American Gangster. The TV show. Out tomorrow. (*********9/10)
American Gangster, the movie, was a great film that did very well behind the acting skills of Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas and Russell Crowe as Ritchie Roberts. American Gangster, the TV show, is a terrific program that does extremely well behind interviews of the real Frank Lucas and Ritchie Roberts. And many others like them. Season Two comes out this coming Tuesday, June 10th, from Paramount Home Entertainment, and it’s a fascinating documentary series. It examines the most notorious African-American gangsters, from Frank Lucas and Bumpy Johnson to the Philly Black Mafia. It also, less often, tackles criminals who would not, by strictest definition, be called “gangsters”. Serial killers like the
Washington, D.C. snipers, and bank robbers like Chaz Williams.
The series is narrated by Ving Rhames, and while he doesn’t have the classic Robert Stack or Morgan Freeman narrator voice, he DID play Marsellus Wallace. And when Marsellus Wallace says the word “gangster”, it certainly conveys a substantial amount of authority. And the series is very well done. Extensively researched and very thorough, almost all the principal players, including the criminals themselves when possible, become interview subjects in the show. An incredible amount of time must be spent digging these people up for the TV program., but it’s certainly worthwhile. American Gangster doesn’t shy away from the horror and the violence caused by these criminals, and as such never seems to be glamourizing the crime, just relating it in every imaginable detail.
It’s awfully interesting to see the real Frank Lucas and the real Ritchie Roberts relating their stories, which so closely mirror the recent American Gangster movie. Denzel Washington actually appears in the episode himself, talking about Frank Lucas, who consulted a lot on the film set. Also interesting is the story of Melvin Williams, a
Baltimore gambler with a genius IQ who managed to build up a massive heroin operation, and became one of the inspirations behind the HBO show The Wire, which is now over but available on DVD. The director of the show appears in the American Gangster episode, and Melvin Williams himself, it turns out, appears on The Wire. (For fans of that show - he plays that compassionate church deacon guy - a role FAR from his real-life persona.)
American Gangster is a terrific show about horrific acts and terrible people. (And some who aren’t all that bad.) Ving Rhames adds that terrific extra touch to make this one of the best documentary series on television today. And Season Two features enough familiar names to be really compelling all the way through.