American Gangster

"There are two sides to the American dream."

2007 2h 37m EN

🙌

7.6

BANGER

★7.6TMDB · 6,284

DramaCrime

Synopsis

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Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by Newark Detective Richie Roberts.

“There are two sides to the American dream.”

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Cast

Denzel Washington
Frank Lucas
Russell Crowe
Richie Roberts
Josh Brolin
Detective Trupo
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Huey Lucas
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Nicky Barnes
Lymari Nadal
Eva
Ted Levine
Lou Toback
Armand Assante
Dominic Cattano

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: Steven Zaillian
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 157 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$100M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 19 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

248+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ridley Scott, shot by Harris Savides. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Marc Streitenfeld. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Pietro Scalia shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe and Josh Brolin carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ridley Scott directs. Harris Savides behind the camera. Marc Streitenfeld scores. Pietro Scalia cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 157 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2$100M budget — tentpole studio territory.
3Released 19 years ago.
4248+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Ridley Scott, shot by Harris Savides. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Marc Streitenfeld. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Pietro Scalia shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe and Josh Brolin carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "There are two sides to the American dream.".
10IMDB entry: tt0765429 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 30 themes, including "new york city", "vietnam", "drug smuggling", "society".

The technical file

Cinematography: Harris Savides
Original score: Marc Streitenfeld
Editing: Pietro Scalia
Production design: Arthur Max
Costume design: Janty Yates
Makeup / hair: Felice Diamond
Sound: Bob Beemer
Stunt coordinator: G.A. Aguilar
Runtime: 157 min · 2h 37m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $100,000,000
Box office: $269,755,430
Return: 270% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: American Gangster (2007)

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Ridley Scott

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2015-07-14
★ 6/10
Quite a disappointed since it is really as much as you expect, but nothing new. Washington and Russell perform really well, so, as a characters movie, it works. It doesn't work at all as a biopic. Too much Hollywood on it.
r96sk2020-08-16
★ 9/10
A thoroughly entertaining 157 minutes! <em>'American Gangster'</em> delivers in every area it needs to. Enthralling premise, immaculate music, phenomenal casting and great pacing. I was surprised slightly with how it finishes, but it's far and away from a disappointing/underwhelming conclusion. Not much really needs to be said about Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. They're exactly how you'd expect them to be, outstanding! Washington is fantastic as Frank, while Crowe is superb as Richie. You have to wait a while for their proper screen time together, but it's worth the time it takes. Away from the leads, you have a load of recognizable faces - I was literally that Rick Dalton meme for the first 45-60 mins! Chiwetel Ejiofor (Huey) and Josh Brolin (Trupo) have sizeable roles, though there's also appearances from Carla Gugino (Laurie), Cuba Gooding Jr. (Nicky), Idris Elba (Tango) and Norman Reedus (Norman). Excellent casting, that! I was expecting slow moments due to the run time, but there aren't any - at least in my opinion. As noted, the way it ends is a tad differently to how I would've predicted, but I still enjoyed it alongside the rest of the it. It might not be accurate on the real life Frank Lucas, but all that truly matters is does it excel as a film? Yes it does. Highly recommend!
CinemaSerf2022-09-08
★ 7/10
Denzel Washington is on top-form here as he takes on the role of the unscrupulous and devious heroine importer "Lucas" in this superior crime drama. Following the death of his boss, he spots an opening in New York's drugs market which he deftly exploits by importing top grade product directly from Thailand and he sells his "Blue Magic" cut-rate to an increasingly willing population. Largely insulated from risk by his very profitable links with organised crime, it falls to "Richie Roberts" (Russell Crowe) to head up a narcotics task force charged with stopping this lucrative trade that has made "Lucas" one of America's most wanted. It has to be said that his method of importation is extremely shrewd, and as the narrative unfolds we discover that this is not just a tale of drug smuggling, but of police corruption, violence, addiction and brutality and director Ridley Scott gets the best from both his stars - especially a terrifically plausible Crowe. There are strong contributions from a superb Ruby Lee as his mother and from Josh Brolin as the dodgy cop "Trupo" and an ensemble cast that keep this well scripted, paced and scored drama moving along in a characterful and interesting fashion. Certainly one of Scott and Washington's better efforts, and though long it flows well and passes just over 2½ hours compellingly.