Angel Heart

For other uses, see Angel Heart (disambiguation).

mark, Angel travels to New Orleans to nd her.

In New Orleans, Margaret divulges little information to

Harry, telling him that Johnny is dead. Harry then discovers that Evangeline is dead, but her 17-year-old daughter,
Epiphany Proudfoot (Bonet), was conceived during her
mothers relationship with Favorite. Epiphany is equally
reluctant to speak, so Angel locates Toots Sweet (Brownie
McGhee), a blues guitarist and former Favorite bandmate. Angel uses force to try to extract details of Favorites last known whereabouts from Toots, who refers
him back to Margaret. The following morning, Angel
1 Plot
awakes to nd the New Orleans police in his hotel room;
they inform him that Toots was murdered the night beThe movie opens in New York City, in January 1955. fore. Returning to Margarets home, Angel later nds her
Harry Angel (Rourke), a downtrodden private investiga- murdered too, her heart removed with a ceremonial knife.
tor, is contacted by an attorney named Herman Wine- Later, Angel is attacked by agents of Ethan Krusemark, a
sap (Dann Florek) and instructed to meet a client named powerful Louisiana patriarch and Margarets father, and
Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) in a Harlem church. He told to leave town.
tells Angel about a popular pre-war crooner named John
Liebling, known as Johnny Favorite, who suered severe Angel returns home to nd Epiphany on his doorstep, he
neurological trauma resulting from injuries he received in invites her in and they talk about the relationship she had
World War II. Favorites incapacitation disrupted a con- with her childs father. She puts some Blues music on
tract with Cyphre regarding unspecied collateral, and the radio and they start to 'slow dance', eventually kissCyphre believes that a private upstate hospital where Fa- ing. Angel and Epiphany have sex as Angel starts to have
vorite was receiving radical psychiatric treatment for shell ashbacks of blood dripping from the ceiling and splashshock has falsied records, deliberately preventing the ing around the room.
contract from being fullled. He hires Angel to discover Epiphany reveals that Johnny Favorite was considered an
the truth and locate Favorites true whereabouts.
extremely evil man who turned on everyone he knew. AnAngel travels to the hospital and discovers that the records gel suspects that Favorite is in hiding and is killing o his
showing Favorites transfer were indeed falsied by a former friends to prevent his whereabouts being discovphysician named Fowler (Michael Higgins). Discover- ered.
Angel Heart is a 1987 American noir horror mystery
lm written and directed by Alan Parker, and starring
Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, and Lisa Bonet. The
lm, adapted from the novel Falling Angel by William
Hjortsberg, earned mostly positive critical reviews but
was not a nancial success.

ing that Fowler is a morphine addict, Angel withholds

his x until Fowler admits he was paid $25,000 by a
friend of Favorites and an unknown woman and that one
night, years ago, they put Favorite, whose damaged face
was heavily bandaged, in a car to be taken south. Angel suspects that Fowler is still withholding information
and locks him in his bedroom without a morphine x,
hoping to sweat him some more, but when he returns
he nds the doctor murdered. Fearing he will be a suspect and anxious to quit the job, he meets Cyphre to apprise him of this literal dead-end. However, Cyphre pays
him $5,000 to continue the search. Angel uses a former journalist lover to research Favorites background.
Although Johnny had a wealthy southern society ance
named Margaret Krusemark (Charlotte Rampling), he
also had a secret love named Evangeline Proudfoot in addition to being involved with a Coney Island gypsy fortune teller, Madame Zora. Learning that voodoo practitioner Madame Zora was actually the debutante Kruse-

Angel forces one of the men who attacked him to take

him to Krusemark, who confronts Angel and reveals that
Favorite was actually a powerful magician who sold his
soul to Satan in exchange for stardom, but then sought to
renege on the bargain. With the help of Toots and the
Krusemarks, Favorite kidnapped a soldier on New Years
Eve, murdered him and ate his still-beating heart in order
to steal his soul and assume his identity. Favorite planned
to drop out of the contract and resurface as the soldier, but
the boy was drafted due to the sudden outbreak of the
war and Favorites subsequent amnesia from his injuries
ruined the plan.
Hoping to jog Johnnys memory, the Krusemarks later
sneaked an unresposive Favorite out of the hospital and
released him in Times Square. Angel has a panic attack
and runs into the bathroom; he emerges to nd Krusemark drowned in a cauldron of boiling gumbo. Fleeing
to Margarets home, he nds a sealed vase containing the

clue to the soldiers identity Favorite gave her years ago.

Angel breaks it open, revealing a set of dog tags with the
name ANGEL, HAROLD stamped on them. Angel
was, and has been, Johnny Favorite all along.

EXTERNAL LINKS

Michael Higgins as Dr. Albert Fowler

Elizabeth Whitcraft as Connie

Charles Gordone as Spider Simpson, bandleader

Louis Cyphre, a homophone for Lucifer, appears in Mar Dann Florek as Herman Winesap
garets living room and tells Angel that despite his attempt
to break the contract, he has known his true identity since
the beginning. Angel refuses to believe him, insisting
that he knows his own identity and will tell Winesap that 4 Reception
Cyphre is trying to frame him for murders he himself has
committed. Cyphre says 'if I had cloven hooves and a Angel Heart gained attention and controversy even before
forked tail, would I have been more convincing?'
its release. Bonet, then 19, was previously known for her
Cyphre then reveals that Winesap is also dead, and pro- role on the family-oriented sitcom The Cosby Show, and
ceeds to unleash Angels repressed memories: in a fugue at least ten seconds of her topless, extended, graphic sex
state that Cyphre induced, Angel did indeed murder scene with Rourke (then 35) while blood drips from the
Fowler, Toots, and the Krusemarks. Finding himself walls, had to be trimmed in order to secure the lm an
though later an
alone, Angel then ees to his hotel where he nds the po- R rating on initial release in the USA,
[1]
In
Australia the
uncut
X
rated
version
was
released.
lice in his bedroom. The body of Epiphany, wearing his
lm
was
released
uncut
from
rst
release.
dog tags, is in his bed, killed with a gunshot from his pistol. Angel nally accepts the truth of who he really is.
The New Orleans police detective tells Angel that he'll
burn for his murders, to which he replies I know. He
will be executed for his own daughters murder, as well as
the other killings, and Cyphre can at long last claim what
is his: Favorites immortal soul.

Rotten Tomatoes counted 23 reviews with 78% of them

being fresh or favorable; Average Rating: 7.3/10.[2] Angel Heart broke even at the box oce with its budget of
$17 million.[3]

Roger Ebert gave the lm three and a half stars. He said:

"Angel Heart is a thriller and a horror movie, but most of
Over the end credits, there is a lengthy sequence of An- all its an exuberant exercise in style, in which Parker and
gel inside an iron Otis elevator cage, which is inter- his actors have fun taking it to the limit.[4]
minably descending, presumably to hell. (Short clips of
The lm acted as the inspiration for the rst entry in the
this sequence have been seen in Angels dream sequences
Gabriel Knight computer game series, Gabriel Knight:
throughout the lm.) As the screen fades to black,
Sins of the Fathers.[5]
Cyphre can be heard whispering, Harry and Johnny,
announcing his dominion over both their (shared) souls.

5 References
2

Novel vs. lm

Angel Heart is generally faithful to the novel it was

adapted from, with the following major exceptions: the
introduction of Epiphany Proudfoots child which she
claims was conceived by a devil during a voodoo ceremony, and much of the lm occurs in New Orleans while
the novel is set entirely within New York City.

Cast

[1] Appeals Board Upholds 'Angel Heart' X Rating. The

New York Times. 1987-02-21.
[2] Angel Heart at RottenTomatoes.com
[3] Angel Heart business at the Internet Movie Database
[4] Roger Ebert (March 6, 1987). Angel Heart. Chicago
Sun-Times. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
[5] DetectiveMosley comments on I am Jane Jensen, creator of Gabriel Knight, Gray Matter and Pinkerton Road
game studio. Ask me anything."". www.reddit.com. Retrieved 2013-10-20.

Mickey Rourke as Harry Angel

Robert De Niro as Louis Cyphre
Lisa Bonet as Epiphany Proudfoot
Charlotte Rampling as Margaret Krusemark
Stocker Fontelieu as Ethan Krusemark
Brownie McGhee as Toots Sweet

6 External links
Angel Heart at the Internet Movie Database

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1

Text

Angel Heart Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Heart?oldid=670372316 Contributors: Slrubenstein, Olivier, Paul A, Tregoweth, Bueller 007, Ravy, Andrewman327, Robbot, RedWolf, Icenine0, Michael Devore, ZeroJanvier, Bobblewik, Piotrus, Sonett72,
Metahacker, Rich Farmbrough, Xezbeth, CanisRufus, Gnrlotto, Jfbolus, NetBot, Wendell, SemperBlotto, Ricky81682, Max rspct, SidP,
Uucp, AN(Ger), Alai, GreatGatsby, Joriki, Sparkit, Kbdank71, Noirish, Captain Disdain, MarnetteD, Leithp, JeStickney, Glenn L,
Roboto de Ajvol, YurikBot, Wavelength, Quentin X, Jaufrec, Chris Love, Furtim, Misza13, Nz17, Attilios, SmackBot, Astro jpc, IstvanWolf, Commander Keane bot, Mona, Midnight man, TKD, JesseRafe, Whpq, Elendils Heir, Cmcolin, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Sylocat,
SilkTork, Ocatecir, Ckatz, Kyros, Rpab, Norm mit, Elroy kuntz, Schwenkstar, Swfong, JForget, Wafulz, Zingazin, ShelfSkewed, Xtramental, Cydebot, Treybien, BetacommandBot, Thijs!bot, JAF1970, Skb8721, Pajz, QuasyBoy, Q8-falcon, 3Easy, Andrzejbanas, Notationman, Easchi, Murgh, Charlyz, JobSmee, Mtd2006, Nurse Clavell, Kontar, Jtranzen, FMAFan1990, Notreallydavid, SCOCSOOCSOSC,
STBotD, Eksosrock, Sgeureka, UnicornTapestry, Andyvphil, Lots42, Frog47, Artsunlimited, Ergonaut2001, Wool Mintons, Henry Spencer
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7.2

Images

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Tango! Desktop Project. Original artist:
The people from the Tango! project. And according to the meta-data in the le, specically: Andreas Nilsson, and Jakub Steiner (although
minimally).
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Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

7.3

Content license

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