39 YEARS LATER: HOW 'ANGEL HEART' BECAME A CULT CLASSIC DESPITE BOX OFFICE FAILURE
Mickey Rourkeand Robert De Niro have become Hollywood legends, making hit movies for decades.
However, one of their films, Angel Heart, flopped at the box office but later became a cult classic. Angel Heart was released 39 years ago today amid controversy and stiff competition at the box office.
In the movie, Rourke plays Harry Angel, a private investigator in the 1950s who is hired by Louis Cyphre (De Niro) to find missing singer Johnny Favorite. Things take a bizarre turn when literally everyone Angel interviews to help find Favorite ends up dead.
On his search for answers, Angel gets embroiled in the New Orleans world of black magic and voodoo. While uncovering new clues on his journey, Angel soon learns there is more to this investigation and Cyphre than he was initially led to believe.
Even before the film was released, there was controversy surrounding Angel Heart because of a very graphic sex scene between Lisa Bonet and Rourke.
At the time, Bonet was playing wholesome Denise on A Different World and The Cosby Show. Bill Cosby opposed Bonet being in the film because of the sex scene and was very vocal about his disapproval of her choice to be in it. However, it wasn’t the attention that Bonet brought to the film that caused it to flop at the box office.
Angel Heart was released the same weekend asLethal Weapon, starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Other notable films in theaters that same weekend were A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and Platoon.
Despite a not-so-great box-office showing, the thriller has developed a cult following. Many fans acknowledge the 39th anniversary of the movie’s release on social media.
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“Very good movie when Mickey Rourke was red hot . He is one of my favorites. He and Robert De Niro feuded in the filming process,” shared a fan on a Facebook post about the anniversary.
Another fan stated, “One of the 10 best films. Up there with Jaws,” while a different fan declared, “Excellent film, really spooked me at the time!”
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2026-03-07T02:01:27Z