night in a game to Russian-American gangster Teddy KGB. Promising his partner Jo he'll give up, he meets up with best friend Lester 'Worm' Murphy, just out of prison and owing lots of money to the wrong kind of people. McDermott becomes his co-guarantor and now there's only one way to raise the money, the pair have to get back into the game.

Casino

Casino

Crime · 1995

In Las Vegas, two best friends--a casino executive and a Mafia enforcer--compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Eddie Murphy

Written by

Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy

Quick

Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor

Sugar Ray

Redd Foxx

Redd Foxx

Bennie Wilson

Danny Aiello

Danny Aiello

Phil Cantone

Michael Lerner

Michael Lerner

Bugsy Calhoune

Della Reese

Della Reese

Vera

Berlinda Tolbert

Berlinda Tolbert

Annie

Court is in session

Put Harlem Nights on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.