American Business Gangster

Wow! What a movie. What wonderful acting. American Gangster is all it's hyped up to be. The story of Frank Lucas, infamous Harlem drug lord of the late 60s-early 70s and the detective out to get him. Denzel Washington as Lucas and Russel Crowe as the detective, Richie Roberts, are nothing short of magnificent. Add Josh Brolin as a sleazy NYC detective and Ruby Dee as Lucas's mother. What a cast.

The contrast between Lucas and Roberts is what gives the movie its tension. They are in very few scenes together until the end. Some reviewers have used that to lower their rating of the movie. I found it worked quite well. They circle closer and closer to each other, bridged by Brolin's character. The paradoxical differences work- Lucas is the successful American businessman well-dressed and socially conservative. So what if he is selling heroin smuggled into the country in coffins from Vietnam? Roberts is an honest cop whose personal life is out of control. Not an upstanding citizen in that arena.

The movie delves beneath the surface and, with the Vietnam-era TV clips in the background can be seen as making a comment on today. But it is just fine movie making.