Gangster glory

Ridley Scott film makes killer a symbol of black progress | Megan Basham

"People are focusing on some of the wrong things when it comes to Frank," the real Richard Roberts, the cop-turned-lawyer phenomenally portrayed by Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's new movie, American Gangster, told The New York Times. "These guys are killers, not to be admired."

Scott acknowledges the killer aspect to the story of Frank Lucas (another Oscar-worthy performance from Denzel Washington), the drug kingpin who ruled Harlem in the mid-1970s with his potent brand of heroin, "Blue Magic." He portrays Lucas committing brutal murder and includes several overdose scenes that show the results of dealing syndicates on the drug-addicted masses. But he doesn't seem to agree that Lucas is not a man to be admired. Through both Washington's dialogue and the racist attitudes of the authorities, Scott not only confers upon Lucas all the glamor typical of this genre, but he also makes him a symbol of black progress.

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November 17, 2007, Vol. 22, No. 42

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