American Gangster

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American Gangster

R

Released Nov 2, 2007

2h 37m

Crime

Drama

Biography

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

81%

Tomatometer

213 Reviews

90%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

Frank Lucas earns his living as a chauffeur to one of Harlem's leading mobsters; after his boss dies, Frank uses his own ingenuity and strict business code to become one of the inner city's most powerful crime bosses; veteran cop Richie Roberts senses a change in the mob's power structure and looks for ways to bring his opponent to justice.

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Critics Consensus

American Gangster is a gritty and entertaining throwback to classic gangster films, with its lead performers firing on all cylinders.

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Alonso Duralde

MSNBC

Telling a true story doesn't excuse a filmmaker from making his movie stand out from the many others that have traversed similar ground.

Rated: 2/5

May 1, 2008

Full Review

David Stratton

At the Movies (Australia)

Best of all, there are top-flight performances from both Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe who create interesting, rounded characters out of potential clichés.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 12, 2008

Full Review

Amy Nicholson

I.E. Weekly

Scott's not interested in fireworks but small implosions of the soul and ego.

Rated: B

Feb 3, 2008

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

Scott evokes the crime cinema of the seventies with his mix of gritty police thriller and sprawling crime epic (with a sprinkling of blaxploitation excess).... But its roots are equally in the rise-and-fall gangster thrillers of the eighties and nineties.

Jun 11, 2023

Full Review

Justin Brown

Medium Popcorn

Despite having a personal connection to the story in this film, I also love this movie for the dialogue, performances (particularly Denzel's) and the music.

Rated: 5/5

Nov 20, 2022

Full Review

Brandon Collins

Medium Popcorn

Very solid performances anchored by Denzel. I think they could have trimmed 15-20 minutes of the Russell Crowe storyline and it would have been a near perfect film.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 20, 2022

Full Review

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Wayne

Definitely worth watching

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/08/24

Full Review

Brian D

84%. 12/14/24. True story about Denzel bringing his family from rags to riches. He employees all 5 of his brothers. He starts as the prodigy of a crime lord in Harlem, once his mentor dies, he wants to run things so he goes to Vietnam to work out a deal to buy top quality meth and have it shipped through the military to NY. He does a good job staying under the radar until he wears a chincilla coat to a boxing match and Russell Crowe's character learns about him. Denzel was already paying off much of the police force. His cousin eventually gets caught doing something illegal and wears a wire and everything tumbles down on Denzel. Denzel ends up working with the cops and they bring down basically the whole city's DEA unit for bribery. Good film but pretty tame. 4/5 rewatch

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

12/17/24

Full Review

patrick l

Best Denzel Washington movie by a country mile. Outstanding performance. Chuck in Russel Crowe at the very top of his game. Finally a brilliant true story. Mix it all together and Bingo a CLASSIC !!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/13/24

Full Review

Joalcas P

Movie that you must watch...❤️

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/10/24

Full Review

Abe A

One of the worst Denzel Washington movies I've seen. The character simply doesn't fit him. In the same way Pacino and Deniro are naturals in the gangster roles, Washington's unnatural. He looks and sounds like a choirboy moonlighting as a gangster. There's really no 'there' there. The characterization in the movie is poor; Frank Lucas is a bunch of cliches, Richie Roberts' personality is drawn by making him quirky (another cliche). The conflict between Roberts and his ex-wife is another exhausted cop-movie cliche. The Josh Brolin and Armand Assante characters are the ones that feel most realistically drawn, but the latter is only a 10 minute or so cameo. The overall storyline is a bunch of tired gangster movie cliches, and two and a half-hours is just way too long..

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

12/07/24

Full Review

Alberto L

Denzel Washington is arguably one of the best writers of his generation. This film proves it. That's all I have to say

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/27/24

Full Review

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Ridley Scott

Director

Denzel Washington

Frank Lucas

Russell Crowe

Richie Roberts

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Huey Lucas

Cuba Gooding Jr.

Nicky Barnes

Josh Brolin

Detective Trupo

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American Gangster: Official Clip - Don't Lie to Your Mother

1:52

American Gangster: Official Clip - Progress

2:59

American Gangster: Official Clip - The End For Frank

1:42

American Gangster: Official Clip - Heroin House Raid

2:45

American Gangster: Official Clip - Above the Mafia

1:52

American Gangster: Official Clip - Drive-By Shooting

1:49

American Gangster: Official Clip - Diluting the Brand

2:54

American Gangster: Official Clip - Somebody Or Nobody

2:00

American Gangster: Official Clip - The Right Thing To Do

2:26

American Gangster: Official Clip - Fed Up

2:08

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Synopsis

Frank Lucas earns his living as a chauffeur to one of Harlem's leading mobsters; after his boss dies, Frank uses his own ingenuity and strict business code to become one of the inner city's most powerful crime bosses; veteran cop Richie Roberts senses a change in the mob's power structure and looks for ways to bring his opponent to justice.

Director: Ridley Scott
Producer: Brian Grazer, Ridley Scott, Dan Griffin
Screenwriter: Steven Zaillian
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Scott Free Productions
Rating: R (Nudity|Language|Pervasive Drug Content|Sexuality|Violence)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Biography
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 2, 2007, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 13, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $130.1M
Runtime: 2h 37m
Sound Mix: SDDS, DTS, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital, Dolby SRD
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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