Hoodlum (1997)

Here we have a film that feels like a lot of the "black" films, like the oust anding "soldier's story", trying to work in a little 'inside' humor. The story itself is a great one, it was the downfall of the reviled Schultz when he muscled in on the numbers racket.Tim Roth almost gets to Oscar territory in this movie. Absolutely spectacular. Andy Garcia, ditto BIG time. Fishburnes part is very stolid and one dimensional as maybe the real Bumpy was but nevertheless he delivers.A so so supporting cast, a weak script - except for Roth's lines - and Scorcese-oid attempts at certain setups and shots hose it down quite a bit for me. Funny story, I originally rented "Mobsters" by mistake and found that film pretty awful, this one was much better.Bad direction at times, but mostly watchable with good continuity. Queen Latifa, Vanessa Williams and - CICELY TYSON!!! - all are absolutely superb. Latifa is actually one of my favorite actresses, she really shines with what they give her.I would recommend it, historical inaccuracies aside (and there are MANY) because its an interesting story set at a time when the mob was finding new ways to make money after prohibition.Interesting tidbit for real history buffs: Ed O'Casey plays Bo Weinberg, shown here as a fat pickle munching sideman who gets shot. In real life, 'twas the Dutchman himself, legend has it, who beat Bo unconscious, stuck his feet in cement and, still living, tossed him in the Hudson river. Dutch Schultz was psychopath enough to do it, that's for sure.

Overlong but riveting, highly visceral mob movie with a difference, as it shows the rise to prominence of "Bumpy" Johnson (Laurence Fishburne). Johnson, fresh from a stint in prison, goes to work for successful Harlem numbers racketeer Stephanie St. Clair (Cicely Tyson), then takes over the operation when she is sent to prison. His approach, unsurprisingly, is much different and more proactive than hers, which comes in handy when they are forced to deal with the activities of Arthur Flegenheimer, a.k.a. "Dutch Schultz" (Tim Roth), a pathologically greedy, flamboyantly nasty creep just full of swagger.Fishburne commands the screen with his calm and cool performance as Bumpy. His Bumpy is a man never caught off guard, a man with his own philosophy and way of life that prevents him from wanting to enter churches. His love story in this fictionalization is Francine Hughes, played by the lovely Vanessa L. Williams, who adds a great deal of humanity to the scenario as she tries to distance herself from Bumpys' actions; even when she is clearly acting in self defense as she shoots a would be assassin, she feels very uneasy about it.Andy Garcia is merely passable as mob boss of the day "Lucky" Luciano, but there are plenty of other despicable antagonists to raise the ire of the audience. Richard Bradford plays a corrupt police captain, calling to mind his role in "The Untouchables", except that here his character is a racist as well. William Atherton plays real life attorney Thomas Dewey, who is portrayed as being just as crooked as anyone in this tale. The radiant Tyson shines in her limited screen time. Chi McBride supplies both comedy relief and a level of heart as Bumpys' cousin "Illinois" Gordon, and Loretta Devine is likable as his lady friend. Queen Latifah isn't given much to do in her small supporting role. Some very fine character actors dot the landscape: Clarence Williams III, real life brothers Mike and Beau Starr, Paul Benjamin, Joe Guzaldo, Ed O'Ross, J.W. Smith, Eddie Bo Smith Jr., and John Toles-Bey. Roth tends to steal the show, although there's nothing subtle about his performance or the way that Schultz is written.On the technical side, some reasonably good period recreation is done, Bill Duke directs with style, and there's a lovely score by Elmer Bernstein as well as a few musical numbers."Hoodlum" is decent entertainment, but that's what it is: entertainment. It's only loosely based on the real stories of the real life people involved, so it isn't to be mistaken for a history lesson.Seven out of 10.

You people are nuts! This is just atrocious film wrecking. The script reminded me of a mad libs where instead of a noun, they just wrote curse words and racial slurs. It felt like the creators were aiming at entertaining the homeless insane demographic instead of intelligent individuals who wouldn't see straight through this malarky. But I have a story with this film that made it worth seeing. There was 7 people in the theater when we stumbled into this car wreck of a movie, my three friends, two other guys a few seats down and an African American couple in front of us. I was so offended by this film's utter lack of cohesive character plot, goals and motivations, creativity, etc., that my friends and I debated with the strangers next to us in the theater whether we should just leave and play area 51, a game we loathed! I was actually worried that because I was white, maybe the couple in front of us would think we were a bunch of racist jerks for leaving half way through, because it seemed to be really pretending that it was a powerful Black statement. Then the AA couple started laughing every time Larry Fishbourne said "N***** pennies" and we stayed. Two thirds in, all 7 of us turned it into a MST3K episode. We were laughing at every other line, inserting show tunes at inappropriate moments and would loudly boo and call the actors names any time the pennies were mentioned. I never would have done this had the AA dude not started throwing Junior Mints at the screen. All in all, terribly wooden acting, eerily clean set design for the 30's, bizarre and frustratingly convoluted plot and lame ass action. But hilarious theater experience.

I had this movie on homemade VHS for a while and just received the DVD.Mesmerizing!!! Beautifully Filmed! Hats off to Bill Duke - another very distinguished African-American director!! Once you get past the fact that the movie is FILLED with phenomenal performances from the likes of Laurence Fishburne, Andy Garcia, Tim Roth, Vanessa Williams. Queen Latifah, Loretta Devine, Clarence Williams III, and of course, Miss Cicely Tyson you also discover a gem of a movie.It follows the exploits of a 30s Harlem gangster Bumpy Johnson. Fishburne reminds you of why he is such a charismatic actor. His performance here is one you can watch over and over again. Of course the movie may have been exaggerated but what movie isn't?! It is a very stylized presentation and the obvious attention to detail to create the look and the feel of the period help intensify the viewing experience.I am quite proud of the production and highly recommend it become part of your movie collection. Notwitstanding that is a worthy project, there are treasures of performances here that warrant attention.