HARLEM NUGHTS

HARLEM NIGHTS (1989)
dir: Eddie Murphy

HARLEM NUGHTS
Cracked #254, July 1990
w: Vic Bianco (Lou Silverstone)br> a: Walter Brogan

Team-up of three generations of comedians. Murphy and Pryor own a nightclub and outsmarting the cops and gangsters who demand protection. It starts with Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor) operating a casino, and an angry gambler who doesn't like that Sugar Ray's errand boy is in the room, since he believe children bring bad luck. He's about to kill Sugar Ray, but the boy shoots him, Sugar Ray adopts the boy and names him Quick, Twenty years later, Ray and Quick (Eddie Murphy, who looks more like Steve Harvey in some panels) own a nightclub. The cast, besides Sugar Ray and Quick are Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner), Sgt. Cantone (Danny Aiello), Dominique (Jasmine Guy), Bennie (Redd Foxx), the boxer Jack Jenkins (Stan Shaw, here drawn as Mike Tyson), and Vera (Della Reese). Arsenio Hall has a small part as the brother of a gangster he thinks was killed by Quick.

Sugar Ray and his employees are counting the money they earned at the end of the night, think Madame Vera may be skimming money, she and Quick fight over it, and Quick ends up shooting her toe off. Sgt. Cantone comes in and demands a cut, but Sugar Ray decides he'd rather skip out, but comes up with a plan. In the last panel, cut off, are supposed to be Robert Redford and Paul Newman of The Sting.

Quick is seen visiting business associate Tommy (Thomas Mikal Ford) not knowing that Tommy was killed by Bugsy's men, is seen leaving the apartment by Tommy's brother (Arsenio Hall) who thinks Quick did it, tries to get Quick back, and is killed in self defense. Later, he goes on a date with Dominique, knows it's a set-up, and kills her in defense as well.

Sugar Ray's men set up Calhoune's money collector Richie (Vic Polizos) with Sunshine (Lela Rochon), one of his hookers [there's a lot of that in this]. She's called Sunshine, because as Madame Vera says in the movie "her pussy is so good, if you threw it up in the air, it would turn into sunshine". He falls in love and leaves his wife for her. He goes to pick her up, and they get stopped by Sugar Ray and Quick, impersonating who tell him Sunshine's a drug dealer and he's an accessory. They confiscate the bag of alleged drugs, but it's accidentally mistaken for the bag of money next to it in the car.

Richie goes to Calhoune to deliver the bag, not knowing it's been switched, and finds it's not only the wrong bag, but the packets of heroin are just sugar. Vera comes to Calhoune saying she had nothing to do with this whole scam, but is only acting as a decoy while Calhoune's place is blown up.

I'm not sure how it all works either. I'm just the messenger.

MAD also had a small thing in MAD's Video Reviews in issue #296, also July 1990.