Weekend Buff
American Gangster (2007)
American Gangster (2007)
This star-studded blockbuster was a big hit upon its release in 2007. It portrays a highly fictionalized account of drug dealer Frank Lucas and his rise and fall in the Harlem drug market in the late 1960’s. It particularly focuses on the efforts of Essex County Prosecutor’s Investigator Ritchie Roberts to take down the drug kingpin.
The movie is a right-up-the-middle cop action drama but a superb cast. a well written story. and great direction make it a classic. Two of the best actors of our time get the lead roles with Denzel Washington as the cold, calculating gangster Frank Lucas and Russell Crowe as the hot-headed Detective Ritchie Roberts. They are supported by Josh Brolin as crooked NYPD Detective Trupo, and Cuba Gooding Jr and Armand Assante as rival gangsters. Ruby Dee, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and others are great as members of the Lucas clan involved in the drug trade.
The world-renowned Ridley Scott directs here. He has a list of great films a mile long and this is another in his pantheon of hits. The story is based on Return of Superfly by Mark Jacobson and adapted for the silver screen by Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York).
Washington’s Frank Lucas is the loyal right-hand man of Harlem criminal heavyweight Bumpy Johnson. When Johnson dies, Lucas takes over and fights off the rivals looking to take a piece of the narco trade in Harlem. Recruiting his family members to help run his organization, he undercuts competitors by getting his heroin directly from Asia via Vietnam War links. The loyalty of his family and his better, cheaper product shoots him to the top of the food chain in the criminal underworld.
Detective Ritchie Roberts is not as put together. A hard drinking womanizer going through a divorce and a shambolic life where police work is his only constant. He loves the job but is an outcast in the police community. Ridley Scott, Steven Zaillian, and the actors do a great job in character development. You find yourself rooting for both Lucas and Roberts here. And that is a tough act to pull off. Lucas and Roberts come off as underdogs that make it big – a great narrative.
The NYPD is shown in a very negative light here. Corrupt detectives led by Brolin’s Trupo are stealing the French Connection heroin. That actually happened! Eddie Egan’s (and other detectives and federal agents) French Connection takedown was the biggest drug bust in NYC history. Less known was that much of the dope disappeared from evidence and was replaced by flour and corn starch. NYPD Property Clerk employees noticed that bugs had gotten into the “heroin” and were munching away on beat junk.
This was the NYPD before the Knapp Commission, where organized corruption was the way things were done across wide swaths of the department. Detective Trupo personifies this systemic graft, even trying to shake down Ritchie Roberts. A sad state of affairs but unfortunately it was know to happen back in the bad old days.
Scott perfectly captures the chaos and grittiness of New York City in the late 60’s and early 70’s. A town caught in a seemingly unstoppable wave of heroin, crime, and decay. It wasn’t until Giuliani and Bratton came on the stage in the 90’s that people realized that this was not the way it had to be. The film is full of New York City street scenes that remind us of the importance of a professional and proactive police force.
American Gangster is a long movie at almost 3 hours. It is an epic story well told and that takes time. I was able to find it for free on YouTube and can be rented elsewhere for the usual $4. Enjoy a wide-ranging and dramatic look at the seedy underbelly of New York’s past drug trade where violence, money, and corruption were spread around liberally.
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