Main Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Tim Roth, Vanessa Williams, Andy Garcia, Cicely Tyson
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 130 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The white-run Mafia and the black-run numbers game meet head on with explosive impact in this period crime thriller. Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (Laurence Fishburne) is an African-American ex-con who, after a stay in prison, returns to Harlem at the height of its renaissance before World War II. Looking for work, Bumpy becomes a lieutenant for Stephanie St. Clair (Cicely Tyson), the queen of Harlem's numbers racket. Bumpy's old friend Illinois Gordon (Chi McBride) gently expresses his concern about Bumpy's life of crime, and social worker Francine Hughes (Vanessa L. Williams), who is attracted to Bumpy (and vice versa), suggests he should be doing something more positive with his life. But Bumpy contends that the numbers game is the only business in the community that blacks are able to control themselves. The numbers game is very profitable -- enough so that mob boss "Lucky" Luciano (Andy Garcia) wants in on the action. He assigns one of his key men, "Dutch" Schultz (Tim Roth), to try to strike a deal with Stephanie, but negotiation isn't Dutch's strong suit -- he finds that murder is a far more effective tactic in taking control of a business, and Dutch is not the sort of person who's bothered by violence. Hoodlum was director Bill Duke's second film set in the milieu of the Gangster days of the 1920s and 1930s, after his breakthrough picture A Rage in Harlem. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
Bill Duke, after breaking Hollywood race barriers by directing Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (the first sequel to a Hollywood blockbuster entrusted to an African-American director) returned to familiar ground with Hoodlum. Hoodlum, like Duke's entertaining adaptation of Chester Himes' A Rage in Harlem, takes place in the underworld of Harlem in the 1930s. But here, Duke is working on a much larger scale. The film is a moderately successful effort to make a film with the sweep and scope of the Godfather films, greatly aided by its able cast. It offers a powerfully assured performance from Laurence Fishburne as crime lord Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson. Tim Roth is hilariously over-the-top as psychopath Dutch Schultz, the Jewish gangster determined to muscle in on the Harlem numbers racket. His performance enlivens the film. He plays Schultz as pure id, totally unable to control his lust, greed, and anger. He cannot even eat an apple without it seeming like an obscene act. This stands in fascinating contrast to the coiled-snake calm of Andy Garcia's Lucky Luciano. Duke clearly knows his actors' strengths and brings out their best. One weak spot in the script is the characterization of Bumpy's love interest, Francine (Vanessa L. Williams), who somewhat unconvincingly becomes completely enraptured with Bumpy, discarding her own strong political views as a follower of Marcus Garvey. The film also received a good deal of negative press attention for its portrayal of the venerated prosecutor Thomas Dewey (William Atherton) as a corrupt opportunist. But for the most part, Hoodlum is a good solid film, offering strong performances, humor, and action, and a compelling metaphor of black empowerment and resistance to white co-optation of the culture. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Gary Baugh - Art Director, Cathy Sandrich - Casting, Amanda Mackey-Johnson - Casting, Otis Sallid - Choreography, Chris Brancato - Co-producer, Paul Eckstein - Co-producer, Richard Bruno - Costume Designer, Tyrone Mason - First Assistant Director, Bill Duke - Director, Otis Sallid - Second Unit Director, Harry Keramidas - Editor, Bill Duke - Executive Producer, Laurence Fishburne - Executive Producer, Helen Sugland - Executive Producer, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Charles C. Bennett - Production Designer, Frank Tidy - Cinematographer, Frank Mancuso, Jr. - Producer, Curt Frisk - Sound/Sound Designer, Kelsee Devoreaux - Stunts, Mike Johnson - Stunts, Chris Brancato - Screenwriter
The film is notable in that it casts Johnson as the ring leader in Schultz's death, influencing Luciano into committing the crime himself. The accepted viewpoint is quite different: Schultz is believed to have been killed by Murder Inc., a group which is only tangentially related to Luciano, due to his threats towards District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. Johnson, who freely cooperated with Schultz following his takeover, is not known to have had a hand in his death. While the film also shows Dewey accepting payoffs from the mob, there is no evidence for this, historical or hearsay. Hoodlum is followed by Ridley Scott's film American Gangster, which continues the life story of gangster Bumpy Johnson, mainly focusing on the man who eventually took over his operation, Frank Lucas.
