zardoz-13 Snap-brim fedoras, vintage autos, blazing Tommy guns, corrupt public officials and greedy mobsters battling it out over turf rights recur throughout director Bill Duke's violent, 1930s' racketeering epic "Hoodlum," a pictorially authentic actioneer that evokes memories of the classic Robert Stack television series "The Untouchables." Although "Hoodlum" boasts a top-drawer cast, including Laurence Fishburne, Vanessa Williams, Tim Roth, and Andy Garcia, this lavishly mounted but uneven gangster saga suffers from its rambling length, garrulous script and a shortage of shoot-outs. As the first major film to headline the crimes of Harlem's infamous Black Godfather Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson, this production offers a novel departure for audiences that are weary of superheroes, female warriors and hard-bitten cops who have were crowding the big-screen when "Hoodlum" appeared in 1997.The Chris Brancato screenplay introduces Bumpy in 1934 as he exits Sing Sing Prison. Duke and Brancato exert great pains to differentiate Bumpy from the typical African-American mobster. He peruses books, plays chess, and pens poetry. As literate as Bumpy is, he can pull a trigger or wield a knife without a pang of remorse when somebody threatens a person who he loves. Like "The Godfather II" and "Once Upon A Time in America," "Hoodlum" charts the rise of the Godfather of Harlem in a ruthless game of survival that claims his best friend Illinois Gordon (Chi McBride of "I, Robot") and leaves Bumpy forever altered by the gory experience. Ostensibly, you won't see anything in "Hoodlum" that you haven't seen in dozens of other crime films. "Hoodlum" features notorious real-life racketeers such as Dutch Schultz (Tim Roth of "Pulp Fiction") and Lucky Luciano (Andy Garcia of "Godfather III") as well as corrupt special prosecutor Thomas Dewey (William Atherton of "The Sugarland Express). When Bumpy arrives in Harlem, he watches a numbers runner working for Madam Stephanie St. Clair (Cicely Tyson) who is the so-called 'Queen of the Numbers.' The Dutchman craves to absorb the territory that the Madam has struggled for a decade to build into the number one home-grown Harlem business. Bumpy vows to prevent any takeover by the Irish mob.Meanwhile, the boorish, grubby, low-life Schultz refuses to appease Lucky or Bumpy. Along the way, Bumpy falls in love with righteous Francine (Vanessa Williams) who wants him to find respectable work. Bumpy refuses to stoop to menial employment. When Dutch cannot kill the Madam, he bribes a judge to send her to the pen. Bumpy supervises the Madam's empire at her request during her absence. Bumpy's bloodthirsty methods clash with her live-and-let-live notions. Eventually, Luciano and Bumpy strike a deal, and Dutch finds himself out in the cold. Suddenly, gangster gunfire chops down a young, innocent numbers runner. Now, Bumpy's cronies think that he has gone too far. Francine bails out on him more out of the formulaic dictates of the story than for any motivated reason. So do the filmmakers. The second half of the movie shows Bumpy losing favor with everybody.The film's publicity notes claim that "Hoodlum" is complete fiction, but historical characters populate the story. Of course, movies rarely recreate history with any fidelity. History is more chaotic than dramatic, so filmmakers recast it to fit their dramatic formulas. One way is by cutting the number of characters. Refusing to portray these events as they actually occurred, Duke and Brancato blow a fantastic opportunity to exploit their melodramatic potential. Duke, whose directorial credits include "Deep Cover" and "A Rage in Harlem," wrestles with the obvious lapses in Brancato's script. The length of "Hoodlum" may have been cut by the studio to squeeze in more showings in a single evening. The action grows and takes on an episodic quality when Bumpy becomes callous. After the first half, the film's momentum bogs down, and "Hoodlum" loses its air of fun. The time has come for the characters to pay the piper.The filmmakers embrace a curious morality. In most gangster movies, the hoodlum hero must die. Bumpy gets off easy, as does Luciano and only Dutch antes up with his life. Duke and Brancato allow their criminals greater leniency. The gangsters are less cancerous than the defenders of justice. Consequently, "Hoodlum" concludes on an anti-climax. Moreover, the filmmakers neglect to post an epilogue about Bumpy's outcome. For the record, the gangster who hires Shaft to find his kidnapped daughter in "Shaft" is a variation on Bumpy" as is the kingpin mobster in "American Gangster" with Denzel Washington. The problem with Brancato's script is its uneven quality. The action-packed first half is more entertaining than the tedious, long-winded second half. The filmmakers glorify Bumpy initially as a Robin Hood gangster who steals from a rival mob and gives to Harlem's starving citizens.Fishburne is riveting as a tough-as-nails but warm-hearted criminal. Roth takes top acting honors, however, as Dutch Schultz and looks like he had a ball exaggerating those vile elements in Schultz's psychotic behavior. Garcia epitomizes sartorial urbanity as the peace-making Italian gangster who divides his time between Bumpy, Dutch, and special prosecutor Dewey. Atherton's egotistical special prosecutor bristles with revulsion in his dealings with these crooks, but accepts their bribes. The filmmakers make the repressive Dewey appear particularly loathsome, a Judas whose contempt for the mob is exceeded only by his mockery of justice.Despite some flavorful dialogue, "Hoodlum" plays it straight down the line as a dramatic shoot'em up. Audiences expecting a variation on Eddie Murphy's "Harlem Nights" may leave this Fishburne film disappointed. Although it's no "Godfather," "Hoodlum" is definitely above-average and far beyond those 1970s camp classics that headlined Fred Williamson as the black Caesar of crime in "Hell Up in Harlem." If you enjoy gangster epics, "Hoodlum" is worth the price of admission. Some critics have savaged "Hoodlum" for its debatable morality. Ironically, Bumpy rises to the summit of his profession. At fade-out, however, Duke and Brancato show that the gangster's life is one that leaves you standing alone in the rain outside the church door without a friend.

Grant Johnson (harkness78) You people are nuts! This is just atrocious film wrecking. The script reminded me of a mad libs where instead of a noun, they just wrote curse words and racial slurs. It felt like the creators were aiming at entertaining the homeless insane demographic instead of intelligent individuals who wouldn't see straight through this malarky. But I have a story with this film that made it worth seeing. There was 7 people in the theater when we stumbled into this car wreck of a movie, my three friends, two other guys a few seats down and an African American couple in front of us. I was so offended by this film's utter lack of cohesive character plot, goals and motivations, creativity, etc., that my friends and I debated with the strangers next to us in the theater whether we should just leave and play area 51, a game we loathed! I was actually worried that because I was white, maybe the couple in front of us would think we were a bunch of racist jerks for leaving half way through, because it seemed to be really pretending that it was a powerful Black statement. Then the AA couple started laughing every time Larry Fishbourne said "N***** pennies" and we stayed. Two thirds in, all 7 of us turned it into a MST3K episode. We were laughing at every other line, inserting show tunes at inappropriate moments and would loudly boo and call the actors names any time the pennies were mentioned. I never would have done this had the AA dude not started throwing Junior Mints at the screen. All in all, terribly wooden acting, eerily clean set design for the 30's, bizarre and frustratingly convoluted plot and lame ass action. But hilarious theater experience.

RaiderJack I had this movie on homemade VHS for a while and just received the DVD.Mesmerizing!!! Beautifully Filmed! Hats off to Bill Duke - another very distinguished African-American director!! Once you get past the fact that the movie is FILLED with phenomenal performances from the likes of Laurence Fishburne, Andy Garcia, Tim Roth, Vanessa Williams. Queen Latifah, Loretta Devine, Clarence Williams III, and of course, Miss Cicely Tyson you also discover a gem of a movie.It follows the exploits of a 30s Harlem gangster Bumpy Johnson. Fishburne reminds you of why he is such a charismatic actor. His performance here is one you can watch over and over again. Of course the movie may have been exaggerated but what movie isn't?! It is a very stylized presentation and the obvious attention to detail to create the look and the feel of the period help intensify the viewing experience.I am quite proud of the production and highly recommend it become part of your movie collection. Notwitstanding that is a worthy project, there are treasures of performances here that warrant attention.

Shaw Miller first of all, i think that Hollywood is on a bit of a realism kick these days... not the big-budget actioners or comedies (that seem to be competing to be unfunny); i mean films like 'the sweet hereafter' and 'in the bedroom' and 'ulee's gold', (all of which i liked, but) which in some ways elude the role escapism that i believe movies are meant to fulfill. if all movies were about real people doing realistic things, why would anyone go to the movies? that being said, hoodlum wasn't quite as good as it could have been because of the lack of realistic situations, mainly due to the whole good gangster/bad gangster conflict. i never really sympathized with bumpy johnson, but rather found myself wondering if he was *ever* going to kill someone (except in self-defense) or do anything bad at all.look at what the crime library (http://www.crimelibrary.com) had to say about this seemingly selfless gentleman... "Bumpy was a pimp, burglar and stickup man who possessed a recalcitrant attitude. He always carried a knife and gun, neither of which he was hesitant to use. All too often Bumpy ended up in barroom clashes over the slightest of issues. He feared nobody and did not shy from confrontations. Helen Lawrenson, in her book Stranger at the Party, remarked on Bumpy's short fuse and arrogance. "He never learned, however, to curb his temper or to bow his head to any man," She wrote." really? because watching the movie, one would find that bumpy exemplified self-control and discipline. and who did he rob, other than schultz's numbers racket? they conveniently left out the pimping part too - or wait - maybe he was a benevolent pimp? i'm not saying there should not have been a hero, but heroes can have flaws. this film has some good scenes and acting (tim roth is always on the money, and this is one of my favourite performances of his) but ultimately for me it fell a little shy of the mark. the director has abandoned what could have been (with a bit more work) a well-framed and stoic reminder of a past era, in favour of cheap Hollywood drama. was it supposed to rely on historical texts, including every detail of 1930s harlem? absolutely not. but would duke have done a service to his audience had he made the characters somewhat more true to life and responsive to their respective situations? i think he had a duty to do so.