Living The 'American' Dream

Movie Review: Washington, Crowe Stellar In 'American Gangster'

By: Stephen Ortiz

Posted: 11/6/07

Harlem, late 1960s/early 1970s, lots of heroin, guns, gangsters, good cops, crooked cops, Denzel Washington acting as a bad-motha'-shut-your-mouth, Russell Crowe acting as a not-so-bad-but-still-kind-of-bad-motha'-shut-your-mouth.

Here's "American Gangster" in an even smaller nutshell: Oscar-worthy.

"American Gangster" is the story of Frank Lucas (Washington), the man that ran Harlem in the later part of the '60s through his arrest in 1973. Lucas was a self-proclaimed renaissance man, buying heroin straight from the source in Vietnam and selling it cheaper than the competitors on the streets under the name "Blue Magic."

But that's only half the story.

Across the river, in Essex County, N.J., Richie Roberts (Crowe) is a honest, hard-working police officer whose personal life is riddled with problems from divorce, visitation rights with his son and studying for the bar exam. Roberts loses the trust of his fellow officers for being too honest after an incident, but is given a second chance when he is asked to start up the Essex County narcotics unit. His mission? To nail the kingpin behind all the dope on the streets, who just so happens to be Lucas.

"American Gangster" is director Ridley Scott's best film since "Gladiator." It's a cinematic accomplishment that certainly should be considered for the Best Picture nod at the Academy Awards. The sets are authentic and really immerse the viewer in the 1960s and '70s New York City from its storefronts, costumes, cars and language. Scott also did a great job of setting the timeline for the film. When time progresses in the movie, a TV can often be heard in the background or actually seen depicting news from the time period, be it drug problems of soldiers in Asia or Nixon talking of a ceasefire in the Vietnam War.

Despite featuring the Jay-Z song "Heart of the City" in the trailer, "American Gangster" boasts a fantastic soundtrack that moves the film well and plays on the setting from funk to a more traditional orchestrated movie score - you won't even feel the two and a half hours.

What is particularly amazing about "American Gangster" is that Scott was able to take two huge names, two Oscar-winning A-list actors - Crowe and Washington - and put them in the same film, yet doesn't make one more important than the other. The parallel storylines build each character up so both are the lead actors. While most will flock to Washington's character because he is the bad guy after all - he plays villains well, as viewers saw in his Best Actor performance in "Training Day" - Crowe's character has a certain charm to him that's come to be expected, especially since his Oscar-winning performance in "A Beautiful Mind." Washington, however, is a great gangster and is much more believable than other thugs like Al Pacino's Tony Montana.

The film also features a bevy of top-notch supporting actors including rapper Common, who is beginning to do more work in film, Chiwetel Ejiofor who has been in a few great pictures - the highly underrated "Serenity" and "Four Brothers" to name a few - and is quietly making himself a name in Hollywood, Wu-Tang clan member RZA as a member of Crowe's narcotics unit and Cuba Gooding Jr. as a rival drug dealer in Harlem.

Both of the leads are excellent. Washington and Crowe show why they are who they are in the movie industry today. While neither give quite Oscar-worthy performances here, they still are better than most of Hollywood and acting exceptionally is natural to them. The film on a whole on is a shoo-in for a Best Picture nomination. If you happen to go to the movies this weekend, skip that movie about the bee or the one about Santa Claus' funny brother and go straight for this one.

There might not be much love in the heart of the city, but there's more than enough entertainment.

Contact Stephen Ortiz at Stephen.Ortiz@UConn.edu.