A Turbulent Chapter in U.S. Criminal History

Rating: 8/10 (14 November 2007)

The Ridley Scott crime biography "American Gangster" reunites Oscar winning actors Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in the true-life saga of an arrogant African-American hoodlum who cornered the heroin market in the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Previously, Washington and Crowe appeared as rivals in director Brett Leonard's 1995 science fiction fantasy "Virtuosity." In this largely forgotten thriller, Denzel played the hero while Crowe played a villainous cyberspace serial killer that came to life. In "American Gangster," however, they reverse their roles with Denzel cast as the villain and Crowe as the hero. Although it far surpasses "Virtuosity," "American Gangster" doesn't qualify as a classic gangster film. "The Godfather" trilogy, both "Scarface" flicks, "Goodfellas," "Casino," "Once Upon a Time in America," and "Heat" represent the cream of crop where mobster movies are concerned. While it shares many of the same plot elements of those vintage crime movies, Scott's film is driven by its characters rather than any kind of stylist violence. "American Gangster" contains no cleverly staged gunfights. Aside from an occasional shooting and the raid on the villain's heroin lab, Scott shuns violence and dwells for the most part on comparing and contrasting the two leads and their drastically different lifestyles. In other words, "American Gangster" is not about a crime lord building an empire.
"American Gangster" charts the rise and demise of its two chief characters. Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington of "Training Day") spent fifteen years as the driver, bodyguard, and bill collector for legendary black crime boss Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson (Clarence Williams, III of "Reindeer Games") who ruled Harlem for four decades. After Bumpy dies from old age, Frank slips into Bumpy's shoes and takes over the heroin racket. He rings up a U.S. Army relative stationed in Bangkok, Nate (Roger Guenveur Smith of "Final Destination"), who runs a bar for servicemen called Soul Brothers. Frank flies to Thailand. Nate and he travel upriver into the jungle to deal with a renegade Chinese General (Ric Young of "Kiss of the Dragon") and buy $400 thousand dollars worth of uncut heroin. Frank funnels thousands of dollars through Nate to bribe U.S. Army officers, pilots, and Military Police to protect his product and fly it into America on board Uncle Sam's planes in the coffins of dead U.S. troops. Frank sells the heroin uncut at a bargain price, and the junkies come out of the woodworks. Yes, this really happened. Mafia Chieftain Dominic Cattano (Armand Assante of "The Mambo Kings") wants some of this action and in exchange the mobster promises Frank protection from the police. Unfortunately, Frank enjoys little peace of mind, especially from corrupt New York City Police Special Investigator, Detective Trupo (Josh Brolin of "The Goonies"), who wants his cut of Frank's million dollar profits. Nevertheless, despite the corrupt cops, Frank flourishes because the dirty cops aren't about to let anything slaughter their cash cow.
Enter squeaky clean New Jersey detective Ritchie Roberts (Russell Crowe of "Gladiator") and his not so squeaky clean partner Javier J. Rivera (John Ortiz of "Miami Vice") who stake out a numbers runner with a million dollars in cash stashed in grocery bags in his car. When the numbers runner doesn't return for the loot, Ritchie and Javier confiscate the dough. Ritchie and Javier ponder their unique problem. If they turn a million bucks insupposedly the right thing to dothey will alienate their comrades because no cop will trust them. Javier wants to claim the cash for themselves, but Ritchie refuses. Afterward, their New Jersey comrades treat them like lepers. Since so many cops are on the take, they refuse to work with Ritchie because he isn't corrupt enough to trust. Eventually, Ritchie's boss, Lou Toback (Ted Levine of "Silence of the Lambs"), asks him to head up a government drug task force to bust big time dealers. For a change, Ritchie's honesty provides dividends, but those dividends are not enough to preserve his marriage to wife Laura (Carla Gugino of "The One") and they battle it out in the courts over custody of their son. Eventually, Ritchie and his hand picked crew of honest cops ferret out Frank as their chief narcotics target. Everybody else dismisses Frank as a major crime lord. The U.S. Attorney General (Roger Bart of "Hostel, Part II") laughs at the belief that an African-American could be the mastermind behind a heroin empire.
"American Gangster" rewards good and punishes evil. Unfortunately, despite its powerhouse cast, Scott's film is just good, not great. The shortage of violence that constitutes an integral feature of most gangster films is ironic when you consider that Scott helmed the incredibly bloodthirsty "Black Hawk Down." Instead, Scott imitates director William Friedkin's cops and drug dealers classic "The French Connection," that Oscar winning scenarist Steven Zallian of "Schindler's List" makes reference to early in the story. Scott cuts back and forth between Frank and Ritchie over the course of the film's lengthy 157 minutes until they meet in the last half-hour. In the process, they omit a lot of the facts behind Frank Lucas and his million dollar heroin operation. Denzel Washington doesn't look as evil as he did in "Training Day," but he is brutal as Lucas. At one point, he confronts a rival gangster, puts his pistol against the guy's forehead, and warns him about forgetting to pay his tribute money. When the rival hood dares him to kill in broad daylight in front of a crowd of people, Lucas pulls the trigger without a qualm. "American Gangster" is well worth watching for its audaciously true story set against a turbulent chapter in U.S. history.