Instant classic Americana.

Rating: 10/10 (20 February 2008)

Kudos to director Ridley Scott for pulling this together...and no punches pulled. In your face biopic based on drug-kingpin Frank Lucas(Denzel Washington), who ruled Harlem and was total master of his domain. His product was twice as good at half the accustomed price. Cutting out the middle-man, Lucas personally made the trip to the poppy fields of Asia's Golden Triangle to make the deals and made connections to have heroin shipped stateside in the coffins of soldiers killed in Viet Nam. Maybe too honest for his own good, super cop Richie Roberts(Russell Crowe)diligently worked to bring down Lucas, who was believed to be making more than a million dollars a day in drug sales. Lucas would turn informant helping Roberts and a myriad of law enforcement entities arrest crooked cops and foreign nationals, who were paid handsomely to make importing heroin easy as clockwork orchestrated by Lucas. Graphic violence and language. By all appearances American Gangster is as real as you can get and one of those movies not to be missed. Also featured in a very strong cast: Ted Levine, Josh Brolin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lymari Nadal, Cuba Gooding Jr., Armand Assante, Carla Gugino, Ruby Dee and Clarence Williams III.