Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Tim Roth, Andy Garcia, Vanessa Williams, Cicely Tyson, Clarence Williams, Queen Latifah, Chi McBride

Director: Bill Duke

Summary: A recently released mobster discovers that his 'patch' has been taken over by racketeers... He has no choice but to throw in with the most feared crime boss in New York, Lucky Luciano.

Bill Duke's HOODLUM, with its rich visuals, brutal violence, and moral probing, pays homage to THE GODFATHER and other classic gangster films while exploring the nature of black empowerment as it relates to criminality. The film is Duke's second collaboration with Laurence Fishburne, and as with DEEP COVER, Fishburne delivers a compelling performance. He plays Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, the legendary Harlem gangster of the 1930s who fought Dutch Schultz for control of the numbers racket. Tim Roth is hilariously grotesque as Schultz, a villain whose foul mouth sets a new cinematic standard. Duke gets strong performances from Andy Garcia as Lucky Luciano and Chi McBride as Bumpy's right-hand man, Illinois. Vanessa Williams plays Francine, a social activist who loves Bumpy but can't understand the violent path he's chosen. Bumpy, a surprisingly civic-minded criminal, goes to war with Schultz to protect Harlem from the interloper, but as the body count mounts in the community he's trying to protect, he ends up losing the support of those closest to him. The film's uneasy mix of mayhem and humour makes for compelling viewing, and the moral questions it raises about black empowerment and criminality only add to the intrigue.

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Hoodlum, Bill Duke's interesting but flawed blaxploitation take on the classic gangster movie, usefully redresses a balance. It is all too easy to see the criminal underworld of the 1920s as an all-white affair, in which Harlem is an exotic locale where occasionally white gangsters patronise the black performers of the Cotton Club, from which black audiences were specifically barred. Yet one of the principal sources of illegal revenue was the numbers racket in Harlem--gambling on stock market closing figures--revenue on which the likes of Dutch Schultz and Lucky Luciano were keen to lay their hands. Lawrence Fishburne is an impressive "Bumpy" Johnson, the street enforcer turned strategist for the matriarchal Queen (Cicely Tyson), gradually learning a ruthlessness that forfeits him the love of a good woman, Francine (Vanessa Williams). Tim Roth as Schultz and Andy Garcia as Luciano are essentially melodramatic turns--the foul-mouthed punk and the reptilian smoothy--and both turn in enjoyably full-blooded unsubtle performances. --Roz Kaveney

Aspect Ratio:	1.77 Wide Screen, 16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Original Theatrical Trailer, Interactive Menu, Chapter Selection
Year:	1997
Release Date:	March 19, 2001
Runtime:	125 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	15820 D V D
Keywords:	Action, General, Adventure, Hoodlum
Genre:	Action/Adventure