Noble Cops and Gangsters.

Rating: 7/10 (1 July 2016)

It's kind of messy, the way real life is, but that's okay. It's also okay that it borrows some scenes and themes from "The Godfather" and "The French Connection" too. It's still a well-done original.
Russel Crowe is an honest cop in Essex County (Newark), New Jersey. He finds a bag full of money from a dope dealer and turns it in, as he's supposed to, although this violates the police practice of keeping that sort of dough. It earns him snubs at the office.
Across the river, In Manhattan, Denzel Washington is a driver and protégé of a big time Harlem heroin dealer. When the dealer dies, Washington take over the business, eliminates the middle men, and charges less money for dope that's far superior. It earns him the enmity of all the other dealers because he's undercutting them. They are not admirers of the unfettered free market, never having read Adam Smith. The NYPD is as crooked as the cops in Newark. Everybody wants a cut.
Meanwhile, back in dystopian Newark, a special squad of drug enforcement cops is organized and Crowe is assigned to lead them. Their mission, should they choose to accept it, which they'd better, is to disregard the many junkies and street corner operators and go for the big game. In this case, after much sniffing around, in and out of their jurisdiction, Crowe's elite group finds Washing to be at the head of the organization, more powerful and richer than the Italians or anyone else.
Crowe finally busts Washington, earns a law degree, and after prosecuting him in court, defends him and gets him off after only fifteen years. Both men were consultants on the film and both bitched about its inaccuracies.
It was considerably better than I'd thought it would be. I mean, look at the title: "American Gangster." Roger Corman would have had a field day with it.
Instead, there are several parallel stories interwoven with one another. Washington brings his family from North Carolina to New York and sets them up in his mansion. His mother is Ruby Dee, who was my co-star in the unforgettable mini-series -- umm, er, whatever it was. He attends church with them, says an earnest grace before meals. What kind of a gangster do you call that? There is, of course, a final kinetic shoot out, intercut with scenes of Washington at Sunday church service. Very ironic, as "The Godfather" showed. But you won't find too much gore in the movie. There are murders and suicides on the screen but the camera lens isn't splashed with blood.
Both Washington and Crowe deliver decent performances, as does the supporting cast. No one stands out. They're all professionals. This isn't a masterpiece, it's not gripping like, say, "Prince of the City," but it's a neatly done genre piece that's worth catching.