Not Quite 'Scarface' - But Intense !!!!
It's in Denzel Washington's eyes throughout Ridley Scott's 'American Gangster' (UNRATED), that derives a mesmerizing slice of Urban Historical Grit. Based Upon a True Story; Washington is playing Frank Lucas, a Real-Life Crime Boss who for a period lasting from the late 1960s into the following decade ran Manhattan "From 110th to 155th, River to River."
A slick character who doesn't need to strut his worth on the streets, Lucas hates flash like a junkie hates rehab; reminding him of all he truly is but doesn't want to be. Facing off against him is New Jersey Narc Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), a womanizing tough guy with a short fuse but a heart of gold. In a Big-City Police Department in the 1970s, boy scout behavior like his could just get you killed — a guy not on the take is seen as the guy who could very well "sell you down the river" when the Grand Jury comes sniffing around.
Scott has a powerhouse going here, tossing these two Hollywood Heavyweights into the ring and letting them play Cops and Robbers; while he slathers on the period detail with a trowel.
Phenominal character actors flood the scenes as well; adding to the cinematic foreplay; (Idris Elba, Jon Polito, Kevin Corrigan, an incredibly sleazy Josh Brolin, and so on). With the specter of Vietnam playing on every television in sight; the Era of 70's plays hard while we also wrap-up in the odd enjoyment one gets from watching Police in the Pre-Militarized, Pre-SWAT days take down apartments with just revolvers, the occasional shotgun, and a sledgehammer to smash down the doors.
Scott's smart enough to let the story cohere organically; without rush, keeping his main contenders apart for as long as possible; creating fully developed characters in their own right and not just developed in opposition to the other.
The film is evenly divided between the Cop's and the Robber's Stories as they come arcing toward each other; but clearly stays the tale of Frank Lucas (the movie's not called 'American Narcotics Detective'), and as one of the most notorious and fascinating Gangsters in American History, Denzel delivers.
Lucas was a country boy from the Carolinas who came up to New York and worked as driver and bodyguard for revered and feared Harlem Crime Lord Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, one of the last of the Great Underworld Bosses. Bumpy taught Lucas everything he knew, so that when he died of a heart attack in 1968, Lucas was ready to take the reins. He almost immediately upset the Mafia, who supplied drugs to "Bumpy", by importing Heroin of unheard purity straight from Southeast Asia and selling it for cheaper than the competition, ultimately doing the criminally unthinkable by becoming the Mafia's supplier.
It's an astoundingly gutsy move, particularly given the array of Corruption and Mafia that arrayed against him, but Denzel's got Lucas' grim determination down cold, and the whole paradigm-shifting event (which included secretly importing the Heroin in the coffins of Dead American Soldiers from Vietnam), an act so perverse, it's hard to swallow.
Crowe is able to play the conflicted hard-case hero with superb élan until he's dragged off the stage. But Denzel has a cold steeliness in his expression that rarely wavers.
While 'Scarface' still holds the American Cinema captive as "Classic"; 'American Gangster' is the next closest thing to it's success; but can't quite reach 'Scarface's' overrall impact. Could anything, though?
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