Despite Washington, Crowe, ‘American Gangster’ is a dud

The film is based on the true story of a drug kingpin
and the cop who brought him down.

By ROBERT W. BUTLER

KANSAS CITY STAR

Two hours and 20 minutes into Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster,” stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe share their first scene together and this big, ambitious crime drama finally flashes to life.

Over a metal table in a police interrogation room, gangster Frank Lucas (Washington) finally sets eyes on his nemesis, scruffy cop Richie Roberts (Crowe). It’s a sharply written scene in which the two men deftly probe each other’s psyche, trade insults and accusations and try to take each other’s measure — eventually finding that they’ve got a lot in common.

This exchange is good — so good it forces you to recognize what’s lacking from the rest of “American Gangster.” The film is smart, well made, impeccably photographed ... and largely uncompelling.

The Harlem-based Lucas was a real figure who in the late ’60s and early ’70s built a streamlined drug empire so effective that it left Mafia-financed heroin operations picking up the leftovers.

Eliminating the middlemen, Lucas bought heroin from Asian manufacturers, shipped it to the U.S. in the coffins of servicemen killed in Vietnam, and sold the astonishingly pure drug (he called it Blue Magic) so cheaply he drove his competition out of business.

Meanwhile, NYC cop Roberts was struggling with a corrupt department in which he was persona non grata — he once found $1 million in drug money and turned it over to authorities, an act that demonstrated to his fellow cops that Roberts was too honest to be trusted.

Transferring to a federally run anti-drug program, Roberts discovered the virtually unknown Lucas and began putting together a case that would bring him down.

“American Gangster” covers five or six years in the lives of these men, chronicling Lucas’ rise to power on the one hand and Roberts’ dogged pursuit on the other.

The more interesting life belongs to Lucas. The low-profile right-hand man of legendary Harlem mobster Bumpy Johnson, Lucas stepped into the void left by Johnson’s death and began building a crime empire.

While perfectly capable of gunning down a rival, Lucas preferred a more businesslike approach.

He wore business suits, believing that parading around in pimp regalia only drew unwanted attention. He preached the sanctity of family, bringing to NYC his brothers and cousins to run his various operations and evidently remaining faithful to the former Miss Puerto Rico (Lymari Nadal) whom he wedded early in his career.

To all appearances he was a gentleman. That is, until someone crossed him and then, whether that individual was an enemy or a blood relation, Lucas’ wrath would come down like a pallet of bricks.

Meanwhile, Officer Roberts is dealing with a partner (John Ortiz) who has gone from busting dealers to using their product, and a wife (Carla Gugino) who, sick of his long absences and womanizing, is taking their son and moving to another city.

One thing Lucas and Roberts share is a devotion to their own concepts of morality. Each man leads his life by a code. Perhaps it makes sense only to him, but that’s enough.

“American Gangster” is crammed with terrific performers. But the film never elicits much of a visceral response.

Scott’s direction seems perfunctory and detached, as if he spent so much time on the movie’s gritty look that he had none to spend on its emotional content. Moreover, as two of our best actors we expect dramatic fireworks from Washington and Crowe. The film, though, is something of a dud.

“American Gangster” is acceptable as a cops-vs-crooks procedural. But those looking for a “Godfather”-level crime epic will be disappointed. Unlike the “Godfather” saga, what you see here is all you get.