not the best, but pretty good

Rating: 8/10 (5 January 2009)

There's a major problem doing a movie set in the 1970s, which was a period of major cultural transition. Many of the fashions of that day never went away; others were actually revivals from the 1950s. Still others came and went and then were later revived. I remark this because some reviews complain of the period detail in this film. But I have never seen a single film set in the 1970s anywhere true to that decade, which was the most memorably important of my life. So until someone can show me such a film, I just don't bother quibbling over the detail work set in that era.
That said history, both real and cinematic are important here. The film opens remarking two events, each of which received attention in major films: from the mid-1930s, the Harlem underworld was dominated by Bumpy Johnson, who claimed to have retired in the late '40s, but this was not true, and remained mob boss above 125th Street until his death in the mid-'60s. His early career was depicted in the recent film "Hoodlum," but he also appeared as a character (as 'Bumpy Jones') in the original "Shaft." Just about the same time, in the mid-'60s, a large quantity of heroin smuggled in from France was confiscated by an earnest NYC Detective, Eddie 'Popeye' Egan, which unfortunately did not lead to the mass convictions of narcotics-connected mobsters probably due to mob influence on the courts. This event was narrated in the film "The French Connection." The confiscated heroin itself disappeared thanks to corruption in the NYPD itself.
Since Harlem was the big marketplace for illegal narcotics, it could be expected that these two stories would eventually intertwine; and that they did is documented in both texts of criminal investigators and reporters, as well as a number of fictional films from the 1970s; but this is the first film to tie the loose ends together. The sustaining element in both stories was the corruption in the police, the courts, and the government of New York, a problem that has never been completely resolved.
American Gangster has to be judged as a recorded episode in this history, and it can be fairly compared with the movies previously mentioned. To be frank, it lacks the grand scope of "Hoodlum" and the energetic realism of "The French Connection," but is on a par with some of the better films dealing with other aspects of this history - which it appears to reflect honestly, having both central players on board as consultants. It's not one of Ridley Scott's best movies, but it is a fascinating dual portrait of a shrewd hood running out of time and the honest cop hunting him down. Neither Washington nor Crowe are at their best here - I feel they needed more prep-time for their characters - but the turn in solid performances, as do the rest of the cast-members. And the work behind the camera is also solidly professional, as we've come to expect from director Scott's crews. But I admit I expected something a little more, since the core story and its history are so profoundly interesting, raising unsettling questions about American society and its particular economic culture. ( I can't remember in what movie a character explains that heroin is the perfect commodity, since its addicted consumers will spend any amount of money for it and get pretty much nothing in return.) So American Gangster is not the final statement on the continuing problem of the culture of narcotics or that of police corruption; but it is an interesting and entertaining gangster film, and a fairly reliable document of the events it portrays.