Here's a Success Story you won't be learning in B-school

Rating: 9/10 (8 February 2008)

If you were to hear someone tell a story of a man who,from hardscrabble beginnings,was able to rise up,become wealthy and successful beyond perhaps his own dreams and was able to out-produce his competitors so well that he was practically un-reachable,you'd probably think that this person was quite the successful businessman,and you'd be right. Throw in a small matter of that product the man in question sold was Heroin and that his competitors were often snuffed out,that he was basically using the Vietnam war as his own sort of "in-and-out" route of business and that he was actually one of the most feared and sought-after mobsters in America over the last thirty or so years,and that,to put it mildly,changes things.
And that's how you would classify one Frank Lucas(Denzel Washington,effectively combining his amoral bad-ass from "Training Day" with his more charismatic character studies as a hero from films like "Crimson Tide" or "Remember the Titans"),a one-time gopher and right-hand man of legendary Harlem gang-lord Bumpy Johnson. When Bumpy passes in the late 1960s,Lucas moves quickly to consolidate power and uses his own sales methods to make the drug trade more direct,more economical and far more lucrative. IN short order,he's practically out-selling(and dominating)the established crime bosses(read:mostly the MAfia) in NYC,circa 1970 thru 1975.
His chief nemesis is one Richie Roberts(Russell Crowe,kinda over-doing the "New Yawk" accent here,but still genuinely real),an honest cop of near legendary status. Doggedly chasing Lucas and his syndicate for years(all while working his way through LAw school,no less!),his Vice cops follow his instincts to cover Lucas' terrain,shadowing his work until they can finally piece together just how large his empire stretches.
An ambitious project all around,director Ridely Scott succeeds in what seems ordinary and remarkable:namely,making a two-and-half hour story about cops and peddlers in the Big Apple NOT seem pedestrian or ordinary,when the formula's been done countless times before. It doesn't hurt that Steven Zaillian(spelling?)'s script is cribbed from real-life events and is given such a plain,unpretentious presentation that it could pass for(At least in some parts)documentary. Not too many parts here shine out besides Washington and Crowe,but Ruby Dee(as Lucas' trusting mama),Idris Elba(as a less-than-subtle underling of Lucas')and Cuba Gooding Jr.(as one of Lucas' prime business associates and grudging rivals;arguably one of the rare good parts he seems to get these days)do stand out. This film and "Zodiac" deserved,in my humble opine, more attention at award time,but maybe it's just as well that this "flew under the radar". Good work,it could be argued,is best appreciated when one can find it out on their own,and this is worth the seek.