didn't see a thread about this entry in the "ethnic organized crime" discussions.


OK.. Let's list the more well known Hollywood treatments.....



NEW JACK CITY



HOODLUM




AMERICAN GANGSTER




BLACK CAESAR




I never grouped most of the films from the early 70s era as real gangster movies because most of them were just cheaply and roughly produced..the so called blaxploitation era. Have been able to find some diamonds in the rough from that era and discovered some decent films(for dirt cheap).

Oddly enough, after Boyz In the Hood came out, a slew of neo-blaxploitation "hood" films came out, and I'm avoiding most of the films from that era also.



I'd like to know what your top 5 or classic 5 entries would be in a list of organized crime films with Black characters. And whether you've seen the 4 that are listed.

"Mr. Untouchable" documentary about, and starring Leroy Nicky Barnes.......is actually pretty good.

Came out around the same time that American Gangster came out.

I've seen all of those that you listed.

I think Hoodlum was the best of the bunch.

Others that were worthwhile include Sugar Hill, Blue Hill Avenue, Paid in Full (this was based on a true story and starred Wood Harris from The Wire), and Belly.

I enjoy sugar hill now that I'm older....very well acted...it wasn't as violent or stylish as NJC and when I was it as a youngster that's what I was expecting.


Blue Hill was decent...a bigger budget would have made it more watchable (I get a laugh out of how creatively the director hides the fact that the lead actor, Payne aka G Money from NJC, is much shorter than his female co-star...if you have low budget..gotta have excellent overall acting and BH's cast was hit or miss


Paid In Full, indeed much better film than what it's lumped in with. ....it's viewed as a typical hood movie but the production values and acting really distinguishes it. I saw a rough cut of the film before it came out.....they didn't get permission to use the music they intended, and that hurt the film.....the Canadian extras and minor characters dimmed the authenticity also....not bad. The book by Azie is very good.



Belly was very well shot flick, but terrible acting by everybody except 3 characters ruined this flick. film was also too blatantly derivative of classic gangster films. I counted 6-7 scenes lifted verbatim from other films.

Whats about Clockers and Dead Presidents?

My personal favorites are these:

1. American Gangster (although highly fictional)
2. Menace II Society
3. Clockers
4. Boys n the Hood
5. Dead Presidents

Both Clockers and DP were good films,SB.
I don't consider them to be gangster films per se, though.I think of gangster films as those depicting organized crime. cosa nostra yakuza triad westies south american cartel or some sort of organization




some of the urban flicks involve criminal characters and gunplay but aren't about organizations with any hierarchy or pecking order.

Well that's a problem because traditionally, African Americans are not members of this organized families.

As far as "Black Gangster Films", I really enjoyed Menace 2 Society and Dead Presidents! My favorite however is Boyz n the Hood. Such a fantastic film and has one of the most powerful conclusions of any film I've ever seen. Both Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ice Cube put on truly memorable performances.

The thing is...and it part of the reason why the film Hoodlum stands out...policy...the numbers...was one of the stable (technically)criminal enterprises that Blacks ran.

Some big names, such as the West Indian woman referenced in Hoodlum had criminal organizations that had chain of command,etc


the way the story goes....in NYC... the Jewish and Italian mobsters weren't aware of just how lucrative the "Negro" pennies of policy were...and when they found they tried to muscle in.


I read a book or 2 about ethnic mobs in America...and in NY (nicky barnes and company) there was an organization patterned after the mob.....
Philly had the Junior Black Mafia......a criminal offshoot of one of the Black power groups out there



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I love Boyz in the Hood but I think it's inaccurately labeled a gangster movie... it's implied that the guys who kill Ricky are blood gang members but that's about it.

"Hoodlum," "Sugar Hill" and "Across 110th Street" are probably my three favorites.

pizza,

I had forgotten about 110th,

I have the vhs tape....really gritty NYC 70s movie....captures the time and era well.........have to get hands on a dvd of that...

Anthony Quinn was great, that much I remember...

Great movie, Gets. Yaphet Kotto, who would later play FBI Agent Alonzo Mosely (and DeNiro foil) in "Midnight Run," was brilliant.

Pizza,

True,

one of the all time great film taglines/posters also

That's a CLASSIC poster!!!!

Anthony Quin is one of my favorite oldtimers. He also played a magnificant role in Lawrence of Arabia. Very charismatic guy.

one of the common threads in a lot of these films?

the criminally under rated actor Clarence Williams III

Hoodlum,Sugar Hill, American Gangster, Blue Hill Avenue...(Deep Cover, if you want to include that....film did involve south american drug cartel)

"The Mod Squad," baby!

Williams had a terrific guest appearance on "Law and Order" a couple of years ago. He played an Al Sharpton like activist charged in a racially fueled murder.

He plays a wide range of ethnicities (convincingly)too.

I used to read Donald Goines books as a kid (really)..so I was happy to see Never Die Alone make it to the big screen.


DMX could have used some more acting lessons, but I think overall the film was good. It was strict in following the story from the book.

and Clifton Powell, the actor who played the kingpin, is the very best at portraying bosses and crime lords.

In American Gangster, why did the Don played by Armand Assante escape prosecution?

He didn't, Oli. That character (Dominic Cattano) was based on Carmine Tramunti, who was the one time boss of the Lucchese Family. He got 15 years and died in jail. Remember in "Goodfellas" when Paulie tells Henry "I ain't gonna get fucked like Gribbs." Gribbs was Tramunti's nickname, and he was really convicted for shaking hands with someone in a restaurant.

Altough it is mentioned in American gangster that Armand Assante's character is the boss of the Lucchese family, he is completely fictitious. He is portrayed as a sort of top boss in the New York underworld, while Tramunti wasn't. For that reason he is more likely based on Carlo Gambino. He also lives in a very similar home as that of Paul Castellano. I don't think the makers of this movie spent much time doing research. As far as I know Frank Lucas did business with the Gambino's and Genovese's (especially Anthony Salerno).

So I think Armand Assante's character is a composition of various gangsters, including Vito and Michael Corleone as the film clearly copied the style of The Godfather. But nevertheless it's a very good movie though.

I think the films have to create composite characters. Otherwise the script is limited to the true life details of who did what.


AA was much more believable as a "sophisticated" gangster than he was playing Gotti. In fact, I think the part in AG was tailor made (pun) for him.


I've read accounts ( by Bumpy Johnson's widow and from contemporary Nicky Barnes) that claim that elements of the story of FL were made up.


Can anyone shed light on what Lucas' involvement with the mafia( if any) were?

Well, I guess what I was asking is how, since Frank started cooperating, the Don was able to escape? With all surveillance et al that Frank was under, wouldn't his relationship with the Don be discovered?

You can find much information in this article:

http://nymag.com/nymag/features/3649/

And here:

http://www.globalpolitician.com/25325-american-gangster-courts-laws

“The raiding party was acting on a tip from two Gambino crime family soldiers who are arrested on drug trafficking charges. The soldiers revealed that one of their biggest customers for heroin was a prominent and flamboyant Black drug dealer named Frank Lucas, who liked to call himself “Superfly.”

Creative license, no doubt. Tramunti never approached a "Boss of Bosses" type of power. But the fact remains that the only Lucchese heavyweight convicted relative to the "French Connection" case was Tramunti. The character is more than likely a composite of several guys, not even necessarily bosses. But who knows for sure?

Lucas' account should be taken with a grain of salt, though. Like any other criminal who got his story published or made into a film (Henry Hill, et al.), there's going to be an expected amount of self-aggrandizement. "American Gangster" was a pretty good film, though. If "The Departed" didn't clean up just a year before, it may have even gotten some Oscar recognition. But they weren't going to vote "gangster" two years in a row.

Very convincingly! Greek, Italian, Mexican Jew, Indian, Middle Easterner, Chinese.....

Zorba (Zorba The Greek) A Greek
Aienello Dellacroce (Gotti) An Italian
Omar Mukhtar (Lion of the Desert) A middle easterner
Joe The Boss Masseria (Mobsters) An Italian
Santiago (The Old Man & The Sea) A Spaniard
Caiaphas (Jesus Of Nazareth) A Jewish High Priest
Kublai Khan (Marco the Magnificent) A Chinese Emperor
Indian (The Plainsman)
Mexican (Viva Zapata)

It's been awhile since I've seen Gangster. So, regardless of what happened in real life, Lucas didn't supply any or sufficient info regarding Assante's Don to sustain his prosecution even though that Don's picture was near the top of Richie's board?

Thanks Sonny. I watched the TV series American Gangster that first aired on BET..they had an episode about Frank that I watched and taped but I got a bit confused after watching the movie.

appreciate the links

Yeah, Lucas' recollections seem to be a bit sketchy and revisionist, Oli. I enjoyed the film, but I would have appreciated an ending similar to "Goodfellas," with a detailed written postscript during the credits. As it stands, the ending was a little sloppy. But there are several books on the subject, if you're really that interested.

It just seems that since the Don was on Richie's radar once he began to focus on Frank that at least the Don could have been arrested.