'Gangster' wrapped

If you haven’t seen “American Gangster” by now, you are cheating yourself out of a wonderful movie-watching experience. It has everything one needs to make a great film: great actors, a great script and a great director.
Not only does the movie have Academy Award winners Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe as lead actors (Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. also has a small role), it features a memorable cameo appearance by the legendary Ruby Dee. The movie’s story draws from drug kingpin Frank Lucas (Washington) of 1970s Harlem, who became the most powerful and ruthless crime boss in the city, and Richie Roberts (Crowe), the cop who brought him down.
The film was directed by Ridley Scott – the same guy who directed films such as “Gladiator” and “Black Hawk Down,” just to name a couple. Scott brings his expertise and vision to the film, despite time constraints and difficult filming conditions.
If you think a movie with such powerful and talented people behind it couldn’t help but make “Gangster” a good movie, then you guessed right. There is no way this movie could lose, and it doesn’t. From the cinematography to the music used to place viewers back in that time period, it is all authentic.
The three-disc DVD deluxe edition gives the viewers everything, including deleted scenes, actors’ feedback and real-life feedback from the real Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts, as well as unexpected features such as a behind-the-scenes look at the wardrobe. The extras also explain how the script was made and how closely the screenwriters worked with the real people on which the movie is based.
What impressed me most about the movie extras was the detail and research the producers and everyone else involved with the project put into it in order to make it seem, look and feel so authentic. The movie is all good and the DVD is completely worth the buy, unless of course you don’t like Cuba, Denzel, Russell, “Gladiator,” etc. There is too much in this movie to love that makes it hard for any naysayer not to like it.