American Gangster
by Catherine Lee

       ÒQuitting while you're ahead is not the same as quitting.Ó This is the wise and, of course, unheeded advice to Frank Lucas – the real life heroin dealer at the heart of American Gangster – from his heroin supplier, a general deep in the jungle at the end of the Vietnam war. American Gangster is a very well made, entertaining film, but it feels weighed down by all the great "gangsters in America" films that have come before it. I believe for every genre there is always the possibility of a great masterpiece that reinvents the genre, but for me, American Gangster feels weighed down by the great films it honors.

       The story of Frank Lucas is fascinating. The story alone puts the filmmakers ahead of many crime dramas. A simpler, more direct telling of it would have been quitting while they were ahead. Instead, every detail is dressed up and paraded. While the film looks great and has several gorgeous moments and scenes, what could be new in American Gangster is lost in the trappings.

       Frank Lucas was the driver for Harlem crime boss Bumpy Johnson for many years. When Bumpy dies, Frank takes over the business, staying true to BumpyÕs credo. Frank is a smart guy, and he makes changes based on BumpyÕs complaints about how the world is changing. He brings his brothers up from North Carolina and schools them on toughness and loyalty. The first thing we see in American Gangster is Frank throwing a match on a bloody guy tied to a chair. He puts a few bullets in him after a few seconds. ThatÕs FrankÕs idea of compassion. But FrankÕs big innovation is taking capitalist principles and applying them to heroin trafficking. With the help of his cousin, a soldier in Southeast Asia, Frank goes directly to the source. He contracts to buy from heroin producers and have the drugs smuggled into the United States through his military connections. Drugs in the coffins of soldiers. There is something horribly perfect about that. So he eliminates the middleman, in this case, the mafia.

       Once in the United States, since he has eliminated the middle man, he can sell much more potent drugs for less. This causes lots of overdoses at first. His next step is to brand his product. "Blue Magic" is the name he gives his heroin, and junkies go for it, putting several of his rivals out of business. Frank fiercely defends his brand. There is lots of business-speak in American Gangster. It demonstrates that Frank is smart. It also demonstrates how ruthless, gross and uncaring business can be. The film is much more effective in lowering our opinion of corporate America than elevating our sympathy for a criminal applying accepted business practices to a criminal endeavor.

       The parallel story in American Gangster is the story of the cop who brings Frank down. Richie Roberts is a cop famous for turning in nearly one million dollars in unmarked bills. This story is wonderful as it happens and makes Richie a legendary chump none of his fellow officers trust. It is a great touchstone to demonstrate how thoroughly corrupt the drug enforcement cops are. Until Richie brings down Frank we never see them together. While Frank leads a basically low-profile life but with nice clothes, good food and comfort, Richie lives a life of bad food, alienation and a distrust of everyone that rivals his crime counterpart.

       Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts are played by Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. I love both actors, but in these roles neither seems comfortable nor particularly convincing. Crowe is a truly brilliant actor, but as a Jewish cop from New Jersey he doesn't lose himself in the role the way he did in a role like The Insider. Washington can play a street-smart creep. He won an Oscar for Training Day doing just that, but in American Gangster he seems almost prim, despite the violence.

       These two actors are great together, even if they don't quite convince individually. When the two confront each other and bond it is the best scene in the film. And it is the police corruption in American Gangster that is slighted. More than half of the drug enforcement officers in New York City and several communities were convicted and jailed based on testimony Frank Lucas gave to reduce his sentence. He hated corrupt cops as much as his cop counterpart, and he didn't want to spend his life in jail.

       Police corruption isnÕt as much fun to film as gangster life. Josh Brolin as Detective Trupo, a particularly cheap, corrupt police officer, is as repulsive as any actual criminal in American Gangster. By contrast, FrankÕs brother Huey, played well by Chiwetel Ejiofor, is the kind of gangster who wouldnÕt make it very long if he didnÕt have Frank to protect him.

       The worst of American Gangster is the women. I know women donÕt matter in these movies, so why include them? Two wives and a mom waste our time in American Gangster. I wonÕt embarrass the actresses by naming them. The roles are all ciphers, poorly written and dull. It isnÕt surprising that the actresses would take these roles – Ridley Scott directing two Oscar winners in a film written by another Oscar winner, Stephen Zaillian – but after a few scenes I groaned every time one of them appeared.

       I love movies that make New York a character. American Gangster never fully manages this. It is New York – Harlem no less! – in the 60s and early 70s, but it is too glossy and bland. A black man from the South marries a Puerto Rican beauty queen and that causes no family turmoil? A Jewish cop pursues him, and there is no more than a little name calling at the precinct?

       The low point of movie recycling is the use of the great ÒAcross 110th St.Ó by Bobby Womack. WeÕre in New York, in Harlem, the setting and time of the song, and the montage of money counting and drug processing is entertaining. But in Jackie Brown Quentin Tarrantino uses the song in contemporary Los Angeles, where it sings to the aspirations of Jackie with a much sharper pang.

       With the story of Frank Lucas at its core, I was hoping American Gangster would deliver a sharper pang of something.

       Catherine Lee is the executive director of Fort Wayne Cinema Center, the only independently operated movie theater in Fort Wayne, specializing in independent, foreign, documentary, specialty and classic films.

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