Word: gangsterized
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...about it most of the time. But whenever Bardem appears, something nasty starts twisting in your gut. He's about as perfect a representation of unambiguous evil as the movies have lately offered. And Brolin is his perfect foil. He's terrific as a totally twisted cop in American Gangster, but he's equally good as a totally innocent good ole boy here. All right, trying to make off with someone else's ill-gotten gains is maybe not entirely smart or entirely moral. But there's something pure and sweet about the young man, too, and a certain surprising...
...recent years, analysts say, it has fragmented into a network of distinct organizations. Some are little more than gangster outfits - running protection rackets in the slums and collecting "taxes" from buses - while others have political programs or continue as a shadowy religious order. They are bound together by a secret oath often taken under duress. One former adherent said it was designed to humiliate the recruit and ensure his silence. "You are forced to eat some meat - you don't know what, maybe it is human meat - and all the time they are beating you," he said...
Thus, perhaps ironically, American Gangster, Steve represents an improvement on gangster myth. In truth, crime kingpins tend to lead long lives, interrupted by a little jail time (Frank's life sentence was commuted to 15 years). It is also improved by the fact that Crowe's bumptious character comes to enjoy the man's company, even becoming his attorney when he leaves law enforcement. It's the old Dostoyevskian bit about cop and crook being brothers under the skin. In the film, the only truly loathsome villain is a crooked cop, Detective Trupo, played with wonderful brutality by Josh Brolin...
Warshow observed that the classic gangster dramas punished their protagonists not so much for their unlawful activities, but because they dared to succeed. He implied that we may seemingly worship success in this country, but that we also deplore and envy it - since most of us never attain it. But that was then, and this is now. Our love affair with wealth and fame is now untrammeled by doubts. It is our big good thing, and eventually Crowe's character, like the rest of us, must surrender to its cheerful demands. That makes American Gangster, which is rather leisurely paced...
...which famous cinematic mobster: (1) Vito Corleone (2) Frank Costello or (3) Frank Lucas?Wait, Frank Lucas who? That seems to be the question of most members of the New York City Police Department in Ridley Scott’s new big-budget biopic, “American Gangster.” Starring audience and Academy darlings Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, the film follows the rise of Harlem gangster Frank Lucas (Washington), who became one of the most successful drug lords of the late ’60s early ’70s by cutting out the middlemen...