What Do The Critics Say?

"Denzel Washington dazzles in his best screen performance to date as Frank Lucas, a real-life Harlem drug lord who revolutionized his nasty business by importing heroin directly from Thailand, and selling a product that cost half as much and was twice as potent as anything on the market. One of the year's best movies and surely a major Oscar contender." Lou Lumenick NEW YORK POST "Brilliant acting by Crowe and Washington plus Scott's near flawless direction, make 'American Gangster' one of the best films of the year. Washington sheds his normal good-guy persona for a rare turn as villain. A pudgy Russell Crowe is Richie Roberts, the persistent NYC detective who, through honest police work and dogged determination, eventually brings down the drug kingpin." Frank Wilkins REELTALK MOVIE REVIEWS "Call it the black Scarface or the Harlem Godfather or just one hell of an exciting movie, but the fact-based, 1970s-era American Gangster is already looking like a major awards contender." Peter Travers ROLLING STONE "You'll admire "American Gangster", but it never gets under your skin or sticks in your memory. It's a good film that feels like it could have been great." Brian Tallerico THE DEADBOLT "A well-made and reasonably exciting work filled with juicy performances, exciting set-pieces and a slick visual style, but there is very little on display here that we haven't already seen before in one form or another." Peter Sobczynski eFILMCRITIC

"Scott’s best film since "Gladiator" is a classy cops ’n robbers thriller where the latter outclasses the former. Crowe tries to redress the imbalance with a committed performance, but you can tell he knows it’s Washington’s movie." Neil Smith TOTAL FILM "Washington's steely grip on his impersonation of Frank Lucas holds the film together. Even if he doesn't entirely give the impression of a street hustler who never attended school in his life, Washington presents a man of striking, thoroughly credible contradictions." Todd McCarthy VARIETY "The filmmakers know their audience and spin a good story, the cast is wonderfully diverse and engaging, the production first-rate. The slick but satisfying screenplay by Steven Zaillian, enriched by nostalgic sets and costumes, sustains interest despite the film’s too generous running time." Rex Roberts FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL "The movie, based on a true story, takes surprising twists and turns right up to its chilling ending and is probably the best gangster crime drama of the year. Gangsters are a timeless staple on the big screen. To stand out, this genre film must come up with a new twist on an old story or haunt us with indelible performances." Claudia Puig USA TODAY "It's not just Oscar bait for its two dazzling leading men. It's a fascinating look at the Land of Opportunity as seen through the eyes of its most amoral opportunists. Roger Moore ORLANDO SENTINEL

The Inside Story "My company sells a product that's better than the competition at a price that's lower than the competition." Frank Lucas. The legend of heroin smuggler, family man, death dealer, civic leader Frank Lucas was first chronicled seven years ago in a New York Magazine article by journalist Mark Jacobson. In 2000, executive producer Nicholas Pileggi who co-wrote the screenplays for "Goodfellas" and "Casino" with Martin Scorsese, introduced Jacobson to Lucas, thus beginning a journey in which Lucas recounted his outrageous rise and fall to the journalist. From watching his cousin murdered by the KKK in La Grange, North Carolina, to earning mind-boggling figures in drug sales to facing a lifetime in prison, Lucas had one stunner of a true tale. Jacobson's subsequent "The Return of Superfly" unfolded the complex story of a desperately poor sharecropper who moved to Harlem and slowly bypassed the usual suspects of its burgeoning heroin scene to rule a New York City empire. Through selling a purer product at a cheaper price to thousands of addicts in the Vietnam-era streets, Lucas amassed a fortune calculated in the tens of millions-and the eventual attention of the law. Had he not been pushing an illegal, deadly substance new to this country, Lucas would have assuredly been celebrated as one of the keenest businessmen of the decade, if not the century, for his family-run enterprise. Growing up penniless in a small Southern town, Lucas arrived in New York in 1946 as a self-described "different sonofabitch". For two decades, he worked side-byside with Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (the inspiration for the black godfather of the "Shaft" films), serving as the kingpin's right-hand man until Johnson's death in 1968, tutored in the ways of gangsters like Frank Costello and Lucky Luciano. And upon Johnson's death, Lucas seized the reins. He changed the name of the game to the hot new import heroin and immediately put his stamp on the city-with a gun to the head of anyone who dared challenge him. Fascinated by Jacobson's article, Academy Award ® winning producer Brian Grazer optioned the project for Imagine Entertainment and met with Pileggi and Lucas to discuss the gangster's exploits. Many of Grazer's recent celebrated films have been inspired by real-life subjects overcoming the seemingly insurmountable; from "8 Mile" and "Friday Night Lights" to "A Beautiful Mind" and "Cinderella Man". Grazer viewed Lucas's story as a metaphor for the greediness of white-collar capitalism and had, admittedly, never heard anything quite like it. The producer would take this option and turn to veteran screenwriter Steven Zaillian to pen a script based on Lucas' life. Oscar ® winner Zaillian; responsible for such landmark cinematic interpretations as Steven Spielberg's directorial masterpiece "Schindler's List" and Martin Scorsese's lauded "Gangs of New York", would spend months with Lucas and his former pursuer (now retained attorney) Richie Roberts to give shape to their improbable tale that spanned decades. Roberts was the man ultimately responsible for bringing down the folk hero. All looked good for the project until, in 2004, Universal Pictures stopped the development of the project. "Everything just flatlined, and I was devastated for about a week. But I still really believed in this project," Grazer remembers. During several more drafts by other writers and some other flirtations with actors and directors, Grazer kept pursing Ridley Scott as his ultimate dream director. It would take the combined power of producer Grazer and Scott to resurrect the project and get back Denzel Washington (who had originally, after initially resisting, agreed to take the lead role as Frank Lucas). "I charged forward with all my energy and full commitment to get it made. I'd taken the script to Ridley Scott seven or eight times, and he always liked it, but the timing was never right for him,"Grazer says. This time he agreed. But before he'd get behind the camera, Scott would encourage Zaillian to flesh out more of Richie Roberts tale. Sir Ridley revealed he would do the picture if his frequent partner joined him in the effort, proposing that Crowe play the part of Richie Roberts and if Washington rejoined. With Crowe and Scott on board, Washington found he couldn't say no to preparing to play Frank Lucas. The two time Academy Award ® winner (Best Actor "Training Days" and Best Supporting Actor "Glory") remembers when Grazer called to say, "I've got Ridley." "Well, Ridley's one of the great filmmakers of our time, so you can't say No," says Washington. He would finally begin playing the man who had grown from chicken thief to the King of Harlem. To prepare for the role, Washington "got in a room with Frank, turned on the recorder and talked with him. I didn't try to imitate him, necessarily, but Frank's such a charmer; that's key to his character. I played Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter and did the same thing with him. I just hung out with him, got him alone and got the truth-or, hopefully, got some version of it." There was one condition though. Washington told Frank, "Don't tell me anything I don't need to know. I don't want to have to testify." Game for a third collaboration with the director and a third with producer Grazer, Crowe signed on for the part of the complicated and hardened police officer Roberts. He was interested in how Zaillian's story captured the time and place in which the corrupt New York City, the borough of Harlem and the slightly simpler world of Roberts' New Jersey operated as satellites of one another in the drug-fueled era. Corruption had become so rampant within the Narcotics Special Investigations Unit (SIU) community that "by 1977, 52 out of 70 officers who'd worked in the unit were either in jail or under indictment." "I'd read five or six different versions of the script, and I knew which way I would lean, but it all comes down to the captain of the ship. I'd gotten a call from Brian on Friday, and on Saturday I got a call from Ridley about something else, and I asked if he'd read the latest draft. He said he had, and he'd loved it," Crowe recalls. He then asked Scott, "Do you think we'd appear greedy if we did another film together so quickly?" Sir Ridley's answer was short and to the point: "Who cares?" To perform opposite Washington and Crowe in American Gangster, Scott and Grazer recruited a top-notch group of actors. For Frank's family, they would need to cast a crew of brothers and cousins whom he brought to Harlem to help sell product. Because of their upbringing in the backwoods of North Carolina, they were known as the 'Country Boys'. Frank's younger brother and right-hand man Huey, is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor (2002's "Dirty Pretty Things"), a British actor with an impressive American resume. "I'd worked with Chiwetel on Inside Man," says Grazer. "He played Denzel's partner in that movie, so they already had a terrific working relationship." The role of Frank's brother Turner, went to rapper Common, while rising hip-hop artist T.I. was cast as Frank's impressionable nephew Stevie. Scott, aware that these performers might not warm to the slow pace of making movies, was impressed by how they adapted to the unique demands of film work. "It seems that acting is a natural step from singing. We see some great performances from Common and T.I." Legendary actress Ruby Dee was cast as Frank's mother, Mama Lucas. The recipient of the John F. Kennedy Center Honors and Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award, Dee served as inspiration to many of those on set. For the Harlem native who'd lived in an apartment building on 137th Street and 7th Avenue, revisiting the world of her youth proved helpful insight for all with whom she worked. Ruby recalled how, "People who looked like Denzel would come to the door in twos or threes, and they would give you a greeting and hand you a shopping bag. In there would be a turkey at Thanksgiving; at Christmas there would be toys." Oscar ® winner Cuba Gooding Jr (Best Supporting Actor "Jerry Maguire") was cast to play Lucas' major rival in the heroin trade, Nicky Barnes. "These cats were looked upon as the true celebrities. Today we have sports celebrities like the Mets and the Yankees or actors, but back then you had the drug dealers. They were the ones that were directly connected to the inner city and the people," Goddings Jr notes. EMMY Award winner Armand Assante plays Mafia boss, Dominic Cattano. "Cattano is a powerful man who believes that he and his business are above the law and any competition. Shaken by what he's seen in Frank Lucas, he attempts to work out a mutually beneficial relationship. After Frank declines, Cattano will not stop until he's brought down the full force of his empire upon him." Josh Brolin plays another thorn in the side of Frank, NYPD Detective Trupo. He realls a seasoned police officer candidly telling him that back in those days all you had to tell a drug dealer was, "All I have to do is shoot you, put the gun in your hand, and I'm gonna get a medal. That's it. It's that simple. Back then, there weren't a lot of drug dealers or gangsters who killed cops, that was just off-limits; you didn't do it." They were tough and dangerous times and everyone involved in "American Gangster" does a wonderful job of recreating the era. Both Crowe (who plays the philandering SIU leader Richie Roberts) and Denzel Washington (Frank Lucas) highly praised their fellow actors and actresses. Synopsis

In the early '70s, police corruption was rampant in New York City. The Vietnam War was taking a devastating toll overseas and at home. Soldiers were brought back to the U.S. either in body bags or addicted to an imported opiate called heroin, which they shared with curious experimenters who became instantly hooked. With the assistance of law enforcement, the mafia operated with relative impunity in this noncompetitive market, selling thousands of kilos of smack to addicts hungry for their product. A privileged and untouchable class of white men paid millions to New York's judges, lawyers and cops to keep quiet about this mutually beneficial relationship. La Cosa Nostra and their underlings were unbeatable. Until negro Frank Lucas took over the game. Nobody used to notice Frank, the quiet apprentice to Bumpy Johnson, one of the inner city's leading postwar black crime bosses. When his boss suddenly dies, Lucas exploits the opening and create his own version of the American success story.

The Verdict "With Sir Ridley Scott and Brian Grazer in control and actors such as Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Ruby Dee, Cuba Gooding Jr, Chiwetel Ejiofor in the cast, you'd expect "American Gangster" to be good, and it is. While there are many outstanding performances from the cast members, this is Washington's film. He has such a huge screen presence and the role is so meaty, it's hard to take your eyes off of him. Because of the 'Washington factor' Crowe's beautifully understated, down to earth performance as Det Richie Roberts will unfortunately be mostly overlooked. This stirring story, based on the life of black crime boss Frank Lucas, is a well constructed production and, even though it feels a little long, provides good value for the ticket price. Recommended. 4 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "AMERICAN GANGSTER" stars .......
Two time Academy Award ® winner Denzel Washington ["Man on Fire", "The Manchurian Candidate", "Inside Man" and "Deja Vu"]; Academy Award ® winner Russell Crowe ["The Insider", "Cinderella Man", "A Good Year" and "3:10 to Yuma"]; British Independent Film Award winner Chiwetel Ejiofor ["Four Brothers", "Kinky Boots" and "Children of Men"]; Josh Brolin ["The Mod Squad", "Hollow Man" and "Into the Blue"]; Lymari Nadal ["Thieves and Liars"]; Emmy Award winner Ruby Dee ["A Raisin in the Sun", "The Torture of Mothers" and "No. 2"]; Academy Award ® winner Cuba Gooding Jr ["Rat Race", "The Fighting Temptations" and "Norbit"] and Emmy Award winner Armand Assante ["The Mambo Kings", "Judge Dredd", "Two For The Money" and "Funny Money"] as Dominic Cattano.
"AMERICAN GANGSTER" was .......
directed by David di Donatello Award winner Ridley Scott ["Thelma & Louise", "Black Hawk Down", "Matchstick Men" and "A Good Year"]; screenplay by Steve Zaillian ["Hannibal", "Gangs Of New York" and "The Interpreter"]; art direction by Nicholas Lundy ["25th Hour", "Two For The Money" and "Two for the Money"]; costume design by Academy Award ® winner Janty Yates ["Enemy At The Gate", "Charlotte Gray" and "Miami Vice"]; production design by Art Directors Guild Excellence Award Arthur Max ["Se7en", "Panic Room" and "Kingdom of Heaven"]; edited by Two time Academy Award ® winner Pietro Scalia ["Gladiator", "Black Hawk Down" and "Memoirs of a Geisha"]; director of photography Harris Savides ["The Game", "Finding Forrester" and "Birth"]; original music by Marc Streitenfeld ["A Good Year"]. "American Gangster" was produced by Academy Award ® and Three time EMMY Award winner Brian Grazer ["A Beautiful Mind", "Intolerable Cruelty" and "Inside Man"] and EMMY Award winner Sir Ridley Scott ["G.I. Jane", "Tristan + Isolde" and "In Her Shoes"]. Who's Who?

Denzel Washington Russell Crowe Chiwetel Ejiofor Josh Brolin Lymari Nadal Ted Levine Roger Guenveur Smith John Hawkes RZA Yul Vazquez Malcolm Goodwin Ruby Dee Ruben Santiago-Hudson Carla Gugino Skyler Fortgang John Ortiz Cuba Gooding Jnr Armand Assante Kathleen Garrett Joe Morton Ritchie Coster Bari K. Willerford Idris Elba

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Frank Lucas Richie Roberts Huey Lucas Detective Trupo Eva Lou Toback Nate Freddie Spearman Moses Jones Alphonse Abruzzo Jimmy Zee Mama Lucas Doc Laurie Roberts Michael Roberts Javier J Rivera Nicky Barnes Dominic Cattano Mrs Dominic Cattano Charlie Williams Joey Sadano Joe Louis Tango

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