Life (1999) - Movie Synopsis & Plot

New York City, 1932: Small-time hustler Ray Gibson (Eddie Murphy) has just sweet-talked his way into Club Spanky's, a swank nightclub, when he spies his evening's first victim-the naive Claude Banks (Martin Lawrence). An aspiring bank teller, Claude is out for a night on the town with his lady and is totally unaware that he has been singled out by Ray. After lifting Claude's wallet, Ray is confident that he has stolen enough money to pay off debts owed to Spanky (Rick James), but he's in for a big surprise when he finds that Claude, a fellow gambler, is broke as well. Fortunately for Ray and Claude, Spanky comes up with a way for the boys to pay him back. Unfortunately for Ray and Claude, the job is the beginning of a series of events which will drastically alter the course of their lives.

It is while the boys are on a bootlegging run smuggling Mississippi's finest hooch for Spanky that they are wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment at a Mississippi State Prison. Their dreams of life in pin-striped suits are replaced with a permanent future in striped prison uniforms.

Over the course of the next 60 years, Ray and Claude witness hardship and kindness, cruelty and forgiveness, life and death. Along the way, they see many friends come and go, but their humorous outlook on life prevails as their friendship deepens and endures. Together, they never lose hope that one day, somehow, they will once again walk outside the prison walls as free men.

blog comments powered by Disqus