Ten Dollar Ticket: American Gangster

by James Tynion

Thursday November 29, 2007

I have always been a big fan of movies that explore the criminal underworld, especially those that are based on real people, so seeing American Gangster was a bit of a no-brainer for me. I was not disappointed with the film in the least.

You get two of Hollywood’s greatest leading men with the movie, Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington, and the focus of the film revolves around their characters. Denzel Washington’s Frank Lucas, in particular, steals the show, giving us one of the great cinematic gangsters, someone along the lines of Michael Corleone and Henry Hill. Russell Crowe’s Richie Roberts is an interesting commentary in and of himself, showing the audience a good cop whose personal life has fallen to pieces.

Like its spiritual predecessor, Goodfellas, the most intriguing aspect of the film is that this is a true story. Frank Lucas approaches running a drug empire in the same way one expects a CEO of a Fortune 500 company to approach their business. He figured out a way to get better heroin for cheap, dragged his brothers up to New York City from the south and started doing business without the help or consent of any of the other major crime figures of the late ‘60s or early ‘70s. It’s an odd twist on the American Dream; a rags-to-riches story that leaves you unsettled. The real villains in this film aren’t the drug dealers, but the crooked cops who are benefiting off of the drug trade in and around the city. It is because of the crooked cops that the movie doesn’t end with Lucas’ imprisonment, but rather the jailing of the scores and scores of corrupt officers he turned over after the government put an end to his business.

My biggest criticism of the film would have to be the early sequences with Russell Crowe’s character, which are entirely disconnected from Frank Lucas’ rise to power. Richie Roberts is completely unaware of Frank Lucas for the entire first half of the movie. It’s all very well done, and gives Crowe the necessary time to develop his character, but it leaves you a little impatient to get back to Denzel Washington, whose character is far more compelling, especially towards the beginning of the film. When the two characters finally meet face to face its interesting to see what they take from each other, and it didn’t seem at all surprising to find out after the movie that Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts still keep in contact today.

The film is as violent as one might expect it to be, and if that isn’t your cup of tea, then American Gangster really isn’t the film for you. However, this is truly one of the great movies of the year, and nobody should be surprised when Denzel Washington grabs another Academy Award for his work in this film. I highly recommend you check it out.