A private investigator is hired by a man who calls himself Louis Cyphre to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite. But the investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn.

Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) takes a missing persons case to find Johnny Favorite, a lost crooner with ties to an occult Louisiana underworld. Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro), who hired him for the case, dribbles hints but is clearly hiding something. As the case progresses, Harry starts to find clues that lead back to himself.

When a string of murders follows him through his search and the local police become involved, Harry tries to keep a low profile, which isn’t helped by his entanglement with Epiphany Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet), the daughter of Toots Sweet (Brownie McGhee), a former partner to Favorite.

Remember when Mickey Rourke was sexy? This is one year after 9½ Weeks, and his bare, sweaty bum was pretty titillating at the time, not to mention child-star-turned-sexpot Lisa Bonet‘s casual nudity.

Harry finds a “Hand of Glory”

To begin with, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to anyone but Harry that Louis Cyhpre’s name is a pun on Lucifer, and that his “case” is a deal with the devil. This is a Southern noir mystery with supernatural elements, filled with sweaty foreheads, rumpled suits, gumbo, voodoo, and femmes fatale.

The journey of the PI becomes more and more mysterious, threaded with sex, jazz and peril, and a bloody path through the underworld of New Orleans. The solution to the mystery may or may not surprise, but in 1987 it definitely did.

No matter how cleverly you sneak up on a mirror, your reflection always looks you straight in the eye. – Louis Cyphre

This is an excellent mood film, and I always show it to friends as a double feature with Jacob’s Ladder, for a dark realism that segues into supernatural horror.