NEW YORK CITY -- King Kong, to paraphrase Denzel Washington in Training Day, ain't got nothin' on Frank Lucas.
At least he didn't in the 1970s when Lucas, an uneducated transplant from backwoods North Carolina who trained under the aegis of Harlem mobster Bumpy Johnson, improbably became one of New York City's most feared and prolific crime lords.
Given Hollywood's penchant for mythologizing gangsters, hoods, crooks and wise guys, it's no surprise that Lucas has finally found himself the subject of a big-budget crime opus, American Gangster. The real surprise is that it took this long to happen.
Don't let the pulpy title mislead you, though. The drama, with its ferocious performances and exacting eye for period detail, is strictly an A-list Oscar-bait undertaking, with Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) directing Washington as Lucas, and Russell Crowe as Richie Roberts, the dogged New Jersey detective who ended Lucas' reign as Harlem's smack overseer.
The pairing of Washington and Crowe -- who don't share screen time until well past the two-hour mark -- was key to Scott, who was fascinated with the morally suspect dichotomy between the foes. Washington's Lucas may be a murderous drug peddler, but he's also a devoted -- even tender -- family man. Conversely, Crowe's Roberts is an untouchable cop but an unrepentant womanizer.
"I think that's one of the fascinating things about the two characters and the story itself ... that none of that is clear," Crowe was saying during a press conference, alongside Washington. "Richie's an honest guy, but as his wife says in (a courtroom sequence), it's only in one area and he's just trying to buy favours for all the s--t (he does). It's an honest appraisal for who he was as a man at the time, and it leaks into that area of why people go bad in the first place."
For his part, Washington, who earned an Oscar for his turn as a corrupt, deranged cop in Training Day, says he didn't hesitate to portray the notorious Lucas, who smuggled heroin in from Southeast Asia in the coffins of dead U.S. soldiers being flown home from Vietnam. Because he'd essentially eliminated the middle man, Lucas was able to sell the drug -- which was twice as potent as the street norm -- for half the price of his competitors. He so successfully cornered the market, so to speak, that he was supplying everyone from rival (if far flashier) Harlem gangster Nicky Barnes to the traditional mafia with heroin (or, as he coined it, Blue Magic).
"It was great material, a great actor to work with and a great filmmaker," Washington says.
Scott assesses Lucas as "a sociopath," but Washington disagrees.
"I wouldn't say that about Frank," Washington says. "I didn't find that to be true. He's a man without a formal education. He's a man who at the age of six witnessed his cousin get murdered by sociopaths in uniform -- elected officials. And that changed his life. From a very young age, he started to steal. Then after moving to New York, the most notorious gangster in Harlem recognized the talent, if you will, in this young kid ... (Lucas) was on the wrong side but he was a brilliant student. It's a dirty business and he's a criminal. He's responsible for the deaths of many people, but he's a product of his environment ... If he'd gone in another direction, I think he still would've been a leader. He was in the drug business, but I don't think he looked at himself as a killer or even a criminal. He was in a business -- he sold a product and did a good job at it."
Echoes Crowe: "If Frank Lucas had been befriended by somebody else and educated in a different area, you might have a situation where there are universities named after him now. He's a very smart guy and he used things he learned to the best of his ability to change his life and the lives of his family at that time. It just happened to be that Bumpy Johnson was his teacher."
As for whether American Gangster, which shows Lucas at the height of his fortune, glorifies that brutal, destructive lifestyle, Crowe says it merely reflects reality.
"Large parts of Frank Lucas' life were very glamourous: the night clubs, hanging out with Wilt Chamberlain, with sports figures and celebrities at the time. His public persona at the time was this guy who ran this nightclub. Everything else that fell down from that wasn't known. Wilt Chamberlain or any of these other celebrities wouldn't have known that Frank was turning over a couple hundred kilos in heroin every month."
Says Washington: "Frank was many layers removed from the street."
Moreover, as opposed to, say, gangsta rap the movie also explores the downfall and subsequent consequences Lucas faced following his arrest. In fact, he and Roberts eventually became friends, after Lucas helped to expose rampant police corruption. "That bond (between them) still exists today," Crowe says.
Besides which, Washington doesn't sound terribly concerned the film will inspire a new wave of criminal minds. Asked who the American gangsters are today, he offers a wry smile. "They get voted in now."
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