American Gangster: Movie Review (2007)

Directed by Ridley Scott, written by Steven Zaillian, 160 minutes, rated R.

(Originally reviewed 2007)

The new Ridley Scott movie, "American Gangster," stars Denzel Washington as real-life crime boss Frank Lucas, who from 1968 to 1975 built a drug empire in Harlem that rivaled anything built by his competition--the Mafia, with whom he eventually got into bed, and Harlem rival Nicky Barnes (Cuba Gooding Jr.), with whom you could say he had something of a falling out.

And why not? At the height of his career as a drug-running, church-going, life-snuffing, family-loving thug, Lucas was worth in the neighborhood of $150 million, so you can imagine the complications this created for him in his own neighborhood, particularly since Lucas controlled a market others wanted to corner.

A shrewd businessman--and this is very much a movie about a master businessman, one who happens to be black in a country that doesn't want him to succeed--Lucas made his mark by offering his clients a stronger, cheaper form of heroin he imported himself from Southeast Asia, thus cutting out the middleman so he himself could retain more of the profits.

Just how he imported the drug we'll leave for the movie to answer (for those who don't know, the revelation is as ugly as it gets), but it was called Blue Magic and apparently, as far as heroin goes, it was fantastic.

As with so many American movies focused on an individual who realizes the American dream, illegally or otherwise, "American Gangster" follows suit with a parallel story of those determined to bring that person down for achieving it. In this case, it wasn't just Barnes who wanted Lucas gone. More significantly, it was Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), the New Jersey narcotics cop who wanted to undo a man actively undoing his own people.

Working against Roberts were his colleagues across the driver, dirty NYPD cops profiting on the sly from the illegal drug activity. Chief among them is Det. Trupo (an excellent Josh Brolin), an intimidating beast with a mean mouth and meaner eyes who would go to any length to make certain that Roberts didn't succeed in his mission. After all, if he did, Trupo would be cheated out of one glam lifestyle.

Based on Steven Zaillian's screenplay, "American Gangster" works hard to balance its two stories, shifting in and out of each while also exploring broader themes of race, urban decay, the drug trade, black capitalism and police corruption against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

The movie runs nearly three hours (and it sometimes feels it), but its ambitions ultimately prove too much for the film to handle. The screen burns with talent here, but many of the supporting performances are so underwritten, they make for only fleeting impressions. Another strike against the movie is that the side trips into the personal lives of Roberts and Lucas are more distracting than interesting.

That said, there nevertheless is much here to recommend.

Washington and Crowe are just as good as you expect, Cuba Gooding Jr. redeems himself after wading through a wasteland of embarrassing flops, and Ruby Dee as Lucas' mother shares a scene with Washington that's authentic and memorable.

Beyond these performances, what's so admirable about the movie is how it captures New York City and Harlem in the years before Rudy Giuliani stepped in to scrub its corners clean and slap a halo on the city's skyline.

Harris Savides' cinematography and Arthur Max's production design are among the year's best, with the film's gritty look and feel capturing a pre-AIDS era on the fringe of losing itself to itself. Sometimes in this movie, when the grimness really presses down, you swear you're not only looking at Scorsese's "Mean Streets," but that you're on them.

Grade: B