Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. This one's lookin' mighty good. Can't wait to see Sid 6.7 facing down Parker Barnes again! I don't know about you guys, but I've made up my mind to view this film as prequel to VIRTUOSITY.

Beware of spoilers in the below glowing review. Our generation's SCARFACE, hrmm? We'll see...

Hey Harry,

Saw an early screening of American Gangster, thought I'd send in my thoughts....

Many films have come along the past few years hoping to be the next Platoon, the next Goodfellas, the next Godfather film. The next anything. Nothing has touched these classic films, until now. American Gangster is our generation's Scarface, no doubt about it. Told with an impressively steady pace, the film delvs deep into the histories, personalities, familes, business practices, morals, mores', ethics, relationships, habits, hobbies, and everything else pertaining to Drug Kingpin Frank Lucas and honest cop Richie Roberts.

Scott takes his sweet time introducing us to Lucas, his ambitions, his family, his plan. His detailed, step-by-step plan to become the biggest supplier of heroin in the north east, if not America. Frank is a man of conviction. An honest, loving family man with a desire to make everyone around him happy and well respected But he is ruthless in the streets, unafraid to shoot down a rival gangster in broad daylight, just to flex his perverbial muscle. He's both the consumate gentleman and the quintessential super villain.

Richie Roberts is a cop with a heart of gold. An honest cop. THE honest cop; turning in a stash of a million dollars in unmarked bills, to the chagrin and dismay of his fellow officers, who black list him for breaking the unwritten code, breaking the Blue Wall of Silence.
But this does not make him a perfect man. He's a womanizer, his ex-wife was always his better half, and he has a temper.
But he's honest. And damn commited and good at his job.

The film takes over an hour to set up the story, spending enough time for another movie just setting up the back story of these two men before the real movie kicks in. It's the reason for the film's nearly 3 hour running time and the reason it is the best, most patient film of the year. Because at first you feel like the story is being told in chunks, almost like a clip show. The entire movie, one long montage of history, until things settle down into the cat and mouse story which connects our two heroes. That, in the last hour and a half of the film, is what makes this THE crime saga film of our generation. Scott masterfully moves between history lessons and a suspenseful thriller, with the best actors of this generation- not just Washington and Crowe- anchoring down his cast. Scott goes for quality over name recognition with a lot of parts and the move pays off. You may not be able to name many of the actors in this film and you may not even recognize their faces prior to viewing this story, but they are as much a part of the tapestry for 'American Gangster' as Crowe and Washington.

*I'm not referring to Chiwitel Ejiofer or Armand Assante or even John Hawkes. Guys like John Ortiz, who plays Richie's first partner, and is nearly unrecognizable compared to his other most high profile role as the main henchman in 'Miami Vice'. There's also Ruby Dee, who is obviously very famous, but maybe not so much with the newer crowd. She plays it straight and happy for most of the film, almost unimportant, until a pivotal emotional scene in the last 20 minutes where she puts many other actors to shame with her subtle, straight forward approach to what other actors may have taken as an opportunity to chew scenery.

Anyways...

American Gangster is a tale of two cities, in a way. The rich and dishonest, the poor and imperfect but good hearted. Is Lucas evil? Is Roberts good? At what point are you allowed to break the rules? The film brings up many questions and many answers and paints a most complete portrait of two men at odds, in the relatively little amount of time alotted to the film.

The best part of the picture is the authenticity with which the times are displayed. You see afros, big American cars and disco suits, but they're part of a bigger portrait of two men, and of a story that, with some cultural tweaking, could be told at any time.

There is also the requisite epilouge of facts placed on the screen over the last minute of film, explaining what happened to Richie, Lucas and everybody else, after the events depicted in the movie.

but that wasn't nearly as powerful as the final shot of the film. Frank Lucas, after being in jail 15 years, walking out to a world he doesn't know, to a New York he doesn't control. Very humbling and human moment for this great American Gangster.

if you use this, call me Bear the Wookie.