Jungle Fever
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''Jungle Fever'' is a 1991 American romantic drama film written, produced and directed by
Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
. The film stars
Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist. His prominent film roles include '' Major League'' (1989), ''New Jack City'' (1991), '' White Men Can't Jump'' (1992), '' Passenger 57'' (1992), '' ...
,
Annabella Sciorra Annabella Gloria Philomena Sciorra ( , ; born March 29, 1960) is an American actress. She came to prominence with her film debut in '' True Love'' (1989), earning an Independent Spirit nomination for Best Female Lead. Subsequent projects include ...
, Lee,
Ossie Davis Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...
, Ruby Dee,
Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...
, Lonette McKee,
John Turturro John Michael Turturro (; born February 28, 1957) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his contributions to the independent film movement. He has appeared in over sixty feature films and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, ...
,
Frank Vincent Frank Vincent Gattuso Jr. (April 15, 1937 – September 13, 2017) was an American actor. During a five-decade career, Vincent often portrayed mobsters. He was a frequent collaborator of filmmaker Martin Scorsese, appearing as Salvy in ''Raging B ...
, Halle Berry (in her film debut),
Tim Robbins Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for portraying Andy Dufresne in the film ''The Shawshank Redemption ''(1994), and has won an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards for his role ...
,
Brad Dourif Bradford Claude Dourif (; born March 18, 1950) is an American actor. He was nominated for an Oscar, and won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for his film debut role as Billy Bibbit in ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1975). He is also kno ...
,
Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album '' All Hail the Qu ...
,
Michael Imperioli Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966) is an American actor, writer, and musician. He is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO crime drama ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Out ...
, and
Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental v ...
, and is Lee's fifth feature-length film. ''Jungle Fever'' explores the beginning and end of an extramarital
interracial relationship Interracial topics include: * Interracial marriage, marriage between two people of different races ** Interracial marriage in the United States *** 2009 Louisiana interracial marriage incident * Interracial adoption, placing a child of one rac ...
against the urban backdrop of the streets of
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in the early 1990s. The film received positive reviews, with particular praise for Samuel L. Jackson's performance.


Plot

Successful
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
architect Flipper Purify lives with his wife Drew, a
buyer Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agency buys goods or serv ...
at
Bloomingdales Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a div ...
, and their young daughter, Ming. At work, Flipper discovers that an
Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...
woman named Angie Tucci has been hired as his temp secretary. Initially upset at being the only black person, he relents after being told hiring is based on ability, not race. Angie lives in
Bensonhurst Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22n ...
with her abusive father Mike and her brothers Charlie and Jimmy. Angie's quiet fiancé Paulie runs a corner grocery store and lives with his elderly widowed father Lou. Meanwhile, Angie feels suffocated at home. After working several late nights together, Flipper and Angie have sex, beginning a tumultuous relationship. The next day, Flipper demands his superiors, Jerry and Leslie, promote him to partner, but he is denied. He resigns, having plans to start his own firm. Eventually, Flipper admits his infidelity to his longtime friend, Cyrus, who criticizes him not for his infidelity towards his wife, but for his affair with a white woman. Cyrus refers to his situation as "jungle fever"—an attraction borne of sexualized racial myths rather than love—and Flipper asks Cyrus not to tell anyone. Angie's friends are equally disparaging when she tells them she is having a relationship with a black man. Drew learns about Flipper's affair through Cyrus' wife Vera and throws him out of their home. Flipper moves in with his father, Southern Baptist
preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...
The Good Reverend Purify and mother, Lucinda Purify. Later, Mike severely beats Angie after discovering that she is dating a black man and kicks her out of their home. At Drew's workplace, Flipper attempts to reconcile but Drew kicks him out, feeling he was only attracted to her for being half-white, and that Flipper was searching for a white woman as he was a successful black man. Flipper and Angie move into an apartment in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
where they encounter discrimination for being a mixed-race couple, such as being insulted by a waitress named LaShawn, chastisement from The Good Reverend, and financial issues. After some play fighting, Flipper gets restrained by two policemen ( the same ones who killed Radio Raheem two years prior) who receive a call that he was attacking Angie. The couple's issues are compounded by Flipper's feelings for his family and Angie wanting to have children of her own, causing their split. Echoing what Cyrus told him earlier, Flipper tells Angie their relationship has been based on sexual racial myths and not love, but Angie denies this, telling him she loves him for who, not for what, he is. Later, Flipper's crack-addicted brother Gator steals and sells Lucinda's TV for crack. Searching all over Harlem, Flipper eventually finds him in a crack house and exasperatedly disowns him. Soon after, Gator returns to his parents' house to ask for money and, after Lucinda refuses, begins ransacking the home. His erratic behavior ignites an altercation that ends with The Good Reverend proclaiming angrily that his son is "evil and better off dead" before shooting him. Gator collapses and dies in Lucinda's arms as The Good Reverend watches remorsefully. Meanwhile, Paulie's racist Italian-American friends mock him for having lost his girlfriend to a black man. He asks one of his customers, a friendly black woman named Orin Goode, out on a date. This angers his father, whom he defiantly ignores. En route to meet Orin, Paulie is assaulted viciously by his other customers for attempting an interracial relationship. Although badly beaten, Paulie still arrives for his date with Orin. Mike reluctantly allows Angie to return home, and Flipper unsuccessfully tries to mend his relationship with Drew. As Flipper leaves from his apartment, a young crack-addicted prostitute propositions him, and in response, Flipper throws his arms around her and cries out in anguished torment.


Cast


Themes


Racism

Lee dedicated the film to Yusuf Hawkins. Hawkins was killed on August 23, 1989, in Bensonhurst, New York by
Italian-Americans Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...
who said the teenager was involved with a white girl in the neighborhood, though he was actually in the neighborhood to inquire about a used car for sale. According to the ''
New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'', "the attack had more to do with race than romance".


Drugs

In the film, Flipper's brother, Gator, is a crack addict. He is constantly pestering his family members for money. His father has disowned him, but his mother and Flipper still occasionally give him money when he asks. In an interview with ''
Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'', Jackson explains that he was able to effectively play the crack addict Gator because he had just gotten out of rehab for his own crack addiction. Because of his personal experience with the drug, Jackson was able to help Lee make Gator's character seem more realistic by helping establish Gator's antics and visibility in the film.


Music

The film's soundtrack was by Stevie Wonder and was released by
Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...
. Although the album was created for the movie, it was released before the movie's premiere in May 1991. It has 11 tracks, all of which are written by Stevie Wonder, except for one. Though some believe that Wonder's album was unappealing, others believed that it was his best work in years. The instrumental theme for the film is "Bless the Star" by Terence Blanchard. This theme was used in '' Mo Better Blues'' previously but does not appear on either's soundtrack.


Reception


Critical response

The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for Samuel L. Jackson's performance as crack addict Gator, which is often considered to be his
breakout role A breakthrough role, also known as a breakout role, is a term in the film industry to describe the performance of an actor or actress which contributed significantly to the development of their career and beginning of critical recognition. The si ...
. On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 80% based on reviews from 49 critics. The site's consensus states: "''Jungle Fever'' finds Spike Lee tackling timely sociopolitical themes in typically provocative style, even if the result is sometimes ambitious to a fault." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a score of 78% based on reviews from 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' gave it three-and-a-half out of four stars and wrote: "Jungle Fever contains two sequences - the girl talk and the crackhouse visit - of amazing power. It contains humor and insight and canny psychology, strong performances, and the fearless discussion of things both races would rather not face."


Accolades

* 1991 Cannes Film Festival ** Best Supporting Actor:
Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...
** Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (Special Mention) * Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards ** Best Supporting Actor: Samuel L. Jackson *
National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...
** 10th Best Film of the Year *
New York Film Critics Circle Awards The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) is an American film critic organization founded in 1935 by Wanda Hale from the New York ''Daily News''. Its membership includes over 30 film critics from New York-based daily and weekly newspapers, magaz ...
** Best Supporting Actor: Samuel L. Jackson * Political Film Society Human Rights Award


Year-end lists

The film is recognized by
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...
in these lists: * 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated


References


External links

* * * * * {{Spike Lee 1991 films 1991 romantic drama films 1990s American films 1990s English-language films 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks films African-American romantic drama films American romantic drama films Filicide in fiction Films about adultery in the United States Films about drugs Films about dysfunctional families Films about interracial romance Films about Italian-American culture Films about prostitution in the United States Films about racism in the United States Films directed by Spike Lee Films produced by Spike Lee Films scored by Terence Blanchard Films set in Brooklyn Films set in Harlem Films with screenplays by Spike Lee Murder in films Universal Pictures films