Great Story, Interesting Characters & Superb Acting

Rating: 8/10 (10 August 2015)

Any movie that runs for 157 minutes needs to be exceptionally gripping in order to keep its audience fully engaged from start to finish but that's just what "American Gangster" manages to do. Its story about the rise and fall of a Harlem drug lord is extraordinary because he's home grown (rather than the usual Mafioso) and achieves his success primarily by using his business acumen. The fact that he's a fascinating character provides a consistent level of interest throughout and the knowledge that the events depicted are based on a true story gives the whole undertaking even more substance.
Depictions of a series of developments in the lives of both the American gangster and the narcotics detective who eventually becomes determined to bring him to justice, provide an effective means of telling the story and also work well in highlighting the different characteristics of the two men who are both principled and both flawed in their different ways. The period in which the action is set (the early 1970s) is very accurately evoked and Ridley Scott's disciplined direction ensures that the switching of focus from one character to the other never creates confusion or interrupts the momentum of the narrative.
Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) who'd worked as a driver for Harlem crime boss Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (Clarence Williams 111) takes over the running of the gang after his mentor suddenly dies of a heart attack and soon builds his own empire by taking a very innovative approach to his drug dealing business. Bumpy had observed that local legitimate businesses were no longer being run by families because increasingly, middlemen were being cut out so that the suppliers could maximise their profits. Using the same principle, Lucas flies to Southeast Asia where he makes deals with local suppliers and military personnel so that he can import heroin into the United States in the coffins of soldiers who'd been killed in the Vietnam War. His scheme works perfectly because the product that he markets as "Blue Magic" is twice as pure as anything else that's available and is sold at half the price.
New Jersey police detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is despised by his colleagues who treat him with contempt for turning in $1,000,000 of unmarked notes that he'd recovered from a car used by a drug dealer and is also hated by his ex-wife because of his infidelity and his failure to be a decent father to his son. When his partner dies from an overdose of "Blue Magic", he's given the opportunity to head up a special squad to try to bring the local drug trade under control.
Lucas' spectacular success in selling heroin enables him to use the massive profits to expand the rest of his operation and buy a mansion in New Jersey into which he moves his mother and brothers. He gets married to a Puerto Rican beauty queen who he meets at one of his clubs and at this point, his future looks good. Lucas' success had been partially attributable to his belief in being conservatively dressed and maintaining a low profile but one fateful night, at a top boxing match, when he fails to adhere to both these practices, he attracts the attention of detective Richie Roberts and from that point onwards, his fortunes go into reverse.
Frank Lucas was a man who professed to believe in honesty, integrity, hard work and family values. He was certainly good to his family, generally courteous in his day to day dealings and an astute businessman but was also ruthless and capable of some appalling brutality. In a wonderfully measured performance, Denzel Washington conveys the dignity, intensity and complexity of this charismatic character and makes it clear that Lucas' principles and beliefs were based on what he's learned in the days before he took over the gang from Bumpy Johnson.
Russell Crowe is also very good as the detective who's honest and hardworking but is detested with equal venom by both his colleagues and his ex-wife. The supporting cast also do well with Josh Brolin, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Armand Assante standing out.
It's the characters, the strength of the story and some great acting that ultimately makes "American Gangster" so compelling and the fact that it doesn't have to rely on chases and explosions to keep its audience's attention testifies to this.