After more than a year of anticipation, Ridley Scott’s American Gangster finally debuted in theaters over the weekend. The movie details the rise and fall of real-life Harlem crime boss Frank Lucas, who’s already been immortalized for anyone who keeps up with the street DVD/crime magazine culture, but hasn’t achieved mainstream fame until now.
Lucas began as a driver, bodyguard and a confidant to the infamous Bumpy Johnson (played memorably by Laurence Fishburne in 1997’s Hoodlum), eventually seizing control of Johnson’s empire after his death. Lucas rubbed elbows with celebrities and was despised by other bosses but it made no difference to Lucas, as long as he did it his way. He lived a low-key lifestyle, but was ruthless when his soldiers didn’t fall in line.
In American Gangster, Lucas is played brilliantly by Denzel Washington — smooth and unflappable on the surface, but deadly to those who cross him. Case in point: In one scene, Lucas spots a rival and reduces him to a stain on the sidewalk before nonchalantly returning to breakfast at a fruit stand with his brothers.
Lucas has adversaries, but none are more of a thorn in his side than detective Richie Roberts, played by Russell Crowe. Roberts is hell-bent on catching Lucas, a relentless obsession that antagonizes everyone from his own partner to the rogue Detective Trupo (played Josh Brolin, who is so good as a dirty cop he makes you want to hurl things at the screen). Roberts is a stand-up detective, but his shortcomings as a father and husband play a part in his borderline obsession with taking down Lucas.
The rest of the cast includes Cuba Gooding Jr. (as drug kingpin Nicky Barnes), Common, T.I., Idris Elba and the RZA. They all turn in solid performances, especially Gooding Jr. and Ruby Dee, who plays Frank’s mother.
It would’ve been nice to see Lucas’ character developed further, but the story was more about the socio-economics of America at the time than it was about Lucas. Scott and sreenwriter Steven Zaillian did their homework, though, capturing 1970s New York corruption and drug abuse perfectly. Denzel even rocks the same type of chinchilla fur coat that put the real-life Frank Lucas on law enforcement’s radar.
The story was straight fire, and the attention to detail was off the hook. American Gangster is a must-see and will go down as a classic.
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November 5th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
MiCkeY MoNDaY says:
Instant Classic….
November 5th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Captain America says:
Thanks, I’m in
November 5th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Mike says:
I was a little dissapointed with this movie.. I don’t know, maybe I went with too much expectations after hearing all the Scarface comparisons.. If woulda seen it without hearing all the hype then maybe it could’ve been great. But don’t believe it when people call it this generation’s Scarface. Not even close..
November 5th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
SteveNash says:
way toooo fictional… Richie Roberts didn’t have any kids at that period in time… T.I.’s character never gets shot since there was never a shoot out… Frank WAS A MURDER and he did murder innocent bystanders!!! good movie though
November 5th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Gee says:
Excellent movie. Of course it had to have different things from the actual events to spice certain things up. Everyone did a great job and it held close to the overall life of Frank.
November 6th, 2007 at 1:07 am
Craig says:
Hey stevenash, thanks for ruining some of the movie…dick
November 6th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Anna says:
Denzel definitely made an Oscar worthy performance. Although some of the actual facts of Frank Lucas’s life were embellished, the directors did a great job at getting their message across. They portrayed the glitz and glam of the drug game as well as it’s adverse consequences. With nearly a 3 hour running time, when the movie ended, you were left sitting in your seat wanting to know what happens next.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
vmac says:
Great review by Mr. James. In response to a few comments, the movies (even when based on a real life person) are always embellished upon. You have to have an entertainment factor no matter what to keep the audience interested. As far as the scarface comparisons….what the hell is that! There are no comparisons, two totally different movies with two different types of brilliant actors in the lead roles. Great review Mr. James.
November 8th, 2007 at 1:31 am
d5thele says:
The actors were great in this movie. As always Denzel made you believe he is actually Frank Lucas. The fact that he is larger than life in the movie industry did not take anything away from his protrayal. I do agree with the writer of this review, the screen writer did do a good job of keeping the movie close to real life. This is a movie anyone can appreciate.
November 8th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
chief says:
SO glad you spoke of the movie’s focus on the times and the “bigger picture” so to speak, rather than a bunch of pictures to go along with the gangster rap image that less witty individuals would have expected. This movie is brilliant to say the least and can only be fully appreciated as time goes on and we struggle to find it’s equal. This Terrell guy should do movies more often; he scares me with his basketball thoughts, lmao.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:57 am
GodSta says:
COMMENTARY: Drug Dealer Frank Lucas, Denzel and Dad
My Father as a kid delivered groceries to the first drug kingpin “Bumpy” Johnson, who at the time, lived in the corner building on 120th street and 5th Avenue, across the street from Mount Morris Park. He use to tell me these colorful stories with admiration, about this man. Bumpy was an employee and conduit for the mafia, helping to orchestrate the distribution of heroin into Harlem and surrounding communities in the 1940’s, an epidemic that would later spread and engulf the entire country for generations to come.
The street gangs of the 40’s would become some of the first addicts, their members would ultimately form the first ruthless drug-gangs of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Families were destroyed individual lives ruined, violence and crime across the board increased at staggering rates. In spite the gains from the Civil Rights Movement, as a community we never fully recovered from the initial impact of the flooding of drugs into our communities.
Frank Lucas, portrayed by academy Award winner Denzel Washington in “American Gangster”, was the driver for Bumpy Johnson until his death by heart attack in 1968. By the time Mr. Lucas took power- the Harlem community had been decimated by this epidemic and the second generation of addicts already overwhelmed the streets. Like the Hip Hop culture violent movies have a tremendous impact on our children. Our young-people are continually bombarded with negative messages that unfortunately help shape and mold their character, Al Pacino’s as Scareface is still a popular image on T-Shirts.
The moral of the story is not that the bad guy gets it in the end. Too many hopeless kids who are engaged in criminal activity, view the demise of these individuals in a fatalistic and morbidly glamorous way. Enlighten by our past history and current events we have to be careful not to glorify criminals. Mr. Lucas has the right to have his story told but as parents, mentors, big brothers and sisters, we must always monitor the messages and more important the response to the message portrayed in media.
Dad’s discussions about Bumpy, were a small part of the rich history of the community that he shared with me. He gave me, as I did my son, Claude Brown’s definitive book on life in Harlem, “Manchild in the Promise Land”, when I was a teenager. He also talked about Malcolm X and Dr. King, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. Together we watched, Gil Noble’s informative program “Like It Is”. My love of history and current events came from my dads talks about the Bumpy Johnson’s as well as the Dr. King’s of this world. He taught me to discern the messages that would bombarded me in my life-time. He knew then that no matter what, there would always be plenty of people like Bumpy Johnson and Frank Lucas around to share theirs.
Brotherman