A Rage in Harlem (1991) on Netflix
In 1956, Imabelle flees Natchez with a trunk of stolen gold and reaches Harlem. She draws Jackson, a funeral parlor bookkeeper, into a scam that promises to bake his $1,500 into $15,000.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb5.9/102,552 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes65%
Trailer
Plot summary
Jackson keeps the books at H. Exodus Clay's Harlem funeral parlor and has put away $1,500. His estranged stepbrother Goldy, whom Jackson calls Sherman, runs small-time cons and poses as a priest who sells bogus tickets to heaven. Imabelle arrives from Mississippi with a trunk of stolen gold and no money, attends the Undertaker's Ball, meets Jackson, seduces him and moves into his apartment. The men she took the gold from have followed her to New York and want Jackson's savings. Their scam, called The Blow, promises to turn his $1,500 into $15,000 by baking the bills in an oven. Jackson hears them out but hesitates at first.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about A Rage in Harlem (1991)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Producer Stephen Woolley raised the money for A Rage in Harlem believing he was backing a comedy, but about halfway through the shoot director Bill Duke told him, "We're not making no god-damn comedy."
- Director Bill Duke chose Robin Givens for the female lead in A Rage in Harlem only after considering 300 women for the part.
- The film's 1950s Harlem was actually Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, whose un-gentrified area of the old downtown lower depths stood in for Harlem.
