This movie seemed like an odd precursor to Spike Lee's Malcolm X on its release (1991). I mean, it was and it wasn't. Jungle Fever's characters struggled against the demons of drug addiction and white supremacy. The latter idea was the reason why the central relationship (between Mr. Flipper Purify & Angie Tucci) even existed. Interestingly, actress Annabella Sciorra (who played Angela) insisted her character loved Flipper -- no matter how far-fetched it seemed. That scene when the two sit together in Flipper's near-empty apartment and go to town on one another about the motivations for their "fling" (which is what the title "Jungle Fever" refers to) is simply ruthless, on both sides. In the end, I do get it: Spike's Jungle Fever was, unfortunately, backdrop to the narrative of the life of Malcolm X, which ended 26 years earlier. X spoke vehemently against such racial perils.

Anywaaay, what occurred to me about JF's storyline and may or may not be true, is that some of its characters only existed in the mind of Paulie (John Turturro), an Italian-American kid who tends a store for his infirm father, played by then-mythic actor Anthony Quinn. Vinny, a swarthy Italian-American, is the head cheerleader for a group of men who sit in the shop, comment upon and argue with Paulie about NYC's African-American population. They are obnoxious. Vinny burns with racial animus. And when Paulie goes out to try to date Orin Goode (Tyra Ferrell), a pretty, young black customer of the shop, the young men tear into him physically, and brutally.

Here's the thing: Vinny and the other Italian-American guys never talk to anyone else in the shop, only Paulie. They nag Paulie about his sympathies for various black people, including NYC's then-mayor David Dinkins. And they function, sadly enough, as a sort of "conscience" for a kind of Italian American -- reminding him that Orin's backside (which Vinny attests "you can ride") is and will always be off-limits. By the time Paulie makes it to his love interest's front door, he is dazed, bloodied and demoralized. Orin lets him into her home, but at a cost.

I have come to the conclusion that these bigoted Italian-American guys were Paulie's demons, nothing more! You see, such voices exist in the mind of many Americans who wish to "border-cross" romantically yet feel allegiance to their group. In such an ideological context, this storyline is leagues more satisfying than the doomed, vapid relationship of Angie & Flipper (and I still cannot get over that name).

Do I have any takers for this one?