American Gangster (2007)

British director Ridley Scott may not seem a logical choice for this truly American crime drama, but the filmmaker does an excellent job. The film is based on a true story and set in 1968 Harlem, where Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) is a driver for Bumpy Johnson, one of the top figures in the city's criminal world. When Bumpy dies, Lucas swoops in, taking over his predecessor's empire and expanding it over the next few years with his sale of a particularly potent brand of heroin. Meanwhile, New Jersey cop Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) begins to investigate the New York drug world and discovers that there's a ne...
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w power in town.

Thanks to screenwriter Steve Zallian, as well as Washington and Crowe, AMERICAN GANGSTER creates a convincing portrait of two men who are neither entirely good nor entirely bad. Washington plays Lucas as a man who buys his mother a palatial home but doesn't hesitate to beat his brother's head against a window. Crowe's Roberts may turn in a million-dollar find, but he cheats on his wife. Sadly, they only meet onscreen toward the end of the film, but the minimal interaction between the two Oscar winners is fascinating. Even though the focus is on Lucas and Roberts, AMERICAN GANGSTER is filled with a wealth of strong characters played by talented actors. It seems everyone with a SAG card turns up for the film, including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Ted Levine, John Hawkes, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Carla Gugino, Ruby Dee, Joe Morton, and rappers T.I. and RZA. It's an epic film, with a run time of over two and a half hours, but it's time well spent. Fans of classic crime films such as THE GODFATHER, SERPICO, and CARLITO'S WAY will certainly be pleased by this addition to the genre.
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Director Ridley Scott spins this yarn concerning a Harlem drug kingpin (Denzel Washington) who smuggles heroin into the country by hiding it in the bodies of U.S. soldiers killed during battle in Vietnam. There was a time when no one noticed reserved driver Frank Lucas (Washington), but when the criminal kingpin he was charged with transporting through the city streets suddenly dies, Lucas seizes the opportunity to build his own criminal empire. In the following months, Lucas solidifies his status as Harlem's most innovative drug dealer by delivering a product that is purer than the competitors' and cheaper, as w...
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ell. When innovative businessman Lukas attempts to go semi-legit by becoming one of the Manhattan borough's biggest civil supporters, however, street-savvy outcast cop Ritchie Roberts (Russell Crowe) begins to sense a sizable shift in the hierarchy of the drug underworld. But Roberts is one of the few honest detectives operating within a corrupt system, and as he sets out to investigate the case, crooked detective Trupo (Josh Brolin) does everything in his power to compromise the integrity of his idealistic counterpart. Upon clearing all of the usual Mafia-connected suspects, Roberts begins to believe that a previously unknown black power player has come out of the woodwork to dominate the local drug trade. While Roberts and Lucas may be operating on opposite sides of the law, the one thing that both men have in common is a strict code of ethics that separates them from their opportunistic colleagues. Now, as a confrontation between the two men becomes inevitable and the fate of each becomes inexorably tied to the other, it gradually becomes apparent that only one of them will emerge from the conflict victorious.
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Drugskoning Frank Lucas (Washington) profiteert van de aanwezigheid van het Amerikaans leger in Azië tijdens de Vietnamoorlog om goedkoop drugs de US in te smokkelen. Daarmee bouwt hij in rap tempo een groot imperium op. Echter krijgt politieagent Roberts (Crowe) lucht van zijn handige zaakje, en ook de corrupte agent Trupo heeft interesse in de zaak.

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Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas, the quiet driver to one of the inner city's leading black crime bosses. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and create his own version of the American Dream. Through ingenuity and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with a purer product at a better price. Lucas outplays all of the leading crime syndicates and becomes not only one of the city's mainline corrupters, but part of its circle of legit civic superstars. Richie Roberts is an outcast cop close enou...
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gh to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene. Both Lucas and Roberts share a rigorous ethical code that sets them apart from their own colleagues, making them lone figures on opposite sides of the law. The destinies of these two men will become intertwined as they approach a confrontation where only one of them can come out on top.
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