American Gangster (2007)

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers (WGA):

Steven Zaillian (written by)
Mark Jacobson (article)

Release Date:

2 November 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

There are two sides to the American dream.

Plot:

In 1970s America, a detective works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas, a heroin kingpin from Manhattan, who is smuggling the drug into the country from the Far East.

Plot Keywords:

Heroin | Death | Policeman | Vietnam | 1970s

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 28 nominations

Cast

Denzel Washington	...	Frank Lucas
Russell Crowe	...	Richie Roberts
Chiwetel Ejiofor	...	Huey Lucas
Josh Brolin	...	Detective Trupo
Lymari Nadal	...	Eva
Ted Levine	...	Lou Toback
Roger Guenveur Smith	...	Nate
John Hawkes	...	Freddie Spearman
RZA	...	Moses Jones
Yul Vazquez	...	Alfonso Abruzzo
Malcolm Goodwin	...	Jimmy Zee
Ruby Dee	...	Mama Lucas
Ruben Santiago-Hudson	...	Doc
Carla Gugino	...	Laurie Roberts
Skyler Fortgang	...	Michael Roberts

Also Known As:

The Return of Superfly (USA) (working title)
Tru Blu (USA) (original script title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, pervasive drug content and language, nudity and sexuality.

Runtime:

157 min | USA:176 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:18 | Netherlands:16 | Germany:16 | Ireland:16 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | USA:R (certificate #43495) | Finland:K-15 | Taiwan:R-18 (original rating) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | Japan:R-15 | France:U (with warning) | Hong Kong:IIB | Malaysia:18PL | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:16 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Brazil:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Spain:18 | Peru:14 | Ireland:18 (DVD rating) | Australia:MA | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Briarcliff Manor, New York, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Clarence Williams III portrays Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson in an uncredited appearance. Williams was in another Harlem crime drama, Hoodlum (1997), which was about 'Bumpy' Johnson. In that, he played a gangster named 'Bub' Hewlett.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In 1968 Saigon, Frank's cousin Nate uses modern terms like "a'ight" for "all right" and "fiddy" for "fifty".

Quotes:

[first lines]
Bumpy Johnson: Happy Thanksgiving!

Movie Connections:

References Super Fly (1972)

Soundtrack:

Tres Amigos

A Solid Film

Unfortunately from listening to everyone else I was expecting some sort of masterpiece. That is not what I believe what I got. Yet it was still a very good movie.

The acting performances were also good but not great. Denzel Washington gave a very good performance but not Oscar worthy, it felt like I have seen this before from him. Russell Crowe just was not given the room to actually act. I wish Crowe would have been given more of an opportunity to show off his talent. Josh Brolin gave the best performance as a corrupt police officer. He displayed perfectly the corrupt cop blackmailing both sides for the benefit of himself. I do not really understand the Oscar nomination for Ruby Dee playing Frank Lucas mother. She barley even had a cameo in this movie. It is kind of sad to see how far Cuba Gooding Jr. has fallen not having much of a role in this movie.

What really kept this movie up and kind of brought it down was its steady flow and writing. It did show you some interesting things such as going to Vietnam and having a very unique and surprising place to smuggle in the drugs. Yet as I mentioned before the performances were good but not great because of the writing. I attribute this to the writing. Some of the writing did not allow some of the actors to expand as much as they could have on their roles.

Also the directing was very good but not great. Ridley Scott did show some interesting scenes and had good camera shot. The cinematography was good as well. Yet because the performances were not to great that brings him down because his job to guide arguably two of the best actors today.

This movie was a bit over-hyped but I would still recommend it. This probably could have received more recognition from the Oscars though.