Poster © Universal Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreBiography, Crime & Drama
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 37 mins
ReleasedNovember 2, 2007
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorRidley Scott
StarringRussell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Chiwetel Ejiofor
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American Gangster (2007)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| American Gangster's Details | |
| Genre | Biography, Crime & Drama |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 10/19/2007 (Apollo Theater); 11/02/2007 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 37 mins |
| Budget | $100M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | "The Return of Superfly" by Mark Jacobson |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| American Gangster's Interests | |
| General | Tailored suits, Harlem storefronts, family Thanksgiving dinners, Newark precincts, law school night classes. |
| Music | Marc Streitenfeld, plus plenty of classic soul from the era. |
| Movies | Serpico (1973). Another honest cop nobody on the force wants to back up. |
| Television | Godfather of Harlem. Bumpy Johnson finally gets his own show. |
| Heroes | Richie Roberts. Turned in a fortune that was not his, and paid for it at work. |
| American Gangster's Crew | |
| Director | Ridley Scott |
| Writers | Steven Zaillian |
| Producers | Ridley Scott, Brian Grazer |
| Cinematography | Harris Savides |
| Music | Marc Streitenfeld |
| Edited By | Pietro Scalia |
| Production | Imagine Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, Relativity Media |
| Distributed By | Universal Pictures |
Ridley Scott stapled two movies together here, and only one of them is the reason you pressed play. Movie one is Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, calm as a church usher, building a Harlem empire by cutting out every middleman like he’s running a supply chain seminar. Movie two is Russell Crowe as the one honest cop in New Jersey, juggling night classes, a custody fight and a squad that looks like it was assembled from a lost and found. Crowe is good. Denzel is magnetic. The problem is 157 minutes where the two of them barely share a scene. The Muhammad Ali fight, where one flashy coat blows a quiet man’s whole cover, is the sharpest idea in the film: in this world, the loud guys get caught. It made $269.8 million worldwide on a reported $100M, and 495,468 IMDb ratings average a 7.8. A 7.6 because Denzel’s half plays like a 9 and Crowe’s half keeps clocking in late. $27 says you start judging everyone’s coat by how much attention it would draw from the cops.
What works: Denzel Washington’s calm menace as Frank Lucas, and the Ali fight scene that shows how one loud choice can sink a careful man.
What doesn’t: At 157 minutes it drags through Crowe’s home life, and the two leads barely share a scene for most of it.
Who it’s for: Crime saga fans who like a long build and want to watch Denzel run a room without raising his voice.
Spoilers
Richie finally arrests Frank, and instead of a showdown the two men team up: Frank’s testimony helps take down a ring of corrupt cops. Frank’s sentence gets cut short, and he walks out of prison into a very different Harlem.
Harlem, the late 1960s. For years Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) has been the quiet driver and right-hand man to crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Clarence Williams III). When Bumpy's era ends, Frank takes the empty seat at the top, cutting out every middleman to ship drugs straight from Southeast Asia under one brand name. In New Jersey, detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is the cop nobody trusts, because he turned in almost a million dollars he found instead of keeping it. So naturally he gets a new narcotics squad to run. Ridley Scott directs, based on a true story. One hundred fifty-seven minutes, two men, one city.
Anyone who loves a slow-burn, cat-and-mouse story. Honest cops especially.
| Russell Crowe | Richie Roberts |
| Denzel Washington | Frank Lucas |
| Josh Brolin | Detective Nick Trupo |
| Chiwetel Ejiofor | Huey Lucas |
| Ruby Dee | Mahalee Lucas |
| Lymari Nadal | Eva |
| Armand Assante | Dominic Cattano |
| Carla Gugino | Laurie Roberts |
| Cuba Gooding Jr. | Nicky Barnes |
| Ted Levine | Lou Toback |
| Idris Elba | Tango |
| John Hawkes | Freddie Spearman |
| John Ortiz | Javier J. Rivera |
| RZA | Moses Jones |
| Roger Guenveur Smith | Nate |
| Yul Vazquez | Alfonse Abruzzo |
| Joe Morton | Charlie Williams |
| Common | Turner Lucas |
| Tip Harris | Stevie Lucas |
| Ritchie Coster | Joey Sadano |
| Jon Polito | Rossi |
| Kevin Corrigan | Campizi |
| Malcolm Goodwin | Jimmy Zee |
| Ric Young | Khun Sa |