Angel Heart – 1987

I decided to give Angel Heart another try. I’d originally seen it back in 1987 when it was released, but at the time I thought it was just “okay”. I really love VooDoo (Vodou) movies like The Serpent and the Rainbow, The Believers, The Skeleton Key and even Live and Let Die. Angel Heart is better than I remember it being, but it’s still kind of a slow flick.

Plot Summary for Angel Heart
Angel Heart is a very atmospheric, good-looking movie set in 1950s New York and New Orleans. Greasy private detective Harry Angel (played by Mickey Rourke) is hired by Louis Cyphre (Robert DeNiro) to find a missing person. According to Cyphre, the missing person owes him a “debt”. Harry Angel is slowly drawn into a world of VooDoo and deception as he tries to track down the missing crooner Johnny Favourite. Along the way, he meets Epiphany Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet) who has ties to all the mystery surrounding Johnny’s disappearance. I can’t say too much about what happens because there are several twists and spoilers suck. So, I will say no one is quite who they seem to be, but if you pay very close attention, the ending won’t be a great surprise.

Memorable Scene from Angel Heart
Probably the blood soaked sex scene between Harry and Epiphany. It’s MTV style editing with a lot of disturbing imagery thrown in for good measure.

Frightening Facts about Angel Heart
If you look closely, you will notice two recognizable faces. Dan Florek appears briefly as Louis Cyphre’s lawyer. You may know him better as Captain Donald Cragen on Law & Order SVU. Almost unrecognizable is Pruitt Taylor Vince as a sidekick cop. I only noticed him because of his crazy, twitching eyes – the same way you will know him. He’s been in everything from X-Files to the movies Identity and Constantine. In Angel Heart, he’s much thinner and has hair, but the eyes are unmistakable!

Director Alan Parker also directed Evita, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Fame, Midnight Express and other heavy movies. Instead of casting then hot stuff Mickey Rourke, they had first offered the roles to heavyweights Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino. I personally love Mickey Rourke as an actor and thought that he was wonderful in Sin City and The Wrestler just blew me away! Don’t miss his early work because it’s pretty gritty. These days he looks like a completely different person thanks to all those boxing matches and plastic surgery. No one believes me when I say he was smoldering hot back in the day.