I remember 'Blue Magic'

Rating: Null/10 (17 March 2010)

As someone who grew up in Manhattan - close to Harlem, and as someone who ...'dabbled,' I can tell you that from a different perspective then your average commentator on this film, Blue Magic was very different from the dope junkies here in New York City got at the time. And, it WAS worth the trip (and danger. Harlem was NOT the gentrified place it's since become. It was a VERY rough & tumble area (and in a strange way - safer - if you were white. Harlemites didn't trust whites up there - thought we were all undercover cops, so they gave you a wide berth.
As far as portraying the city, the climate at that time - American GANGSTER's dead on. Denzel's performance I especially like, because, so many people don't get that the REAL strength, power, evil(?) does NOT come at you looking like such, but comes at you in a plain, unassuming guise.
Frank Lucas understood that, and Denzel portrayed it - chillingly. Accurately.