Cast: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Josh Brolin, Ruby Dee

Director: Ridley Scott

There can be no doubts regarding the appeal of Frank Lucas's story: a Black gangster who rises from nothing to outsmart the Italian mafia lords at the peak of the American civil rights movement, who uses the American presence in Vietnam to smuggle huge quantities of pure heroin into US soil on US military helicopters, who is tracked down and caught by an upright White officer, and who with his evidence helps put behind bars half of New York City's corrupt Narcotics Department officials.

However, Ridley Scott could have easily tripped at half a dozen places. How to convey what Lucas's rise portrays to the Black community, to Harlem, his family and to the Italians? How to get across the utter waste of America's Vietnam War? How to measure the palpable corruption that runs through police ranks? And mark out the danger of being on the streets at such a time?

Scott and screenwriter Steven Zaillian, working initially on a New York magazine article on Lucas, bring all the worlds together seamlessly. American Gangster is one of the few films to give us a complete idea of the life of two of its main protagonists: Lucas (Washington) and Detective Richie Roberts (Crowe). That the original Lucas and Roberts were associated with the project must have helped.

Similar in their clear ideas about right and wrong, Lucas and Roberts couldn't be more different in their personalities. One is nattily dressed, proper and systematic. While that should come easy to the always-dashing Washington, Crowe is marvellous as a police officer who throughout hovers on the brink of degeneration.

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