Harlem Nights

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 father-and-son 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... more

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 father-and-son 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 first and 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. Harlem Nights was a critical failure, but a financial success, grossing 3 1/2 times the amount it cost to make it (worldwide) and is well known for starring three generations of black comedians (Foxx, Pryor, and Murphy). In Harlem, New York, 1918, Sugar Ray (Richard... less