The Last Laugh: Harlem Nights and the Legacy of Comedy as Resistance
This program is presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Part of the UCLA Film & Television Archive screening series The Black Pack: Rewriting American Comedy. Learn more at cinema.ucla.edu.
In person: Introduction by Artel Great, associate professor, San Francisco State University School of Cinema, and author of The Black Pack: Comedy, Race, and Resistance.
Harlem Nights (1989) marks the only film written, directed, produced by and starring Eddie Murphy. Set in 1930s Harlem, the film imagines a world of Black nightlife, entrepreneurship and survival amid gangsters and corrupt cops. Anchored by a jazzy score blending big band and Duke Ellington standards, the film unites three generations of Black comedy — Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor and Murphy — alongside an overflowing ensemble cast. Often misunderstood on release, Harlem Nights stands as a bold assertion of authorship and creative control, envisioning Black autonomy over space, style and destiny.
Director/Screenwriter: Eddie Murphy. With: Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Jasmine Guy, Della Reese.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a division of UCLA Library, and presents its public programs in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer, among other venues. For more information about the Archive, visit cinema.ucla.edu.
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