"I
didn't set out to make a supernatural story. I didn't fall into the clichés
you usually see in that kind of movie. I was making a totally real detective
story that's entertaining because of that and the supernatural elements.
At no point did I allow myself, or anyone else on the movie, to think
of Angel Heart as anything but real and believable. People selling their
souls to the devil occurs every day of the week."
Alan Parker on Angel Heart
Alan Parker's delightfully nasty film noir Angel Heart (1987) features
a subtly tricky screenplay (based on William Hjortsberg's novel Falling
Angel), Mickey Rourke in his acting prime, and one of the most controversial
sex scenes in film history. Angel Heart remains one of the more interesting
and entertaining films to come out of the rather drab cinema of the
Reagon 80's.
We meet petty detective Harold Angel in a drab and cold New York City
in the mid fifties. He meets with a mysterious client Louis Cypher (Robert
De Niro) who strikes quite a figure with his long fingernails, pentagram
ring, black cane and intense stare. Mr. Cypher hires Angel to locate
Johnny Favorite, a former singing star who has skipped out on a contract.
It seems Johnny Favorite was sent to the war where he suffered physical
and mental scars. On his return to the States he mysteriously disappeared.
Angel's case leads him from Harlem to New Orleans in search of the mysterious
Favorite. While collecting leads and facts Angel discovers a growing
problem - everyone he tracks down gets brutally murdered after he visits
them. It seems that Favorite is still alive, setting up Angel while
clearing his own tracks. Harry Angel finds himself immersed in a violent
mystery involving Voodoo, serial killing, blues musicians, Louisiana
elite's, and a really hot Lisa Bonet.
Angel Heart keeps you guessing, it's plot twist is pulled off in bravado fashion
(compare it to Secret Window, a film my ten year old nephew figured out in the
first twenty minutes). Angel Heart remains a rather disturbing cult thriller.
The infamous sex scene involving Rourke and Bonet culminates in a disturbing
montage of steamy sex, splattering blood, black clad nuns, and various
flashes that piece together their damned union. The scene is essential
to the film but in the Reagon 80's the idea of sex, blood and religion
jumbled together was enough to give the politicians seizures. The film
was released with an "R" rating after cutting the sex scene down (as
well as some scenes of gore, look at the photo of Parker in front of
a headless body above) and was later released in a "R" rated, "X" rated
and "Unrated" versions.
Revisiting the film reveals how great of an actor Mickey Rourke can be, how hot Lisa Bonet was (what happened to her movie career?), and how much fun
De Niro used to be when he actually read his scripts. What a truly wonderful and underappreciated movie Angel Heart is.
"I
didn't set out to make a supernatural story. I didn't fall into the clichés
you usually see in that kind of movie. I was making a totally real detective
story that's entertaining because of that and the supernatural elements.
At no point did I allow myself, or anyone else on the movie, to think
of Angel Heart as anything but real and believable. People selling their
souls to the devil occurs every day of the week."
