The black pulp noir of 'A Rage in Harlem' kicks off the Summer of '91

Robin Givens plays a femme fatale with a heart of gold in “A Rage in Harlem.” (Miramax Pictures/MovieStillsDB.com)

“A Rage in Harlem”
Released May 3, 1991
Directed by Bill Duke
Where to Watch

Now that movie theaters are starting to reopen on a broad scale, I’m thrilled to be in a position where I feel comfortable going to the cinemas regularly. The COVID-19 pandemic has made us all appreciate many things that we once took for granted, and for me, I’m in the mood to go to the movies every week to discover a film worth watching. At this point, I don’t care if it’s part 19 in a long-running franchise or some random flick with an original idea; I’m intrigued by the possibility of surprise that the diversity of film can offer. The way it used to be.

Travel back with me 30 years to relive the Summer of 1991, when the release calendar wasn’t dominated by the latest Disney juggernaut but rather a mix of popular, unconventional, original, and entertaining fare week after week. It’s the kind of summer where you could bet money that there would be at least one new movie worth watching every weekend. And we start with Bill Duke’s captivating pulp noir, “A Rage in Harlem.”

Set squarely in the mid 20th century where femme fatales were adept at outwitting gangsters and detectives, the movie begins when Imabelle (Robin Givens) escapes a shootout following a robbery and flees to Harlem with the loot, where she meets, seduces, and eventually falls for a sweet undertaker named Jackson (Forest Whitaker). But Imabelle’s former gangster lover tracks her down, forcing a confrontation between them, Jackson, his brother Goldy (Gregory Hines), Harlem boss Easy Money (Danny Glover), and a pair of detectives bearing down on everybody. 

What separates “A Rage in Harlem” from other film noir is rooted in the black urban experience, where virtue and vice can peacefully coexist in the same community while outsiders receive the side-eye. The movie is based on the novel by Chester Himes, a black author who wrote a series of books featuring the detectives in “A Rage in Harlem.” Duke, a longtime actor who appeared in 1987’s “Predator” among other films, wanted to make Himes’ story for his first feature film as a director.

“The project attracted me because Himes was a wonderful writer and because I was interested in the two main characters: this really naive, virginal guy and this streetwise woman - two most unlikely people to fall in love,” Duke said in 1991. “And the treasure hunt fascinated me.”

Duke cast several notable black actors to support the film, but at the center was Givens, a television star just coming off an abusive marriage to Mike Tyson. “A Rage in Harlem” was her first feature film and distinctly captures her vulnerability behind the sexy exterior. 

“No one took her seriously,” Duke said. “No one gave her a chance. I auditioned 250 girls, and then she came in with the last four - and when she came in, she blasted everyone out of the room. She had to. She had something to prove.”

Many people regarded “A Rage in Harlem” as a comedy. It certainly has many funny moments, such as the running gag involving a picture of Jackson’s mother, but to think of it simply as that diminishes the reverance for the story Duke obviously has. What “A Rage in Harlem” offers us isn’t a vehicle for jokes, but insight into how a black community identifies itself.

“Obviously, much of ‘A Rage in Harlem’ is traditional hard-boiled material,” wrote Kenneth Turan in his review for the Los Angeles Times. “What is different here, as in the novels, is Himes’ Harlem milieu. This is an exuberant, hopeless world, rarely glimpsed by outsiders, where death and laughter are twins, a world that takes in law-abiding, church-going families, community institutions such as the H. Exodus Clay Funeral Parlor as well as places like Big Kathy’s bordello, home of what has to be the hottest dance routines in town … a raw but bracing locale in which to work, bursting with life and sadness, joyously bitter as well as unabashedly sensual.”

“A Rage in Harlem” had a mild box office run upon release, grossing $10.4 million domestically. Duke would direct many television shows and other films, including 1992’s “Deep Cover” and 1993’s “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit,” in addition to numerous appearances as an actor over the decades. He received a Palme d’Or nomination for directing “A Rage in Harlem.”

“A Rage in Harlem” never received the acclaim or popularity needed to be actively remembered in our nostalgia-fueled culture. Still, it’s a stylish, funny perspective on one of film’s best genres. Sometimes all you need is two hours well spent.

At the Box Office: The other major new release of the weekend was “One Good Cop,” one of the dramas that Michael Keaton starred in between Batman movies. However, it came in second to “Oscar,” the Sylvester Stallone gangster comedy that debuted the week prior. Now that I’m writing it out, seeing Keaton in a cop drama and Stallone in a comedy seems like a weird “Freaky Friday” reversal of the era, but their respective careers after 1991 would bear out their unique talents in these genres.

The rest of the top five includes a fantastic representation of the trends of the era: the erotic thriller “A Kiss Before Dying” with Matt Dillon and Sean Young; “Toy Soldiers” with its Die-Hard-in-a-boarding-school premise; and the Steven Seagal action film, “Out for Justice.” If you’re of a certain age, you can imagine yourself debating between these three films while picking out your video rentals for the weekend.

Just out of the top five was the most successful film of the year up to that point, “The Silence of the Lambs,” then in its 12th week with a $112 million haul so far, followed by “A Rage in Harlem.”

In the News: Over 22 million people watched the final episode of the long-running prime time CBS drama, “Dallas,” on May 3; Bangladesh was still grappling with the toll of a massive cyclone striking the country earlier in the week, leaving more than 135,000 people dead and causing $1.5 billion in damages; Christian singer Amy Grant crosses over to pop music with her Billboard chart-topping single, “Baby Baby;” Pope John Paul II called for capitalism to shed injustices and place human needs over profit; Strike the Gold was a day away from winning the 117th Kentucky Derby.

Next Week: “Madonna: Truth or Dare”