American Gangster
2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition
By
Victoria Alexander
FilmsInReview.com

How accurate was the movie "American Gangster" starring Denzel Washington as Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas and Russell Crowe as his nemesis Richie Roberts?

Frank Lucas told BET.com that "American Gangster" was ""85 percent accurate," and had nothing but praise for Washington's performance: "Could you get any better than Denzel Washington? I think he has an excellent chance of winning Oscar for playing me. Besides, look what he had to work with!"

It didn't take long for people who actually were involved with Lucas to speak up.

Judge Sterling Johnson Jr., who as special narcotics prosecutor was instrumental in Lucas' arrest and trial, had this to say: "The picture is 1 percent reality and 99 percent Hollywood." Johnson further said: "Frank was illiterate, Frank was vicious, violent. Frank was everything Denzel Washington was not."

In the film, New Jersey police detective Richard "Richie" Roberts is elevated to Lucas' primary hunter. Though Roberts, now a defense attorney, did play a role in the prosecution of Lucas, on screen he's a composite of many detectives and prosecutors. Roberts admitted that some of the other detectives were upset over the lack of screen time that their counterparts received in the movie.

Roberts (now an attorney) told the New York Post, "The parts in the movie that depict Frank as a family man are ludicrous. They did it for dramatic purposes, you know, to make him look good and me look bad." Roberts called the "American Gangster" scene that shows drug kingpin Frank Lucas holding hands with his family during a Thanksgiving prayer "sickening."

Were there other fabrications? Absolutely! Detective Roberts was never in a nasty custody battle with is first wife. In reality, he and his first wife never had a child together. Ritchie has said that the movie's depiction of his relationship with his first wife is offensive.

And finally, several former Drug Enforcement Agents who investigated Lucas filed a class-action lawsuit against General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal claiming the film defames them and grossly misrepresents the truth.

So now that we know all this, did Frank Lucas really put Southeast Asia heroin in the caskets of dead soldiers during the Vietnam War?
Apparently, that's the movie's biggest myth!

"American Gangster", which was supposed to be based on "a true story", is the story of 70s-era drug lord Frank Lucas' rise to infamy in the Harlem drug trade.

Frank Lucas is almost a hero, since he is shown as a dope dealer-turned-reformer as he exposes legions of corrupt police. He's also the sexiest, best dressed man in Harlem. When Lucas becomes a powerful drug lord, he is hunted by Roberts, a mess of a man. He becomes infamous when he busts some guys with a million dollars in the trunk of their car and turns it in.

While Roberts goes through a contentious divorce and is seen with suspicion by his fellow cops for turning in the money, Lucas is shown as a loving family man. He gives his five younger brothers jobs and presents his poor mother with a huge white mansion. The film takes an improbable turn as a dirty cop, Det. Trupo (Josh Brolin), demands his cut from Lucas' profits.

While Washington plays Lucas like a matinee idol in the style of Rhett Butler, Crowe is greatly shortchanged. After teaming with director Ridley Scott for "Gladiator," these two made the terrible, unbearable to watch, "A Good Year." "American Gangster" does nothing to return these two to their "Gladiator" magic. Let's hope Scott's fourth film with Crowe, "Nottingham," highlights Crowe's skills as a charismatic actor.

However, it is Josh Brolin who really shines and nearly steals the movie away from Washington and Crowe. He is really terrific and very committed to being an evil guy.

Finally, Richie raids Frank's factory and in the "Heat" tradition of Al Pacino sitting down in a diner for coffee with Robert De Niro, the two stars meet face-to-face for their showdown.

For a complete evaluation of Lucas, and to judge for yourself, the "2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition" is the way to go.
The 2-Disc DVD includes has some extravagant extras: There is 18 minutes of never-before-seen footage, an alternate ending, deleted scenes, alternate opening, three "Behind-the-Scenes" segments, "The Making of" and five other featurettes.

"American Gangster" comes to DVD in several different editions, including a "2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition." This edition features not only the theatrical version of the film (which has a commentary with Scott and writer Steven Zaillian), but also the extended version; deleted scenes; a full-length making-of documentary; and other documentaries that examine how the production came together, the research involved in it (including interviews with Roberts and Lucas), and the moment in New York's history that the film examines. This is the DVD that I watched.

Disc Specs and Credits
Format Reviewed: HD DVD
Video: N/A
Disc Size: N/A
Aspect Ratio: 1080p, 1.85:1
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus 5.1
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding Jr., Josh Brolin, Ted Levine, Armand Assante, John Ortiz, John Hawkes, RZA, Common, Ruby Dee
Studio: Universal Studios
Release Date: February 19, 2008
Rating: R
Retail: $39.98