 Based on a true story, American Gangster stars two top-notch A-List actors, Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, a black drug Mafioso, who took over the Harlem and New York City drug trade. On his tail is a 70s-style reincarnation of Eliot Ness, Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) who became persona non grata at his police department when he turned in a million instead of dipping his beak and spreading the wealth with the boys in blue.
The cover-up angle is the clandestine ring of dirty cops who were confiscating cocaine, cutting it up, making it less pure, and selling it back to the black community. Frank Lucas figures he can sell to his people cheaper and purer than the competition, which in this case is the dirty cops. I suppose then this makes Lucas a pragmatic moralist, since he is improving his community by giving it better poison. Morality aside, Lucas is an interesting character study. But, we'll get to that. The circumstances surrounding the first time I settled down to watch American Gangster are worth repeating because it indicates, I think, the extent to which I enjoyed this smooth, gritty, black mafia flick. You see, I was unable to watch the film in its entirety the first time around. Gangster interrupted had nothing to do with gangsta stuff, mind you, or anything wild like that, but everything to do with living the existence of that sad, subjugated species, known to social scientists as Norte Americanus Husbandus. I had to quit watching American Gangster while it was playing, because my daughter came down into the game room, to see what I was up too. I couldn’t have her see Denzel Washington mercifully shoot a guy after he set him on fire, so I decided to switch to something more palatable to her – can’t remember what. I could only remember I was ready to jump into American Gangster and enjoy it from the beginning soon as my angel and my better half both were off to sleep. I restarted the film the next evening. The problem was I was a half hour from the 24-hour expiration period to watch the film.... Did the good folks at Comcast cut off my movie as I was 45-minutes back into it? No. However, it mysteriously got “stuck on the screen” at 12:30 AM. I was forced to exit the OnDemand movie and attempt to restart it again – only I was out of luck. My 24-Hour viewing period had expired and the movie was gone. I was pissed, to say the least. A week later I decided to order the movie from Netflix. After all, I can take all the freaking time I want to watch it now. And that I did, right from the beginning, no more gangsters interrupted. You know what? I liked it even more the almost second time around. Maybe I love humanity too much. But, all those old Cambodians or Vietnamese or South East Asian ladies cutting cocaine with a smile, was enough to remind me that it is hard to make a decent living in this world. Were it not for the fact they were making coke, this was a veritable, oh what was that dude’s name that made all the Americana pictures for the Washington Post – well, it was something he might do. I don’t’ know what it is exactly, but I like something about both main actors in this flick: Denzel Washington, who may be the coolest of the coolest black actors and Russell Crowe, who is another cool guy in his own right. I get the distinct feeling that Denzel would be an awesome guy to talk with about movies. He, like Crowe, seems to have a knack for roles that are differently, yet probably undeniably fun to play. Washington seems like he would talk your ear off about a whole lot of things. Russell Crowe, I think, would box your ears. However, I could win his respect. I have this scene in my mind where he rips a phone off the wall and it slams it across my head. However, instead of settling for the obligatory law suit, I run over and dot his eye for him – Pow! I think he would respect that more and it might make him a trusted beer friend. On a whole, American Gangster is highly commendable film. One very interesting scene: Johnny Cash is playing in the background, “I don’t like it but I guess things happen that way” while he rails his woman, who extols him to do her “…like a cop, not like a lawyer” – I have no idea how a lawyer would have sex versus a cop, because I am neither. As a writer, I always said the pen is mightier than the sword but I am sure it helps if you have a 12-inch pen. There are some very touching scenes between Frank and his Mom, and I wonder what it all means in the grand scope of things. Will we guys do damn near anything—like sell drugs to devastate the entire community—to make mommy happy in a mansion of her dreams? On one down note: why must film makers insist on shoehorning love interest into a movie that really doesn’t need any at all? Leading chicks, can be and often are, cool as heck in movies, but it grates on my nerves when we see them in hackneyed, traditional and clichéd roles in films that amount to male ego wars. I don’t know that I really need to explain what the angle is here, or the nuances of plot. Frank ended up giving up all the crooked cops and for that he cut a sweetheart deal for himself. In the end, what is the verdict on this Frank Lucas? I mean he did sell drugs and embarked to ruin his community but he surely was painted in a sympathetic light, like he was almost doing his community a service by putting the drugs into black-owned business hands. Who knows? Maybe poison tastes better when it comes from the hand of family, versus foes. Regardless, I don’t know that Frank Lucas should be celebrated as an enterprising capitalist with values, though he was just that if you choose to ignore his product. And is it fair to say the famous paternal character of Don Corleone, from The Godfather, is any different than that of Frank Lucas? I think they are different. Some may argue that I am promoting a double standard here, such as by saying "Well, it is okay if the white criminal can be painted in a sympathetic light...." I hope it does not come across that way. Just like Don Corleone had said, "Drugs is dirty business." So, if Frank Lucas was a gambler, a bootlegger, a racketeer who offered legitimate protection from gangs, or simply sold stolen merchandise to the poor at discounted prices, then yes, I would say he was just like the Don Corleone of The Godfather and we should hold him in that tragic romantic hero sort of role. But, not matter which way you dice the cocaine, drugs is bad news. I can't get around that. However, Frank Lucas did take his mother to Church every Sunday. Any man that does that can’t be all bad – can he? Matthew J. DeReno is a writer living in Pittsburgh.
|
