American Gangster (2007) Starring Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Josh Brolin, Clarence Williams III, Armand Assante, Joe Morton, Cuba Gooding Jr., John Hawkes, Jon Polito, Carla Gugino, Norman Reedus, Ted Levine, Ric Young, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kadee Strickland, John Ortiz, RZA, Lymari Nadal, Yul Vazquez, Ruby Dee, Irdis Elba, Richie Coster, Skyler Fortgang, Pierra Francesca.
Directed by Ridley Scott.
Running time: 113 minutes.
Rating: Restricted (Nudity, Sexuality, Coarse Language, Drug Use, Violence)
"Ya know I don't think they want this to stop. I think it employs too many people"
Based on the true story of Frank Lucas (Washington) who became the brutal drug lord of Manhattan not merely having inherited the franchise from his deceased mentor Bumpy Johnson (Clarence Williams III). He has also inherited his role model's twisted sense of honour. Lucas is damned if he will let the empire Johnson built fall into ruin.
We watch as Lucas brutally realigns the disjointed drug underworld under his own leadership using that which Johnson has so eloquently taught him. Johnson could only do so much to bequeath his legacy to Lucas, his bodyguard, driver and friend of 15 years. Lucas had to spill a great deal of blood to actually claim it. Lucas then had to apply sound business management practices passed down through the ages to be successful. He had to do that at times putting his own life and limb at risk.
Dealing in narcotics is a criminal enterprise but it also happens to be an industry and as such subject to economic models, which either work or they don't. Lucas was, as shown here, more than some pusher holding a territory with brute force (though holding it with uncommonly brute force he did). He efficiently built relationships and alliances ensuring that those who did business with him his way made money.
His variation upon the business model reflected that which was sweeping American industry in the 1970s i.e. cutting out the middlemen and selling direct to the customer. In Lucas' case this resulted in the bold move of his going to Vietnam to get his heroin direct from the source. His product was better, much cheaper and drove competitors out of business. He even came up with a brand name "Blue Magic" for his product to maximize word of mouth appeal. Not a dumb approach from a mass marketing perspective.
One need only look out a window in a major city to see who has the market share for any number of products by seeing advertising. But not when it comes to smack. What did not perhaps occur to Lucas at the time was the fact that the packets he was selling his stuff in were an excellent tracking device. He consciously tried to keep a low profile in every other way but couldn't when it came to that one.
I wish that this film had been about some other industry because then I could recommend it just on the basis of what it teaches about old school business ethics and how things changed and when they changed.
Unkempt, noble New Jersey cop Richie Roberts (Crowe, again in a period piece) stumbles rather casually onto $987,000 in drug money and out of misguided noblesse oblige decides NOT to keep it. In turning it in and showing his colleagues that he can't be bought Roberts shows iron will and honesty almost to a fault.
Roberts is as professional at what he does as Lucas is at dealing. In other words he is the perfect guy to put Lucas out of business if he is given the right help. His bonanza for turning in the money is to be given the right help by the DEA. He is handicapped by the pervasiveness of who is on the take and by the simple fact that he can't figure out that Lucas, a black man, is NOT working for someone else and is in fact the real boss himself.
Beyond the appeal of an intriguing character study of two contrasting individuals and some first rate production value recreating 1970s New York to the point of looking like a Blaxploitation film from the same time the film meanders and shows us little. It is pageantry/docudrama and is boring more often than it is interesting.
The seediness really comes through including some utterly stomach turning scenes of nude women packaging heroin. I am not usually bothered by nudity in movies except for when the people are as unattractive as they are here. I suppose they are meant to be less than glamorous. Don't watch this film while you're trying to eat.
Washington went Hollywood a very long time ago. But this is the first role in which to me he looked as though he had completely forgotten where he came from as a performer. There is not the slightest edge given to this forced, one-dimensional characterization. His performance in the schlockbuster Dj Vu was much better but that was a film which didn't deserve it.
Crowe probably went into this one thinking he would be the hero of the film or at the very least the equal of Washington's character. It could have been a kind of duel of characterizations, point-counterpoint type of thing. That is what it becomes just not in a good way. After awhile I felt like I was switching channels between two 1970s crime movies right up until we finally see the two actors together at the end.
The ending itself is unexpected in a whole lot of different ways if you don't know the real story.
The attempt here was to recreate elements of better films about the subject matter like Traffic, The French Connection, Q & A, The Prince of the City etc. In very brief moments it recaptures the feel of those somewhat and those were good movies. But I've seen them and I felt like I had already seen this one.
Josh Brolin turns in a fun performance as a dirty Special Investigation cop who may have bitten off way more than he can chew when he crosses paths with both Frank and Richie. Brolin, Carla Gugino, and Norman Reedus are actors I like and want to see more of that were not given enough screentime here.
Notes:
Laurence Fishburne also depicted "Bumpy" Johnson on screen in the gangster pic Hoodlum (1996) as well as The Cotton Club (1984). Like the infamous "Seldom Seen" who haunted Kansas City in the early half of the twentieth century Johnson was an African American crimelord and 'original gangsta' in the proper sense of the term.