Sugar Hill

Sugar Hill is a 1994 American crime film starring Wesley Snipes and Michael Wright.

Plot
The film is about brothers Roemello (Wesley Snipes) and Raynathan Skuggs (Michael Wright), who are drug dealers in Harlem, New York City, but when Roemello decides to quit his profession to start a new life with his girlfriend, Melissa (Theresa Randle), he learns that getting out is even more difficult than getting in.

Cast

 * Wesley Snipes as Roemello Skuggs
 * Michael Wright as Raynathan Skuggs
 * Clarence Williams III as Arthur Romello "A.R." Skuggs
 * Theresa Randle as Melissa
 * Abe Vigoda as Gus Molino
 * Ernie Hudson as Lolly Jonas
 * Steve Harris as Ricky Goggles
 * O.L. Duke as Tutty
 * Donald Faison as Kymie
 * Joe Dallesandro as Tony Adamo
 * Leslie Uggams as Doris Holly
 * Vondie Curtis Hall as Mark Doby
 * Khandi Alexander as Ella Skuggs
 * DeVaughn Nixon as 11-year-old Raynathan
 * Marquise Wilson as 10-year-old Roemello

Production
"Sugar Hill" was filmed in New York City, New York from November 9, 1992 to January 22, 1993 on an estimated budget of $10,000,000.

After appearing in a string of action films, Wesley Snipes wanted to take on a different, more dramatic role. After previously working with screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper in the 1991 film New Jack City, he read the script and was immediately drawn to the central role. Snipes was paid US $2.5 million dollars for the lead role which (at the time) was his biggest payday.

Warner Bros., Miramax Films and TriStar Pictures all passed on distributing the film before 20th Century Fox picked up the domestic distribution rights.

Box Office
The movie debuted at #3 at the box office, grossing $5,712,485 during its opening weekend, coming in behind films Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and On Deadly Ground. Domestically, it made $18,225,518.

Critical Reception
"Sugar Hill" was given a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 4.9\10.

Todd McCarthy of Variety called it "a self-indulgent drama that plays like a dreary variation on New Jack City".

Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it "an ambitious but terminally self-important film".

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it "sinks under the weight of excessive violence and a welter of overwrought plot contrivances".

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly rated it C− and wrote, "Though the movie itself isn’t much — a dawdling inner-city pastiche of Mean Streets and the Godfather films — a couple of the performers do succeed in fleshing out their threadbare roles."