Angel Heart (1987) on Netflix
X19871h 53mHorrorMysteryThriller
1955 New York. Private investigator Harry Angel takes a job for Louis Cyphre: find Johnny Favorite, a singer missing since the war. The trail leads into voodoo circles in New Orleans.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.2/10105,622 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes82%
Trailer
Plot summary
Louis Cyphre contacts the New York private investigator Harry Angel through a law firm. The job: find Johnny Favorite, a singer who was successful before World War II, was wounded in the war and was said to have been committed for his injuries. Cyphre has not seen him since and thinks the hospital that treated him falsified its records. Angel learns that a doctor there was bribed by two people who took the disfigured singer away, and that Favorite's old associates are drawn to mysticism and voodoo. Margaret Krusemark, once Favorite's fiancée, says the singer is dead to her. Epiphany Proudfoot is the teenage daughter of Evangeline, Favorite's lover.
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Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Angel Heart (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- With only a few weeks to go before release, the ratings board voted 8-to-6 in favour of keeping the film's X rating; the studio was desperate for the less-restrictive R, so a reluctant Alan Parker removed ten seconds of sexual content from the scene.
- Alan Parker originally wanted Robert De Niro to play Harry Angel, but the actor was interested instead in a cameo as the mysterious benefactor Louis Cyphre, and did not fully commit to that role until after frequent discussions with Parker.
- Although initially supportive of Lisa Bonet's decision to appear in the film, Bill Cosby dismissed Angel Heart as "a movie made by white America that cast a black girl, gave her voodoo things to do and have sex".
- Filming a chase scene proved difficult: the crew had to deal with shying horses, trained dogs, gunshots, two hundred chickens and a horse specially trained to fall on top of Mickey Rourke's stuntman.
- Christopher Nolan said the film was a major influence on his 2000 film Memento, pointing to Alan Parker pictures that "use very interesting editing techniques such as a fractured narrative".
- The actress originally cast as Bo was injured when a wave knocked her off her feet as she delivered her first line; she refused to reshoot the scene and was replaced by her own stand-in, whom Parker found the better actress for the role.
SPOILER
Critic Tim Dirks of Filmsite put the film on his list of the "Greatest Film Plot Twists, Film Spoilers and Surprise Endings" for two reveals: Harry Angel turning out to be Johnny Favorite, and Louis Cyphre revealing himself as Lucifer.- Jack Nicholson was considered for the lead role of Harry Angel and met with director Alan Parker in Los Angeles about it, but ultimately passed on the part.
