“Success. It’s got enemies. You can be successful and have enemies or you can be unsuccessful and have friends.”
– Dominic Cattano (American Gangster)
This is another movie I need to throw a disclaimer out before I say anything. I do not endorse, encourage, support, wish to emulate, etc., any of the criminal/illegal activities of the character or the real individual that the movie was based on. With that said, I feel that American Gangster is one of the better movies ever to be released.
American Gangster, like almost every other movie based on a true story, obviously has several instances where Hollywood took liberties to ensure that the finished product would be profitable. Still, the is enough truth in it to make you wonder about how bad things actually were during this time and how lucky we are that things have improved. Is society perfect? No. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t made progress.
This movie is about a time when drugs, crime, and corruption were a full-scale epidemic. Honesty and integrity were fighting an uphill battle in an environment where drugs an money were the largest source of power and control. American Gangster follows one of the biggest drug kingpins in New York and the police officer that eventually caught him.
It is difficult for an open mind to not see some of the positive attributes of Frank Lucas. I am well aware that he was violent, ruthless, morally challenged, and cast a dark shadow over Harlem that took years to even remotely clean up, both civilian and police alike. I do not applaud any of that. He was a criminal and, as far as I am concerned, he got off easy.
That said, his knowledge of business and charismatic and humble nature kept him out of the light long enough that, had it not been for one flashy evening, who knows how long he would have gotten away with it. American Gangster, to me, wasn’t just a drug movie. It was the evolution of a businessman. A horrible person, but a phenomenal businessman.
Strip away the bad stuff for a moment. You have a man that had an idea (bad, but an idea nonetheless), he made a plan, he stuck to the plan, he let no one get in his way (even worse, but the philosophy of not letting people stop you, solid), and he stuck to his rules and personal principles (some bad, but again, the philosophy is solid). He wasn’t flashy, he didn’t make a scene, and he lifted those around him and guided them (bad, but good, right?).
Journeyman's Legacy 