A dance between two competent men

Rating: 10/10 (29 June 2020)

Richie Roberts: a good cop, tries to do his job, gets punished for it.
Frank Lucas: worked for and was beloved by Bumpy Johnson, takes Bumpy's place but forgets the standards that Bumpy taught him.
This film is a true period piece of a time that I lived through and remember, I especially remember the wonderful soul music, culminating in "Across 110th St." which is played in the center of the film, as a reminder that this film is very similar to that earlier 70s Blaxploitation film.
The costuming is perfect and period specific, the hair, The language.
Both Richie and Frank are unaware of each other's existence until one fateful episode involving a chinchilla coat. From that moment on the two characters inevitably spiral into each other, indeed, there is no way to avoid the collision of these two forces of nature.
Even as two members of exact opposite races, these men know and understand each other when they finally meet and collaborate.
As far as some of the other dramatized events, we don't know the veracity of these incidents, I think the story was told as truthfully as could possibly be told. There is a lot of irony in this story, and Ridley Scott has a finely tuned idea of how to use this in filmmaking.
I have seen video of the real Richie Roberts, and Russell Crowe does a great job with his looks and mannerisms, as does Denzel Washington with Frank Lucas.
This film is peppered with great character actors who do their jobs wonderfully, especially the character actors of colour. Josh Brolin picks up the mantle of a true American scumbag, Bob Leuci, but the fictionalized portrayal renders a name change for the character, "Detective Trupo", not quite "Prince of the City". Brolin's character becomes a thorn in the side of both Roberts and Lucas, who both provide sharp sticks up Trupo's fundament when he gets too nosy.
This film portrays the biggest cop-bust of all time when 2/3 of the New York City drug enforcement department was sent to the hoosegow. This is of course history, so it's not really a spoiler. You just have to see how Ridley Scott provides this historical takedown: during the climax of the film it happens from every direction possible.
A lot of research went into this film to make it look and sound exactly right. And the documentary style coupled with peppered flashbacks draws us into the story.
There is an extended version that I have seen a few times that expands some of the more delicate or violent scenes, but the theatrical version provides just about the same amount of information.