American Gangster

[stratman]

I'm posting this link so anyone interested in knowing who the "real" Frank Lucas is will get the info from the horse's own mouth, you the reader make the judgement call. By the way Denzel felt obliged to give this man (down on his luck) a new Rolls when the movie wrapped up filming.


http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/3649/

I'm curious to see how Hollywood will treat this sad story.

 

[GlocksRock]

This movie looks very good, I can't wait for it to come out on DVD.

 

[youngbuck123]

That's a solid article... very interesting thanks for the link. I can't wait for the movie to come out. Jay Z even put out a whole album to go along with the movie .. I'd link to it but not enough posts.... its on Amazon though.

 

[stratman]

The History Channel did an hour last night on Nicky Barnes and Frank Lucas, Barnes is under the witness protection program working a regular nine to five(which he seems to be satisfied with), Lucas is wheelchair bound and turned federal witness to get a reduced sentence, he's out of the slammer. Harlem back in the early seventies looked like Germany right after World War 2, an extreme amount of buildings were burned down, prostitution everywhere, life was harsh and brutal and to compound the misery these two "heroes" managed to facilitate the destruction of thousands by heroin addiction and murder. Asked if he felt any remorse about what he had done, Frank Lucas said "if given another chance, I'll do it all over again," it shows the true nature of this "hero." What I don't understand is why Denzel Washington felt obliged to give this man a brand new Rolls after filming was over. Both of these men really belong in jail, even if they turned evidence, they were the progenitors to begin with.

 

[Seth=L]

Can I watch the movie then read the article? I want the movie to be a complete surprise.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Can I watch the movie then read the article? I want the movie to be a complete surprise.

That depends on your will power

 

[Seth=L]

That depends on your will power

watched the movie, kicked @ss.

 

[youngbuck123]

The movie seemed to be a little long but overall a GREAT movie.. after watching the movie I read the articles linked from this forum and it added a whole other dimension to the story.

 

[Seth=L]

The movie seemed to be a little long but overall a GREAT movie.. after watching the movie I read the articles linked from this forum and it added a whole other dimension to the story.

It was 2 hours and 40 minutes, it seemed to go by pretty fast for me though.

 

[stratman]

Well I just saw it, not what the real Frank Lucas was like, Denzel "cleaned" him up made him somewhat articulate and dressed him like a business man. Frank Lucas can't read nor write, he knew how much a certain amount of money weighed, if it was misssing a couple of pounds he knew someone was ripping him off and that brought rapid and deadly reprisal. The movie in itself wasn't bad, a little long for me, but overall good entertainment. Read the story on link I posted, the story is more engrossing than the movie.

 

[mtrycrafts]

.. the story is more engrossing than the movie.

Must be similar to the Bourne books and movies I could hardly put the books down, all 4 of them. While the movies were good, lots of action, etc, somewhat different from the books.

 

[stratman]

Well put. The actual story is grittier than the movie and would have made a better script if the characters were kept truer to their nature, I think Terantino could have done wonders with the premise. At least Bourne was fictional, but this was American history in the early '70s.

 

[evilkat]

I just saw the movie, and I have to admit, if it were not for the big-name cast, the movie was downright average. Nothing about it really stood-out to me, except it had a mildly interesting storyline compred to the usual mafia flicks. That is, until I read the interview you posted strat! Feels like a perfectly good story went to waste on this one I agree with you, someone like tarentenio could have done wonders with this one, although he'd prolly have made this even more bloody (not that this is a bad thing necessarily).

Overrall, just another mafia movie (with a dab of affirmitive action)
Except this story really happend.

 

[stratman]

I just saw the movie, and I have to admit, if it were not for the big-name cast, the movie was downright average. Nothing about it really stood-out to me, except it had a mildly interesting storyline compred to the usual mafia flicks. That is, until I read the interview you posted strat! Feels like a perfectly good story went to waste on this one I agree with you, someone like tarentenio could have done wonders with this one, although he'd prolly have made this even more bloody (not that this is a bad thing necessarily).

Overrall, just another mafia movie (with a dab of affirmitive action)
Except this story really happend.

I know what you mean, after reading the interview it feels like something was lacking. Throughout the whole movie Denzel whacks two guys only! I obviously read the interview before I saw the movie, I was left with an urge for more details after seeing the movie. One part of the movie that was pretty close to real life was the collage of junkies dying and the brutal life in Harlem in the late '60s to the mid 70's. Overall a good movie, but not the best true-life flick, if you want a great flick loosely connected to the events check out SERPICO with Al Pacino, that was also a true story that dealt with the police and corruption in NYC's narcotics squads, 75% of those cops went to jail. By the way Nicky Barnes (played by Cuba Gooding) was in real life a bigger mobster than Frank.

 

[highfihoney]

Im watching the last few minutes of the movie right now,for me the movie was ok but nothing special,through the whole movie i found it hard to swallow the black robin hood theme,i dont care how well he treated his mama or how often he went to church,the guy was a maniac.

I remember the heroin epedimic in Detroit in the 70's where the pure junk hit the streets & killed people right & left.

 

[Sheep]

I couldn't help but think I saw this film already. It seemed like a mix between Training day and Scarface.

SheepStar