Visit the UCLA Film & Television Archive website(opens in a new tab) to learn more about upcoming screenings and events.
Free admission. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.
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. Q&A with Great and photographer Bruce Talamon.
Harlem Nights
Year: 1989
Country: U.S.
Language: English
Runtime: 116 min.
35mm. Color.
Harlem Nights 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.
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