American Gangster (2007)
In 1970s America, a detective works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas, a heroin kingpin from Manhattan, who is smuggling the drug into the country in the coffins of soldiers returning from the Vietnam War. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Ridley Scott
Written By: Steven Zaillian, Mark Jacobson
Starring: Kevin Corrigan, Carla Gugino, Cuba Gooding Jr., John Hawkes, Denzel Washington, Idris Elba, Ruby Dee, Josh Brolin, Russell Crowe, Joe Morton, Ted Levine, KaDee Strickland
Genres: Drama, Suspense/Thriller, Crime, Biography
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American Gangster belongs to 62 collections
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13. List: Taschen (collaborative: moderated by KasperL - 6 stars)
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Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 6 |  |
Paxton | 70 63rd |
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I wouldn't put this anywhere near the top of gangster movies, but I would put it next to Scarface. Zing! Better than Black Mass, on par with A Bronx Tale, but not quite as good as Oscar. One of those is bunk.
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| 4 |  |
terrymac | 77 77th |
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A thoroughly competent, if unspectacular crime yarn. It would be hard to make a stinker with this cast, even if they all seem to be playing largely to type. The underlying story is solid, but perhaps feels like there was a lot more artistic license taken than was necessary. Fine entertainment.
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| 4 |  |
Bojangles | 50 38th |
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Gotta love Denzel's go-to move. When in doubt, violently sideswipe the nearest receptacle of water.
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| 4 | unccomp09 | 85 71st |
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The biographical film about Frank Lucas created a hero from a drug dealer. The movie was a great portrayal of the American dream - no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you do, opportunities exist, and success can be attained. The movie followed the life of a crime boss that created an illegal drug dealing empire. He was heroic in that he aided his family, took care of his mother, followed his principles, and did not let the money go to his head. The movie was excellent.
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| 4 |  |
Jasongirl67 | 75 69th |
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Great MOVIE ! Based on true events Superb cast Plenty of " Guy Candy" in Supporting roles My only complaint the stories too long
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| 3 |  |
MJVmovieMan | 74 63rd |
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Ridley Scott's film holds back and remains reserved when it should be spiraling off the charts. Denzel's performance as crime-lord, Frank Lucas, seems more humbled than expected, and Crowe has all the good-cop smarts, but can't make the chase pulsating enough. The movie lacks fear and intensity, but brims with obvious star-power and continual interest and care for its subject matter. While gripping, that desire lingers for what seems to be missing from such a boiling mixture of talent.
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| 3 |  |
ribcage | 62 42nd |
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For Denzel’s performance, for Scott’s excellent direction and period creation, and a story that moves at the right pace, American Gangster is worth a watch. But standing on the shoulders of classics, this film itself is not one. The good-bad guy, bad-good guy contrast gets no new life in Scott’s version, and there’s not enough true complexity to Frank Lucas to make him feel like more than a glorification of a man who destroyed thousands of lives with heroin.
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| 2 |  |
MartinTeller | 70 35th |
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Somewhat muddled pacing (I watched the theatrical version, not the director's cut) and not terribly original, but an entertaining watch. It feels a bit like Ridley Scott is doing his best Scorsese impersonation. Denzel Washington's presence is compelling and charismatic as always, while Russell Crowe is as bland and boring as ever.
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| 2 |  |
doctor7 | 89 90th |
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Brilliant film. Scott manages to avoid a lot of gangster and cop flick cliches and creates a compelling crime drama that shows you both sides of the law. Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe are in top form for the entirety of the film. As well the supporting cast is very good. Essential viewing for any crime movie fan.
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| 2 | Jherman89 | 78 73rd |
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A substantially decent crime drama. It features excellent cinematography despite the script's lack of originality. The film doesn't deliver like you would expect it to either. With Ridley Scott at the helm of a project featuring Washington and Crowe; this movie doesn't create any emotional or memorable character.
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| 2 | jsim596 | 3 48th |
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It's ok, but nothing special. The Wire has taught us to expect more from this kind of story.
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| 2 |  |
Alex Watkins | 3 38th |
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American Gangster has some great characterizations and a fantastic portrayal of 70s era NY, but it's a bit overambitious, attempting to draw the material out to nearly three hours and combining two storylines that only intertwine towards the end, when Lucas' story is the more interesting of the two. Both would have made good movies on their own, but they don't seem to mesh all that well here. But it's still a fun, even gripping at times, crime flick, even if it falls short of its goals.
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| 2 |  |
TedDedon | 83 67th |
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Ridley Scott has had sort of a weak... twenty years. American Gangster marks the greatest achievement in his catalog since Blade Runner came out. While Denzel Washington is superb, the movie is overlong and tries to keep the story too even-handed when it should be clearly about Frank Lucas. Russel Crowe does a fine job, but it should be a supporting character, not a secondary leading character. It feels unfocused and often times it falls to the crime drama cliches. Good, but not superb.
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| 1 |  |
eveelun | 74 55th |
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The story is compelling and the film manages to effectively capture the gritty 70's NY feel. Denzel is outstanding as the lead, a complex and charismatic entrepeneur who really drives this movie. Crowe is good, too, but his storyline is definitely the less interesting one. The film is kind of formulaic and drags in places (the 160 minute running time makes it feel somewhat bloated), but overall it's entertaining and a fine, if not superlative, entry into the crime genre.
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| 1 |  |
AgentSnipe | 86 92nd |
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The story is interesting and is a fun crime story. Denzel Washington is as charismatic as ever as Frank Lucas, the seemingly first black drug kingpin. The real draw to this movie is the rousing drug bust climax. It's one of the most intense action sequences of the year.
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| 1 |  |
djross | 60 62nd |
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Fairly interesting investigation of gangsterism-cum-capitalism that strives (with moderate success) to be more thematically interesting than the standard generic fare (far better, for example, than Mann's HEAT). The characterisation was OK, although almost certainly distant from the real-life characters on which it is based. Just a little less Hollywoodisation and mythification, and this may have turned out a fine movie. Some nice cinematography. Score is for the extended version.
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| 1 |  |
Pickpocket | 7 68th |
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Had it not been for the montage of Denzel turning into the stereotypical Denzel character at the end this would've been great. That ending was just too dumb. Come on, Ridley.
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| 1 |  |
Ytadel | 7 83rd |
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Pretty much everything in it - from the acting to the lighting to the locations to the camera motion to the music to the editing - is slick, glossy, and tightly produced to well-lubed, Oscar-friendly perfection, which makes me want to dislike it, but damn if it isn't good entertainment from one end to another. It feels like an attempt to make the black Godfather, and is partially successful.
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| 1 |  |
Nathan S | 2 21st |
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I enjoyed the depiction of 60's and 70's New York and Jersey. It was pretty seedy and gave Denzel plenty of room to work with. The progression of revealing Frank Lucas is great; at first you're struck by his charisma and street smarts, then by the sheer ruthlessness of his will. Unfortunately the Crowe character is completely useless, and the whole thing ends up a bit bloated.
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| 1 |  |
PeaceAnarchy | 87 87th |
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A great film that's solid all around. Great acting, an interesting story and it captures the feel of the 70's perfectly. It's only problem is that it's a bit unfocused, but never enough to distract
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| 1 |  |
Farzan | 83 79th |
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Ridley Scott directs Crowe and Washington in another great film. This is a different side of Scott. It is different from most of his films and he does a tremendous job in this, but the films lacks a script. Scott also gives us a few memorable scenes, but the films lack of characterization was disappointing.. Overall, American Gangster is a great crime film with great performances from both Crowe and Washington especially, who is very charming as Frank Lucas. Scott did it again.
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| 1 | Skenkere | 75 71st |
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Definitely a really solid crime drama, but parts of it were just really reminiscent of other gangster movies, so it didn't seem particularly original, and I was slightly let down. I think I'm just being too harsh because I expected a collaboration of Ridley Scott, Denzel, and Russell Crowe to be one of the most amazing movies I'd ever seen. It wasn't, but it's still pretty damn good.
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| 1 | owen1218 | 30 6th |
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Well, that was a waste of time.
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| 1 |  |
JooJoo | 4 55th |
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Such a terribly formulaic plot; nearly 3 hours in length but things never feel connected here, it's just sloppy. The two leads play the same role they've been doing since.......yeah a while, but they still do it well [nice to see Cuba Gooding Jr. doing something worthwhile again, at least].
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| 1 |  |
Anomaly | 65 38th |
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A well produced and directed film, it just didn't click with me. Maybe it was the similarities to greater movies drawing attention to the film itself, or that I didn't really care about Crowe's character for whatever reason.
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| 1 | lavos222 | 78 38th |
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It's good and all, but nothing really stuck out about it... A little on the slow side as well.
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| 1 |  |
ktappe | 71 40th |
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Had huge potential, and is certainly a very moody piece of filmography. But the plot has holes you can fly a 727 through. And the presentation jumps forward at times, leaving the viewer behind. We found ourselves backing up the DVD several times to try to interpret things; I feel sorry for those who saw this in the theater who had no such luxury. The scenes of the junkies on Thanksgiving was powerful filmmaking--if only the rest of the film were as good.
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| 1 | PJM | 60 13th |
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Well acted -- especially by Crowe -- but with excrutiating pacing while, at the same time, too little time spent on certain crucial elements. A missed opportunity, in my mind.
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| 1 |  |
KasperL | 50 30th |
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Unoriginal and unimpressive on all counts. And I hate that Ruby Dee received an Oscar-nomination simply because she's old.
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| 1 |  |
Jarmann | 65 31st |
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Somehow I feel I have seen it all before.
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| 1 |  |
muutanet | 75 74th |
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Denzel Washington is absolutely brilliant in the leading role. The latter part of the movie goes good, but the beginning of the story lacks the interesting, coherent script. I know that the idea is that police is out of the map to find out the main man, but it lasts too long, because viewer is as well loosing an interest on the movie. Crowe's character was quite hollow to be in the key role after the bad guy.
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| 1 |  |
Luna6ix | 84 86th |
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Since the year 2000 almost every movie Denzel is in makes him more bad ass than the last, and I love it. This movie has him slightly villianized, even though it's probably for realism. Packed full of suspense and action.
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| 1 |  |
Vandelay1 | 71 79th |
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good movie
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| 1 |  |
Obdurate | 80 66th |
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Doesn't appear to tackle its subject matter very accurately, but hey, it was a damn good crime drama. Denzel is the star in both character and performance, giving genuine life to another role in his career, and the rest of the great cast did what they had to do as well. It's put together well in almost every way; the only real problems is that the script isn't necessarily strong enough to prevent this from feeling a little bloated. You need more from a movie this long.
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| 1 |  |
TheRealJ-Ro | 75 55th |
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The individual performances were quite good, although (somewhat unfortunately) Russell Crowe's characters, performances, etc., are becoming so predictable for me, I can almost sit there and predict lines - see State of Play. But it's a strong movie in and of itself, and the time in History in which it's set makes it all the more interesting for me. I have a soft spot for both Crowe and Denzel Washington - and any time I get to see Josh Brolin on screen, it's a good day.
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| 1 |  |
luc | 75 85th |
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Very long movie (extended version) with my favorite actor
D.Washington who plays a brilliant role as badguy. Not so
much violence in this movie and it was not boring.
Interesting story and worth-seeing !
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| 1 |  |
omgfridge | 9 92nd |
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Washington is the ultimate presence actor. Only matched by how well Ridley Scott crafted this movie. Enjoyable on many levels.
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| 1 |  |
Okkervil | 84 89th |
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Comfortably Scott's best film since Blade Runner. American Gangster is an engaging and thoughtful crime drama, with two very good lead performances. The ending is a touch messy, but certainly does not hinder the film. If you can, watch the Extended Version, it's worth it.
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| 1 |  |
leekenn | 82 74th |
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I don't think there will be many people out there who don't like this. It's well paced (although very long!), well acted, it's a good story, has some great scenes, and a good ending. It's not groundbreaking by any means, but it is a very solid film indeed.
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| 1 |  |
DavidBlast | 50 44th |
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It's Washington as... himself in a wildly uneven story, with too many uninteresting threads, such as everything regarding Lucas' wife. On the other hand the magnitude of the story does not deny itself, so overall it's a decent gangster flick.
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| 1 |  |
Tjekhov | 40 27th |
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Wow, a suprising bromance turn, huh - didn't see that coming...
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| 1 |  |
Huah | 85 63rd |
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An overall solid film, some of the characters were lacking and the sub-plots were quite vague and redundant. Good acting and cinematography. Frank Lucas fulfilled the American Dream, but at the cost of his family, wife, and the lives of the thousands of people who's lives were destroyed by the infamous "Blue Magic". You can have all the money and power in the world and still be completely and utterly alone. This film shouldn't glamorize the lifestyle, but show you the underbelly of it.
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| 1 |  |
mattorama12 | 63 43rd |
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If you had told me I was only going give this a rating in the low 60s, I would have laughed in your face and maybe punched you. I don't know why this movie didn't work for me, but it just seemed forgettable and uninspired. What a shame.
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| 1 |  |
backwardsuit | 67 38th |
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Plenty of interesting stuff in the story but kinda doesn't know what to focus on. Ends up feeling disjointed and long. Could use some merciless editing. Still some impressive going and technically very well done. Has a nice period feel and actors are fine.
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| 1 |  |
Boxcars | 7 49th |
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"American Gangster" cycles through the familiar procedures in the gangster movie formula; in that regard, it's unexceptional. But the film distinguishes itself from other genre pictures with some vital moments of execution. The firefights are few. The real contest is a battle of convictions between the leads (played with expected prowess by Denzel and Crowe.) As shown by their climactic confrontation, compromise makes the difference between a penthouse, a jailhouse, and a morgue.
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| 1 |  |
tipar | 50 37th |
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An introduction of two hours and then the movie begins.
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| Average Percentile 58.31% from 7075 Ratings |  |