To Sleep With Anger
Encyclopedia
To Sleep with Anger is a 1990
drama film
directed and written by Charles Burnett
.
), an enigmatic drifter from the South, comes to visit an old acquaintance named Gideon (Paul Butler), who now lives in South-Central Los Angeles. Harry's charming, down-home manner hides a malicious penchant for stirring up trouble, and he exerts a strange and powerful effect on Gideon and his thoroughly assimilated black, middle-class family, including wife Suzie (Mary Alice) and sons Junior (Carl Lumbly) and Babe Brother (Richard Brooks).
After Gideon suffers a stroke, Harry's influence over the family grows, in particular over Babe Brother, the youngest son. Harry introduces him to a lifestyle of drinking and gambling, and encourages him to leave his wife to join Harry and his friends on the road. However, before Babe Brother gets a chance to leave, Junior confronts him. They fight, and their mother gets stabbed in the hand trying to separate them. After taking her to the hospital, Babe Brother decides to stay with his family instead of joining Harry.
When Harry comes back to collect some things, he slips on some marbles belonging to Babe Brother's son, and dies. Soon after, Gideon gets out of his bed for the first time in months, causing the viewer to question the relationship between Harry's presence in the house and Gideon's sickness.
, including Best Director
and Best Screenplay
for Charles Burnett
, Best Male Lead for Danny Glover, and Best Supporting Female for Sheryl Lee Ralph.
It also won Best Screenplay at the National Board of Review and the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival
.
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed and written by Charles Burnett
Charles Burnett (director)
Charles Burnett is an African-American film director, film producer, writer, editor, actor, photographer, and cinematographer...
.
Plot
Harry Mention (Danny GloverDanny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
), an enigmatic drifter from the South, comes to visit an old acquaintance named Gideon (Paul Butler), who now lives in South-Central Los Angeles. Harry's charming, down-home manner hides a malicious penchant for stirring up trouble, and he exerts a strange and powerful effect on Gideon and his thoroughly assimilated black, middle-class family, including wife Suzie (Mary Alice) and sons Junior (Carl Lumbly) and Babe Brother (Richard Brooks).
After Gideon suffers a stroke, Harry's influence over the family grows, in particular over Babe Brother, the youngest son. Harry introduces him to a lifestyle of drinking and gambling, and encourages him to leave his wife to join Harry and his friends on the road. However, before Babe Brother gets a chance to leave, Junior confronts him. They fight, and their mother gets stabbed in the hand trying to separate them. After taking her to the hospital, Babe Brother decides to stay with his family instead of joining Harry.
When Harry comes back to collect some things, he slips on some marbles belonging to Babe Brother's son, and dies. Soon after, Gideon gets out of his bed for the first time in months, causing the viewer to question the relationship between Harry's presence in the house and Gideon's sickness.
Cast
- Danny GloverDanny GloverDanny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
as Harry - Paul ButlerPaul ButlerPaul Butler may refer to:* Paul Butler , actor in Crime Story * Paul Butler , Canadian artist* Paul Butler , British-born Canadian novelist...
as Gideon - DeVaughn Nixon as Sunny
- Mary AliceMary AliceMary Alice is an American actress.Alice was born Mary Alice Smith in Indianola, Mississippi, the daughter of Ozelar and Sam Smith. In 1987 she received a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her work in Fences...
as Suzie - Reina KingReina KingReina King is an American film and television actress. She began her acting career with the role of Caroline , the adopted child of Roger and Nadine on the TV sitcom What's Happening Now!! -- a sequel to the popular 1970s TV sitcom What's Happening!!...
as Rhonda - Cory Curtis as Skip
- Richard BrooksRichard Brooks (actor)Richard L. Brooks is an African-American actor, singer, and director. He is best known for his role as Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette during the first three seasons of the NBC TV drama Law & Order .Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Brooks studied acting, dance, and voice work at...
as Babe Brother - Sheryl Lee RalphSheryl Lee RalphSheryl Lee Ralph is an American actress, singer, and activist.-Personal life:Raised between Mandeville, Jamaica, and Long Island, New York, Sheryl Lee Ralph was born in Waterbury, Connecticut to an African American father and a Jamaican mother. Sheryl attended Uniondale High School in Uniondale, NY...
as Linda - Carl Lumbly as Junior
- Paula Bellamy as Mrs. Baker
- Vonetta McGeeVonetta McGee-Life and career:Vonetta McGee was born in San Francisco, to Alma and Lawrence McGee. She graduated from San Francisco Polytechnic High School and made her debut in 1968 as the eponymous character in the Italian comedy Faustina...
as Pat - Wonderful SmithWonderful SmithWonderful Smith was an African-American comedian from Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He was most notable for his routine, "Hello, Mr. President" which was an imaginary conversation with American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that lampooned the New Deal and World War II preparations...
as Preacher - Ethel AylerEthel AylerEthel Ayler is a veteran African-American character actress with a career spanning over five decades.-Biography:Ayler was born in Whistler, Alabama in 1934. In 1957, she made her off-Broadway debut in the Langston Hughes musical, Simply Heavenly...
as Hattie
Awards
The film won four Independent Spirit AwardsIndependent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
, including Best Director
Independent Spirit Award for Best Director
The Film Independent's Spirit Award for Best Director is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards.- 1980s :* 1985: Joel Coen – Blood Simple** Martin Scorsese – After Hours** Joyce Chopra – Smooth Talk...
and Best Screenplay
Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay
The Film Independent's Spirit Award for Best Screenplay is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards.-1980s:* 1985: The Trip to Bountiful - Horton Foote** After Hours - Joseph Minion** Blood Simple - Joel and Ethan Coen...
for Charles Burnett
Charles Burnett (director)
Charles Burnett is an African-American film director, film producer, writer, editor, actor, photographer, and cinematographer...
, Best Male Lead for Danny Glover, and Best Supporting Female for Sheryl Lee Ralph.
It also won Best Screenplay at the National Board of Review and the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
.