Hoodlum (1997)

So much average

How sad is this?

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Bumpy Johnson (Laurence Fishburne) is a gang leader of 1930's Harlem whose successful 'Numbers' racket attracts ruthless Dutch Schultz (Tim Roth) from downtown. Meanwhile gangland boss Lucky Luciano (Andy Garcia) try to negotiate his way in. Bumpy refuses to give in, and violence ensues.Director Bill Duke is attempting a grand gangster movie, but really don't have the skills of a master filmmaker to pull it off. The pace is ponderous. And even the action is unenergetic. There are a lot of great actors, but there are also some distracting overacting. Laurence Fishburne is great, and Tim Roth is wonderful as a bad guy. But I wouldn't recommend this even with these great actors.

This is a movie set in the 1930's in Harlem. It is the height of the depression and a Negro, Bumpy Johnson, has just been released from gaol. He returns to find that the Queen's gambling racket is being threatened by a white man from downtown. Everybody in Harlem is happy with the way things are - people play the numbers game and win enough to put food on the table. But numbers is a very big business and the mafia wants a piece of it. The mafia boss of the time, Lucky Lucino, is content to let it go, but one of his underlings wants a piece of the action and soon a gang war breaks out.This is the typical inter-war style movie with corrupt cops and politicians and crime running rife. The prohibition years are over, but people are making money now by other rackets, and the American system of brutal monopoly is leaving blood on the streets and the corrupt politicians are supporting those who have the most money. It is a time of lawlessness and strife, and in a way we should feel glad we don't live there. Another thing about the time is that the Negro is still very much in the underclass and there is a lot of prejudice and tension between the races.The major theme here is how power corrupts. The Queen is taken to gaol and she gives Bumpy the business to run. Bumpy is a very intelligent man, but he is also very stubborn. He refuses to give into the non-Negros and will continue to fight until one is dead. Unfortunately his stubbornness brings about the death of many innocent people. During this time, his girlfriend walks out on him, and his cousin begins to disown him, yet he refuses to give in because he believes he is right.This movie really looks at the tragedy of this, but it is not that tragic because Bumpy soon sees how he has changed and will begin to change before it is too late. But then with the death of his cousin, one can argue it is too late. His girlfriend has left, and chastises him for being so stubborn that he refuses to step into a church to pay respects for one of the dead. He finally steps into a church to pay respect to his cousin, and then walks straight out. As such we see the beginning of a change, but we don't follow through with it. The problems have been solved, and Harlem has its autonomy - what happens to Bumpy in the future is for the future.

Bill Duke has made some great movies like Sister Act 2, Deep Cover, A Rage In Harlem etc and I'd like to see more movies from him. But I also understand that before that happens you will see more films from Uwe Boll and Quentin Tarantino(the most overrated director in the world!). This movie might not have won any awards or gotten praise by these high brow snobs and the trend-following puppets that run amok on IMDb but its still an excellent piece of work directed by Bill Duke(who stared in Commando, Predator, Exit Wounds, National Security and Busta Rhymes' Dangerous video) with excellent performances from an all-star cast.Set in the Depression Era of 1930s Harlem, The only way people could make money was through the "Numbers racket which is ran by Stephanie St. Clair(Cicely Tyson) also known as " The Queen". An arrogant and brash gangster called Dutch Schultz wants to take control of the numbers game and ends up bumping heads with Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson(Laurence Fishburne) who is just released from jail. These two get into a series of wars and everything starts to get out of control. Laurence Fishburne as well as Tim Roth were great in this film. Andy Garcia played it mellow as Lucky Luciano but he was better here than he was in 8 Million Ways To Die. There are also some solid performances here by Cicely Tyson, Loretta Devine, Chi Mcbride(Illinois) and Vanessa Williams(Bumpy's love interest). As far as complaints I have none. Hoodlum is well written and well acted. It pays homage to gangsters but doesn't glorify them. I tip my hat of to Bill Duke for this one. Two thumbs up as high up as they can go.

This became one of my favorite gangster films when I first saw it, and watching it yet again after viewing very dissimilar projects like the Martin Landau Joe Bonnano biography or the "Valachi Papers", the "Godfather" or "Scarface" (both versions), "The Untouchables" (either version) or "Public Enemy", I've become pretty well convinced that this is the 'ultimate' gangster film, perhaps the only film that can compete with Scorsese's "Goodfellas" for the claim to be the best and most representative film of the genre.What makes that especially interesting to me is that "Goodfellas" works by being almost obsessively realistic about organized crime - it is too much of a 'real life' to dismiss as pure psychopathology, yet clearly not enough of a living to want to throw one's self into it after learning something of its gritty details (such as the lack of any retirement other than a grave or a prison cell)."Hoodlum", on the other hand, is the quintessential Hollywood genre film - more the legend than the fact, but hoping the legend can make the case better than the fact. The central protagonist presents just the right balance of determination, ruthless violence, and moral ambiguity, including a softer side or undeniable richness and complexity. The heroes and villains are clearly defined; the justification for the heroes to find themselves on the 'wrong side of the law' is unarguable. The gangster film has long been a genre in which Americans could work through their worst fears of living in a nation of many ethnicities; it just makes sense that the perfect gangster film would be about African Americans - the one ethnic group that is still denied total participation in our culture.The period detail is excellent and the direction is solidly professional; so is the acting; in fact that is a major point in favor of this film, and all such films, that all the participants approach their work with as careful and as a skilled a professionalism as possible. They were clearly determined right from the start to make a good movie, and they did. Surprisingly, very few Hollywood films are made with this attitude, since it's assumed there that most audiences don't care. well this audience member certainly cares, and I both admire and respect the professional when it appears.Beyond the richness of its issues, the film is also very entertaining. Yes, it is violent; it is also humorous, romantic, dramatic, and even, at times, philosophical. Much like "The Godfather" (which is a bit over-long to my taste), "hoodlum" is a 'complete package' gangster film that will leave you with a sense of having experienced life a little deeper than if you hadn't seen it.