Angel Heart
Angel Heart is a 1987 neo-noir psychological horror film, an adaptation of William Hjortsberg's 1978 novel Falling Angel. The film is written and directed by Alan Parker, and stars Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet and Charlotte Rampling. It is an international co-production between the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. Harry Angel, a New York City private investigator, is hired to solve the mysterious disappearance of a singer known as Johnny Favorite. His investigation takes him to New Orleans, where he becomes embroiled in a series of brutal murders.
Following publication of the novel, Hjortsberg began developing the screenplay for a film adaptation, but found that no major studio was willing to produce his script. The project resurfaced in 1985 when producer Elliott Kastner brought the book to Parker's attention. Parker began work on a new script and made several changes to Hjortsberg's novel. He also met with Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna, who agreed to finance the $18million production through their independent film studio Carolco Pictures. Filming took place on-location in New York City and New Orleans, with principal photography lasting from March to June 1986.
Weeks before its theatrical release, Angel Heart faced ratings issues from the Motion Picture Association of America for one scene of sexual content. Parker was forced to remove ten seconds of footage to avoid an X rating and secure the R rating that the film's distributor Tri-Star Pictures wanted. An unrated version featuring the removed footage was later released on home video.
Angel Heart received a mixed reaction from reviewers, who praised the performances of Rourke and Bonet, as well as the production design, score and cinematography, but criticized Parker's screenwriting. The film underperformed at the North American box office, grossing $17.2million during its theatrical run, but has since been regarded as underappreciated and influential.
Plot
In 1955 New York City, a man named Louis Cyphre contacts private investigator Harry Angel to track down crooner John Liebling, known professionally as Johnny Favorite. Favorite suffered neurological trauma resulting from injuries received in World War II. His incapacity disrupted a contract with Cyphre regarding unspecified collateral. Cyphre believes that a private hospital where Favorite was receiving radical psychiatric treatment for shell shock has falsified records.At the hospital, Harry discovers that the records showing Favorite's transfer were indeed falsified by physician Albert Fowler. After Harry breaks into his home, Fowler admits that he was bribed years before by a man and woman so that the two could abscond with the disfigured Favorite. Believing that Fowler is withholding information, Harry locks him in his bedroom, forcing him to suffer withdrawal from a morphine addiction. Hours later, he finds that Fowler has apparently died by suicide with a gunshot to the eye.
A reluctant Harry agrees to continue the search when Cyphre offers him more money. He discovers that Favorite had a wealthy fiancée named Margaret Krusemark, but had also begun another affair. Harry travels to New Orleans and meets with Margaret, who says that Favorite is dead, or at least dead in her mind. Evangeline Proudfoot, Favorite's lover, died years before but is survived by her 17-year-old daughter Epiphany, who was conceived during the affair. Epiphany has a young light-skinned son of approximately three years old, and claims that she does not remember who fathered the boy.
Harry tracks down Toots Sweet, a guitarist and former Favorite bandmate. After Harry uses force to try to extract details of Favorite's last known whereabouts, Toots refers him back to Margaret. The following morning, police detectives inform Harry that Toots has been murdered by suffocation; his penis severed and stuffed down his throat. Harry returns to Margaret's home and finds her murdered; her heart removed with a ceremonial knife. He is subsequently attacked by enforcers of Ethan Krusemark—a powerful Louisiana patriarch and Margaret's father—who tell him to leave town.
Harry finds Epiphany at his hotel. He invites her into his room, where they have sex, during which Harry has visions of blood dripping from the ceiling and splashing around the room. He soon confronts Krusemark in a gumbo hut. Krusemark reveals that he and Margaret were the ones who took Favorite from the hospital. Favorite was actually a powerful occultist who sold his soul to Satan in exchange for stardom. He got his stardom but sought to renege on the bargain. To do so, he kidnapped a young soldier from Times Square who was his exact age and strongly resembled him, and performed a Satanic ritual on the boy, murdering him and eating his still-beating heart to steal his soul. Favorite planned to assume the soldier's identity but was drafted and injured overseas. Suffering severe facial trauma and amnesia, he was sent to the hospital for treatment.
After taking him from the hospital, Krusemark and Margaret left him at Times Square on New Year's Eve 1943. While hearing Krusemark's story, Harry runs into the bathroom, vomits and continually asks for the soldier's identity. Krusemark says that the soldier's dog tags were sealed in a vase. He returns to find Krusemark drowned in a cauldron of boiling gumbo.
At Margaret's home, Harry finds the vase containing the soldier's dog tag—stamped with the name "Angel, Harold". Harry realizes that he and Johnny Favorite are actually the same person. Louis Cyphre, whose name is a homophone for Lucifer, suddenly appears. His true nature revealed, Cyphre proclaims that he can now claim what is his: Favorite's soul. Harry insists that he knows who he is, but his repressed memories of killing Dr. Fowler, Toots, the Krusemarks and Epiphany eventually come flooding back.
Harry returns to his hotel room, where the police have found Epiphany murdered by gunshot, the barrel of Harry's gun still inside her vagina, and his dog tags on her body. A police officer comes out of the bathroom carrying Epiphany's young son, who Harry realizes is his grandchild. Harry sees the child's eyes glow, just as Cyphre's had at their last meeting, implying that Satan is the one who impregnated Epiphany. A police detective tells Harry that he will burn for the murders, and Harry says, "I know. In Hell." Harry later stands inside an elevator that is interminably descending, presumably to Hell. Cyphre whispers, "Harry" and "Johnny", asserting dominion over both of their souls.
Cast
Production
Development
Following publication of his 1978 novel Falling Angel, William Hjortsberg began work on a film adaptation. His friend, production designer Richard Sylbert, took the book's manuscript to producer Robert Evans. The film rights to the novel had been optioned by Paramount Pictures, with Evans slated to produce the film, John Frankenheimer hired to direct, and Hjortsberg acting as screenwriter. Frankenheimer was later replaced by Dick Richards, and Dustin Hoffman was being considered for the lead role. After Paramount's option expired, Hjortsberg discussed the project with Robert Redford and wrote two drafts. Hjortsberg, however, felt that no film studio was willing to produce his script. He reflected, "Even with behind the script, studio executives weren't interested. 'Why can't it have a happy ending?' every bigshot demanded."In 1985, producer Elliott Kastner met with Alan Parker at Pinewood Studios to discuss a film adaptation of the novel. Parker, who had read the book following its publication, agreed to write the screenplay. He met with Hjortsberg in London before moving to New York City, where he wrote most of the script. After completing the first draft in September 1985, Parker traveled to Rome, Italy, where he brought the script to Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna. The two producers agreed to finance the film through their independent film studio, Carolco Pictures, and Parker was given creative control. Pre-production work on Angel Heart began in January 1986 in New York, where Parker selected the creative team, reuniting with several of his past collaborators, including producer Alan Marshall, director of photography Michael Seresin, camera operator Michael Roberts, production designer Brian Morris and editor Gerry Hambling.
Writing
Parker made several changes to the novel. He titled his script Angel Heart, for he wanted to distance his film adaptation from the source material. Although Falling Angel is set entirely in New York City, Parker had the second half of his script take place in New Orleans, based on the novel's perpetual allusions to voodoo and the occult. He discussed the story-setting change to Hjortsberg, who approved of the decision; the author revealed to Parker that he had also thought of setting his novel in New Orleans.Angel Heart is set in 1955, whereas the events in the book take place in 1959. He explained, "The book is set in 1959 and I moved it to 1955 for a small but selfish reason. 1959 was on the way to the 1960s with its changing attitudes as well as environments. 1955 for me still belonged to the 1940s—and, because of the historical pause button of World War II, conceivably the 1930s—so quite simply, setting it in this year allowed me to give an older look to the film."
Other script changes from the novel involved characterization and dialogue. Parker sought to make Harry Angel a character that evoked sympathy. He said, "In the tradition of the down-at-heel gumshoe, his phlegmatic surface disguised an intelligence capable of unraveling a complicated, larger-than-life story with a degree of belief and conciseness. Also he had to be attractive to audiences while enlightening them, little by little, along the way."
Parker also established Angel as being born on February 14—Valentine's Day—the same date as his own birthday. He explained that it was "for no particular reason other than Valentine's Day might be easy to remember in a labyrinthine script and the heart reference seemed to have some resonance". Parker also wanted to create a realistic depiction of Louis Cyphre, as opposed to the character's "larger-than-life" personality in the novel. Another script change involved the ending and the identity of the killer. While Angel is framed for the murders in the novel, Parker established the character as the killer for the film's ending.