DVD review: “American Gangster”
An extended version of the review that ran in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“American Gangster”
Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe face off in “American Gangster,” now on DVD in a two-disc unrated extended edition.
The compelling saga is inspired by the true story of Frank Lucas, who dominated New York’s drug trade in the 1970s, and Richie Roberts, the cop/lawyer who hunted, arrested and prosecuted him.
Lucas (Washington) starts out as the driver for Harlem crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Clarence Williams III). When Bumpy’s sudden death creates a power vacuum in the city’s criminal ranks, Lucas uses his smarts, charisma and ruthlessness to fill it.
After hearing about U.S. servicemen in Vietnam getting hooked on heroin, Lucas travels to Southeast Asia to smuggle out large amounts of the pure drug. He brings in his brothers and cousins to run his lucrative drug business.
He gives his mother (Ruby Dee) a fine house and marries a beauty queen (Lymari Nadal), but Lucas keeps a low profile even as he rises to the top of New York’s crime scene.
When he wears a flashy fur coat to the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight, Lucas gets the attention of Roberts (Crowe), an honest cop with the new federal narcotics bureau. Roberts has plenty of character flaws but is a dogged investigator famed for turning in $1 million of dirty money.
Director Ridley Scott’s grittily authentic film excels as a cat-and-mouse crime tale and as a pair of interwoven character studies. Powerhouse performances drive the story.
The DVD set offers the theatrical version along with an unrated extended version, which includes an alternate ending that is particularly gratifying after seeing the bonus interviews with the real Lucas and Roberts.
Other features: Making-of featurettes, including one with the interviews; deleted scenes; and commentary.
- BAM
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Great actors, good director, true story (or rather, semi-true from what I’ve read)…yet I remain uninterested. It’s kind of sad really.