Flick of the Day: American Gangster

I'm a big fan of the English born director Ridley Scott here at The Daily Flick. Indeed, the very first post on this blog way back on Sunday Dec 5th 2010 was a review of the Director's Cut of Kingdom of Heaven, perhaps one of his best works in its full and unmangled version. Over the course of his career, Scott has produced some truly ground breaking works while operating well within the mainstream of modern genre cinema. Very often the impact of his work has been lessened by a triumph of visual style over narrative substance. Films like Black Rain and Black Hawk Down were visually stunning at times but lacked something which made them memorable. However when he manages to marry a compelling story to his visual flair, there are few better than him. Today's flick of the day American Gangster is most definitely in the latter category.

American Gangster

Opening in 1968 with the Vietnam war rapidly reaching its nadir, this is the story of Frank Lucas, ably played by Denzel Washington, the right hand man of the soon to be deceased Harlem gangster Bumpy Johnson. Stepping into the power vacuum created by the death of his mentor, Lucas sets out to become the most powerful hood in the 5 boroughs of New York by travelling to Thailand and seeking to import heroin from its jungle source. Taking advantage of the boom in users caused by serviceman returning from Vietnam with a needle in their arm, Lucas quickly corners the market. This is unwelcome news for a group of corrupt cops led by Josh Brolin who have been selling confiscated heroin back to the Mafia men who had imported it. Into this heady brew steps Richie Roberts, a straight as an arrow cop training to be a lawyer with a zeal for putting away drug traffickers. Roberts is played by Russell Crowe who excels in the role. Roberts quickly begins a quest to bring Lucas to justice by any means.

The real joy of this film is Scott's ability to weave what is a very interesting look at New York sub-culture in the late 60's and early 70's. At times there is an almost documentary feel as the set-up of the city's drug trade is laid out before us. From an aside about the police selling the drugs captured in The French Connection to the interactions between the dealers and celebrities of the era, the film exudes authenticity and research. This grounding in the era and an understanding of the world into which Lucas begins his rise to power serves the film well.

Like so many of Scott's films, this has a cast rich with talent throughout. Fine actors like Idris Elba, Jon Polito and John Hawkes appear in tiny roles and such was the hype surrounding the script that the cast is littered with a who's who of stars from the American hip-hop scene. The leads each give nuanced performances throughout. Brolin stands out perhaps because he has the most entertaining role as a corrupt and ruthless detective who is menacing throughout. Crowe is his usual competent self and Washington surprises in his ability to inhabit the morality free zone that is Frank Lucas' world.

Perhaps one of the more underrated of Scott's films perhaps because it initially appears to be overly glossy and lacking substance, there is much to enjoy here and as it reaches its natural denouement becomes quite a compelling ride. You know Frank is going to be captured but it is the how that is just as entertaining. A fine film.

Flick of The Day: Apocalypse Now

All great artistic movements have moved in cycles, with a small scale beginning, a high point of some great work which is swiftly followed by excess, hyperbole and an eventual nadir. The so called New Hollywood movement of the 1970's was no different. Today's flick of the day, Apocalypse Now fits neatly into that curve just past the zenith when the movie brats that had taken over Hollywood began  to become self indulgent creating cinema of monumental excess that would end with Michael Cimino's Heavens Gate. That is not to denigrate Apocalypse for it is a film borne of some amazing talent. A wild ride into the heart of darkness in the Vietnam war. It is, in short, unlike anything else you will ever see.

Apocalypse Now (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

With a principal shoot lasting well over a year and a post production period that dragged on for another 2 years, this is a film that was literally years in the making. Martin Sheen is Captain Benjamin Willard, a special forces operative on the edge of reason. He is despatched by some shady superiors on a mission upriver into enemy territory to track down and terminate "with extreme prejudice" Colonel Walther Kurtz played by Marlon Brando, a deranged officer who has gone too far and set himself as a demigod in the heart of the Cambodian jungle. What follows is one hell of a trip. As Willard moves upriver, he encounters a surf happy Colonel Kilgore in the Air Cavalry played by an amazingly over the top Robert Duvall who goes into battle blasting out Wagner. He encounters Viet Cong, Playboy Bunnies and madness at every turn before finally reaching Kurtz's compound for a final showdown.

Based on Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now isn't so much an account of the Vietnam War as it is an indictment of the madness of all war transposed onto the Vietnam conflict. It is violent to the point of cruelty at times and overlong but there is much to enjoy here. For a production that was beset with difficulties, storms, Sheen suffering a heart attack and Brando turning up on set bloated and overweight, there are some spectacular set pieces. The dawn helicopter raid and the the arrival at Kurtz's camp are particular highlights. Given the amount of film that was shot, it is amazing Francis Ford Coppola managed to produce the film he did, indeed the film is as famed for what was left out as left in. There are a number of expensively assembled sequences which didn't make the final cut and yet it still feels too long by the end given that it takes so long to arrive at its destination. The film was re-cut for a redux version in 2001, which restores 49 more minutes of footage but this version has always felt as overkill to me.

Ultimately though it doesn't really matter about the length because there is just about enough here that is entertaining and enthralling to carry the film till the inevitable conclusion. One sour note that I feel must be mentioned though is the decision of Coppola to hack in a cow to death with machetes for the climax of the film, in homage to a local tradition. This is a reprehensible act and once again reinforces the feeling that this is the beginning of the end in terms of the New Hollywood movement. It earned the film an "Unacceptable" rating from the American Humane Association. One cannot fail to agree with that sentiment.

Kilgore: Smell that? You smell that? 

Lance: What? 

Kilgore: Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. 

[kneels] 

Kilgore: I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like 

[sniffing, pondering] 

Kilgore: victory. Someday this war's gonna end... 

All in all, this film broke new ground in its portrayal of war, and despite its many flaws, is worth seeing if only for it's place in the history of cinema and the career's of the fine cast which populate it.

Flick of The Day: Good Morning, Vietnam

Today's flick is a landmark comedy set in the Vietnam war, Good Morning Vietnam and the first film to prove that there was more to Robin Williams then a great stand-up act and Mork & Mindy. In an wonderful performance, he brings his improvisational humour to bear and elevates the film to a different level.

Good Morning, Vietnam (Special Edition)

Robin Williams is Adrian Cronauer, an Airman sent to Saigon in 1965 from Crete to act as a DJ on the US Armed Forces Radio Station in Vietnam. His crazed stream of consciousness humour is in stark contrast to the staid by the book announcers the station normally employs and Cronauer is soon in trouble with his immediate superiors, in particular the uptight Sgt Major Dickerson played by J.T Walsh much to the alarm of the underling assigned to look after him, Private Garlick, an impossibly young Forest Whitaker. Cronauer soon meets and fall in love with a Vietnamese girl and befriends her brother along the way. It soon becomes apparent that Dickerson is willing to go to any length to get rid of Cronauer, despite the support he enjoys amongst the top brass and the reality of the War in Vietnam soon hits home.

The real reason to see this film is of course Robin Williams. He inhabits the character of a Radio DJ completely. Many of the on air scenes are improvised, with Williams proving his abilities as a funny man without peer. 

Dickerson: This is not military issue, airman. What sort of uniform is that? 

Adrian Cronauer: Cretan camouflage sir. If you want to blend in with a bunch of drunken Greeks there's nothing better. 

Dickerson: That is humor. I recognize that. I also recognize your brand of soldier.

Watching the film today, it is is easy to see why Williams won such acclaim for his performance including an Oscar nomination.  However humour alone would not be enough to carry the film, the film contains real heart and recognises the tragedy that was the Vietnam conflict. For all that the pithy and satiric humour carry the film, it would be a lesser film if it didn't take a serious turn in the final act.

Barry Levinson handles this transition well, and Williams is as adept at scathing remarks about the futility of the war as he is one-liners. This is a great film and a worthy addition to the genre.