Hoodlum (1997)

Black gangsters in 1930 Harlem fights Dutch Schultz who is trying to horn in on their numbers racket.

Director:

Bill Duke

Writer:

Chris Brancato

Stars:

Laurence Fishburne, Tim Roth, Vanessa Williams

7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Laurence Fishburne	...	Bumpy Johnson
Tim Roth	...	Dutch Schultz
Vanessa Williams	...	Francine Hughes
Andy Garcia	...	Lucky Luciano
Cicely Tyson	...	Stephanie St. Clair
Chi McBride	...	Illinois Gordon
Clarence Williams III	...	Bub Hewlett
Richard Bradford	...	Captain Foley
William Atherton	...	Thomas Dewey
Loretta Devine	...	Pigfoot Mary
Queen Latifah	...	Sulie
Mike Starr	...	Albert Salke
Beau Starr	...	Jules Salke
Paul Benjamin	...	Whispers
Joe Guzaldo	...	Bo Weinberg

Storyline

The film focuses on the war of two gangs in 1930s Harlem for the control of illegal gaming - one headed by black strategic godfather Bumpy Johnson and another by white ruthless hothead Dutch Schultz. Negotiations proposed by white syndicate boss Lucky Luciano never get under way, blood flows and Johnson gets jailed. When Johnson is paroled, he gets the work of enforcer for mighty Stephanie "The Queen" St. Clair. She is also jailed for racketeering and when she leaves she makes him promise "no violence".

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Plot Keywords:

1930s | gangster | great depression | street shootout | irish american | 

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Taglines:

They had it all. It cost them everything.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for graphic ganster violence, strong language, a scene of sexuality and some nudity

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 August 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gangster

Filming Locations:

Between Cermak Road & 23rd Street, Michigan Avenue, Near South Side, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,162,768, 1 September 1997, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$23,461,013, 9 November 1997

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Artists

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

DTS DTS-Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was written by Chris Brancato, who also wrote a few episodes on the TV show Hannibal (2013), which also stars Laurence Fishburne.

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Goofs

The character of Thomas E. Dewey is portrayed very inaccurately: see trivia.

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Quotes

Dutch Schultz: I remember the days when you could get a guy hit for 40 bucks.
Mike Salke: We live in inflationary times

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Connections

Referenced in Dirty Work (1998)

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Soundtracks

So Good
Written, produced, and performed by Davina
Courtesy of Loud Records

User Reviews

Predictable, but entertaining

How great this film could have been! It uses the real history of New York's Gangsters as a background and seems reasonably well researched. At times.

Personally, however, I have several gripes with this movie:

The irritatingly predictable script and much too clean-polished setting seem to come straight out of a "screenwriting-for-housewives" class.

The "messages" in the film (such as its anti-racist and pro-religious scenes) are horribly blatant. The romantic scenes and musical interludes are much too long and boring; the violent scenes too short and clean. Johnson is portrayed as a good gangster at first, which almost works out. His "internal struggle" theme doesn't work at all.

The supposedly elegant Gangster Luciano has to shlep a horrible dog around with him throughout the film. Bumpy Johnson's friend ist forced to do a horrible "funny negro singer" routine, offsetting the supposedly antiracist messages. And that Bumpy Johnson, at the end of the film, finds Gawd and turns away from the evil gangster life is a) predictable and b) idiotic.

"Hoodlum" could've been a great film. As it is, it's merely mediocre.