Good movie but grossly overrated

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Hoodlum takes place in mid-1930's Harlem right in the middle of the great depression. No one has any work including the largely African-American Harlemites so playing the numbers and running numbers was the way to make a buck. A lady by the name of Madam Queen (Cicely Tyson) ran the numbers racket in Harlem but a greedy gangster by the name of the Dutchman (Tim Roth) saw fit to take a cut of all of Madam Queen's profits. Bumpy Johnson (Laurence Fishburne), a right-hand man of the Queen's, wanted to keep Harlem money in Harlem even if that meant going to war with the Dutchman.The story was a sound story even though the movie itself had some flaws. One thing I couldn't get past was Laurence Fishburne playing a gangster. He just didn't seem to fit the role to me. He wasn't all that bad it's just that he didn't quite seem to fit. Besides Fishburne everyone else seemed right for their roles.The movie moved at a steady pace ever building to some kind of impasse between Bumpy and the Dutchman. There were some major setbacks along the way but what you gathered from the movie is that Bumpy was extremely ambitious and was willing to risk a lot to attain power--or maybe it was just to attain financial freedom for Harlem--it can be either/or depending upon your view of Bumpy.When I watched the movie for the first time 20+ years ago I had no idea that Bill Duke was the director. I'd say he did a good job overall with the exception of some of the slow motion shots and the music. Slo mo can be very effective when used correctly and it can be very distracting when used incorrectly. I think Bill Duke tried too hard to make the portentous moments stick out as though the audience wouldn't recognize their significance. There's no need to do that if your movie is good enough because you will have the audience's attention. And the music just wasn't my flavor. I know it was a 30's era movie but the 30's era musical choices were lousy. Not that I have a musical ear but it sounded off key to me. The slo mo and the music weren't big detractors though; nothing that was going to make me stop the movie in disgust. It was an exceptional movie and worth the watch.

Gangster movies tend to be judged on three factors: how good is the acting, how intelligent is the script and how believable is the action. This particular film has all three. Taking place in a suburb of New York City, in the time of the Great Depression, this picture stars Laurence Fishburne as "Bumpy" Johnson, an African-American gangster and the war he wages against "Dutch" Schultz, played by Tim Roth. And in the background, waiting to do business, is Lucky Luciano portrayed by Andy Garcia. Probably one of the reasons I give this film the rating one sees is because I feel it tells a fascinating piece of history from a different perspective than with conventional Hollywood techniques. I like the story, the action's well thought out and it has a surprisingly heartfelt and touching ending. For anyone who likes gangster movies, highly recommend you check this flick out.

Overlong but riveting, highly visceral mob movie with a difference, as it shows the rise to prominence of "Bumpy" Johnson (Laurence Fishburne). Johnson, fresh from a stint in prison, goes to work for successful Harlem numbers racketeer Stephanie St. Clair (Cicely Tyson), then takes over the operation when she is sent to prison. His approach, unsurprisingly, is much different and more proactive than hers, which comes in handy when they are forced to deal with the activities of Arthur Flegenheimer, a.k.a. "Dutch Schultz" (Tim Roth), a pathologically greedy, flamboyantly nasty creep just full of swagger.Fishburne commands the screen with his calm and cool performance as Bumpy. His Bumpy is a man never caught off guard, a man with his own philosophy and way of life that prevents him from wanting to enter churches. His love story in this fictionalization is Francine Hughes, played by the lovely Vanessa L. Williams, who adds a great deal of humanity to the scenario as she tries to distance herself from Bumpys' actions; even when she is clearly acting in self defense as she shoots a would be assassin, she feels very uneasy about it.Andy Garcia is merely passable as mob boss of the day "Lucky" Luciano, but there are plenty of other despicable antagonists to raise the ire of the audience. Richard Bradford plays a corrupt police captain, calling to mind his role in "The Untouchables", except that here his character is a racist as well. William Atherton plays real life attorney Thomas Dewey, who is portrayed as being just as crooked as anyone in this tale. The radiant Tyson shines in her limited screen time. Chi McBride supplies both comedy relief and a level of heart as Bumpys' cousin "Illinois" Gordon, and Loretta Devine is likable as his lady friend. Queen Latifah isn't given much to do in her small supporting role. Some very fine character actors dot the landscape: Clarence Williams III, real life brothers Mike and Beau Starr, Paul Benjamin, Joe Guzaldo, Ed O'Ross, J.W. Smith, Eddie Bo Smith Jr., and John Toles-Bey. Roth tends to steal the show, although there's nothing subtle about his performance or the way that Schultz is written.On the technical side, some reasonably good period recreation is done, Bill Duke directs with style, and there's a lovely score by Elmer Bernstein as well as a few musical numbers."Hoodlum" is decent entertainment, but that's what it is: entertainment. It's only loosely based on the real stories of the real life people involved, so it isn't to be mistaken for a history lesson.Seven out of 10.

A pretty good "old mobs" mafia picture, this time with a black gang in the forefront, which is a breath of fresh air. The cast is good, with the exception of Vanessa Williams who is blah; here's a fixed-my-nose Miss-America-Contest winner that both sings and acts; clearly she has been allowed by too many casting and record-company bozos to overstretch her limited talents. Talk about the legendary Hollywood "casting couch"! Tim Roth takes a while to get used to, with his phony New Yoyk accent; casting an Englishman, even one as terrific as Roth, to play a 30s NY mobster with a heavy accent is definitely what I would call unnecessary – to put it mildly.There are plenty of interesting twists and turns and goings-on, including good action scenes. However, a couple of them weren't too credible; firstly, the assassination attempt at Fishburne was far-fetched, and, secondly, Roth's death is too unrealistic and over-the-top. When one compares this movie's Schultz and Luciano, and the way they were shown in "Billy Bathgate", then one has to wonder which is more accurate, since the two sets of portrayals tend to differ. But considering they're both Hollywood version, both I assume are way off the mark, as entertaining as the movies may be.