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Amerikan Gangsteri

American Gangster

Movie · 2007 · 15 people

Ridley Scott directed and produced American Gangster, a 2007 American crime drama built on a true story. Working loosely from the criminal career of Frank Lucas, Steven Zaillian's script follows a man who brought heroin into the US during the Vietnam War by hiding it on American military planes flying home from Vietnam. Denzel Washington plays Lucas and Russell Crowe plays Newark detective Richie Roberts.

The story follows Lucas after the death of his boss and mentor Bumpy Johnson, as he pushes himself forward in Harlem's heroin trade. Buying directly from the source, he sells a better, cheaper product and works with the New York mafia. Against him stands an honest narcotics cop. The cast also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Cuba Gooding Jr., Ruby Dee and RZA.

The project began in 2000 with the purchase of a New York magazine article; it was shelved in 2004 and revived in 2005 with Scott directing. Filming ran from July to December 2006, in New York City and Thailand. The film premiered in New York on October 20, 2007, opened in the US on November 2 and grossed over $266 million worldwide. It earned two Oscar nominations, for Art Direction and for Ruby Dee as Best Supporting Actress. Lucas and Roberts said it took great liberties, and three former DEA agents sued Universal.

DirectorRidley Scott
Production companyImagine Entertainment

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Cast

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Russell Crowe Russell Crowe Actor · 62 years old Idris Elba Idris Elba Actor · 54 years old Chiwetel Ejiofor Josh Brolin Cuba Gooding Jr. John Ortiz Common Ruby Dee John Hawkes Ted Levine Armand Assante KaDee Strickland Roger Guenveur Smith RZA Norman Reedus

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Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Ridley Scott runs two classic figures of crime cinema side by side: a rising drug lord and the honest cop on his trail. The contrast between the two strands is the film's real source of tension. Steven Zaillian's script tells Lucas's move of bringing the product straight from the source, cheaper and purer than what is on the street, almost like an entrepreneurship story, which gives the gangster film an interesting and unsettling angle. The problem is length: the film is long, and the time spent balancing the two strands weighs the story down in places. The Oscar nomination for art direction rightly credits the work that went into rebuilding the New York of the period.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film sets the Harlem of the Vietnam War years against a background that shows how the war became entangled with the drug trade. Heroin being smuggled into the country on American military planes returning from Southeast Asia is a striking detail that sums up the rot of an era on its own. But some caution is needed: the script is only loosely based on real events; Lucas and Roberts said the film took wide liberties with the story, and three former DEA agents sued Universal. So this is not a historical record but an interpretation built on a real criminal career. For anyone interested in how a neighbourhood-scale crime economy relates to the Mafia and the police, it is still thought-provoking.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

A strong cast and a solid cat-and-mouse game for crime fans, but don't expect fast action. This is more a drama about a drug empire being built step by step and the patience of the cop tracking it. In my view the tension builds slowly and the film runs long, so anyone who cares about pace may need patience. If you like chess more than chases, it is for you.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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