A Rage in Harlem (Bill Duke, 1991)

Fleeing to Harlem with a box of gold, gangster’s mole Imabelle (Robin Givens) takes refuge with pure-hearted accountant Jackson (Forest Whitacker).

As word of the gold spreads, Imabelle and Jackson have to contend with several different parties - her former boyfriend (Badja Djola), Jackson’s brother (Gregory Hines) and the overzealous cops Gravedigger and Coffin Ed (Stack Pierce and George Wallace).

Will Imabelle and Jackson live to enjoy the plunder?

Based on a novel by Chester Himes, A Rage in Harlem is a fascinating movie.

I have read Cotton Comes To Harlem (which was also made into a movie in 1970), and so was familiar with the tone. Himes balances dark comedy with degrees of social commentary and a pulpy feel for the violence and sex which run through the detective genre.

The tone of A Rage In Harlem is broad but unified, and it does not take away from the stakes of the villains.

Robin Givens is great in the lead role - I am most familiar with her from Boomerang, but I think she has more to juggle here. The character is a survivor who is able to play different roles depending on who she is with, and Givens manages to give Imabelle a sense of empathy and fear. There is a lot going on behind the eyes here - she never comes out and says what she is thinking, except in moments of high stress.

I liked that she never operates as a subordinate, either romantically or otherwise - the character is always evaluating her next movie.

It is an empathetic portrait of a femme fatale - it is not a deep characterr study, but I give the movie kudos for not betraying that aspect of her character to make her more of a conventional ‘love interest’. 

While the movie feels like an ensemble piece, she is at the centre - not always in control of events but she is the quickest to adapt and push the picture into unexpected directions.

Jackson is a strait-laced homebody - Forest Whitacker plays the character as a rube. It is a big performance that fits with the tone of the picture, but on the rewatch he feels more like a cartoon, or a straight man to the antics around him. 

Badja Djola plays Imabelle’s boyfriend Slim with a simmering menace, a jealous man always on the edge.  

As Easy Money, the fixer who holds the key to Imabelle’s fortune, Danny Glover is all slippery menace and innuendo. He is a veteran player of this game and takes pleasure in sniffing out anyone whose buttons he can push.

The central characters of Himes’ Harlem Detective novels, Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones appear as comic foils to the heroes of the film - they are played with cartoonish intensity by Stack Pierce and George Wallace.

The movie is punctuated with violence and dark humor, but there is some pathos going on under the surface. 

The heart of the movie is Gregory Hines as Jackson’s worldly step-brother, Goldy/Sherman. The most well-rounded and human figure in the movie, Goldy is torn between being self-serving and loyalty to those he loves. Hines perfectly captures what the movie is aiming for, and his arc gives the movie some sense of hope.

The movie is operating a heightened mode, but I never felt distant from what was going on.

It is not a perfect movie. It does not quite capture the atmosphere of Moseley’s prose, particularly in its evocation of Harlem. I have no experience of Harlem, but there are times when A Rage In Harlem looks like it takes place on a studio backlot.

Considering how heightened the tone is, it is not a problem, but after watching the other Himes’ adaptation, Cotton Comes To Harlem feels like it took place in a living space that extended beyond what we can see onscreen. For fans of Chester Himes’ work, that picture is probably of more interest, but A Rage In Harlem makes for an interesting companion piece, in terms of adaptation.

Director Bill Dukes is more well-known as an actor (you will probably recognise him for his roles in American Gigolo, Commando and Predator), but he has had an interesting run as a filmmaker. His 1992 film Deep Cover (starring Laurence Fishbourne) is a fantastic modern noir. On the strength of that film and this one, I am excited to check out his other works.

On its own terms, A Rage In Harlem is a good time. It is probably a good example of pastiche, but there is a vein of humanity beating under the forties trappings that makes the movie compelling.