Slideshow
SUGAR HILL
U.S., 1994
Directed by Leon Ichaso
Written by Barry Michael Cooper
Starring Wesley Snipes, Michael Wright, Theresa Randle, Abe Vigoda, Joe D'Allesandro, Clarence Williams III, Ernie Hudson
Approx. 123 min. DCP courtesy Beacon Pictures.
“Smart enough to have been offered a full academic scholarship to Georgetown (he didn’t go, but that’s another story), Roemello (Wesley Snipes) is an introspective kind of guy who reads The New York Times, plays a fine game of chess and has an eye for art and design. A drug lord who wants out and the hero of SUGAR HILL, he is presented as the exemplar of a lost generation, an individual who could have made something of his life if he hadn’t been trapped by the familiar socio-economic dynamics of the drug trade.” – Los Angeles Times
The New York Times article on the making of SUGAR HILL
Reviews
“…the cast is impressive and the material carries a lot of raw conviction.”
– Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“The touches of Harlem in (SUGAR HILL)... root it in a place and time that could not have been found elsewhere”
– David Gonzalez, The New York Times
"Snipes’ authoritative performance is no surprise; his status as a preeminent screen actor grows with every picture."
– Los Angeles Times
"The 35-year-old [screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper] said that when he began to write the script for SUGAR HILL, he tried to imbue it with the atmosphere of the Harlem he had grown up in during the 1960's and 1970's. The buildings, with their stone faces and wrought iron gates, the sloping narrow streets and even the light played into his fascination with the area's history and his determination to convey that Harlem was not just a ghetto.”
– David Gonzalez, The New York Times.