| Boyz n the Hood | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | John Singleton |
| Written by | John Singleton |
| Produced by | Steve Nicolaides |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Charles Mills |
| Edited by | Bruce Cannon |
| Music by | Stanley Clarke |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 112 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5.7–6.5 million[1][2] |
| Box office | $57.5 million[2] |
Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 Americancoming-of-agehoodcrime drama film written and directed byJohn Singleton in hisfeature directorial debut.[3] It starsIce Cube (in his film debut),Cuba Gooding Jr.,Morris Chestnut (in his film debut), andLaurence Fishburne (credited as Larry Fishburne), withNia Long,Tyra Ferrell,Regina King (in her film debut), andAngela Bassett in supporting roles.Boyz n the Hood follows Tre Styles (Gooding), who is sent to live with his father Furious Styles (Fishburne) inSouth Central Los Angeles, where he reunites with his childhood friends while surrounded by the neighborhood's boominggang culture. The film's title is a reference to the 1987Eazy-Erap song of the same name, written by Ice Cube.
Singleton initially developed the film as a requirement for his application to film school in 1986 and sold the script toColumbia Pictures upon graduation in 1990. During writing, he drew inspiration from his own life and from the lives of people he knew and insisted he direct the project. Principal photography began in September 1990 and was filmed on location from October to November 1990. The film features breakout roles for Ice Cube, Gooding Jr., Chestnut, and Long.
Boyz n the Hood was screened in theUn Certain Regard section at the1991 Cannes Film Festival.[4] It premiered in Los Angeles on July 2, 1991, and was theatrically released in the United States ten days later. The film became a critical and commercial success, grossing $57.5 million in North America and earning nominations forBest Director andBest Original Screenplay at the64th Academy Awards. Singleton became theyoungest person and thefirst African American to be nominated for Best Director. In 2002, the United StatesLibrary of Congress deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in theNational Film Registry.[5][6]
In 1984, 10-year-old Tre Styles lives with his single mother, Reva Devereaux, inSouth Central Los Angeles. After Tre gets into an altercation at school, his teacher informs Reva that although intelligent, he lacks maturity and respect. Reva concernedly sends him to live in theCrenshaw neighborhood with his strict but also caring and attentive father, Furious Styles, hoping their son will learn life lessons from him.
While in Crenshaw, Tre reunites with childhood friends Darrin "Doughboy" Baker, Doughboy's half-brother Ricky, and their friend Chris. One night, Furious notifies theLAPD after shooting at a burglar but missing. Two police officers, Graham and Coffey arrive an hour later. Though Graham is civil and professional, Coffey, a black officer, uses a racist epithet to describe the perpetrator. The next day, Chris leads Tre and his friends to a dead body, after which a group of teenagers harasses them. Later on, en route back from a fishing trip, both father and son notice Doughboy and Chris being arrested for shoplifting.
Seven years later, Doughboy, now aCrip and drug dealer, is released from prison. Attending his homecoming party are Chris, now paraplegic due to a gunshot wound, and new friends and fellow Crips Dooky and Monster. Ricky, now a starrunning back atCrenshaw High School, lives with his mother Brenda, his girlfriend Shanice, and their toddler son. Lewis Crump, a visitingUniversity of Southern California recruiter, instructs Ricky to obtain anSAT score above a 700 to qualify for a football scholarship. Meanwhile, Tre, now mature and responsible, hopes to attend college with his girlfriend Brandi.
During a nighttime street gathering on Crenshaw Boulevard, Ferris, a member of the rivalBloods gang, bumps and provokes Ricky, inciting a confrontation that involves Doughboy flashing a handgun. Ferris fires an automatic weapon into the air, frightening all present into fleeing. Police soon pull Tre and Ricky over, and Coffey threateningly holds his revolver to Tre's throat. Tre later retreats to Brandi's house and breaks down in her arms. After she comforts him and leads him to her bedroom, they partake in sexual intercourse for the first time.
The next afternoon, Doughboy and his gang notice Ferris and two Bloods members driving through their neighborhood seeking retribution for the previous night's confrontation. Tasked by Brenda to run an errand, Ricky encounters and fights Doughboy, with Brenda defending Ricky and smacking Doughboy. Ricky's test results are delivered as he and Tre depart. Later spotted by the Bloods, they cut through back alleys to avoid them before splitting up. However, the Bloods locate and fatally shoot Ricky, and a distraught Doughboy helps Tre carry Ricky's bloodied corpse home. Afterwards, Brenda and Shanice, both devastated by Ricky's death, tearfully blame Doughboy for instigating the shooting.
Vengefully taking and loading his father's gun, Tre almost departs to join Doughboy outside but Furious intercepts him, seemingly convincing him to reject revenge. Moments later, though, Furious and Brandi catch Tre sneaking out to join his friends. Later that night, as they drive around the city, Tre comes to his senses and returns home. Meanwhile, Brenda receives Ricky's SAT results and discovers his score of 710, enough to qualify for his scholarship. After Doughboy, Dooky and Monster unexpectedly encounter Ferris and the Bloods eating outside a fast food restaurant, Monster shoots the fleeing trio in adrive-by shooting. Doughboy then stops and exits his car to approach their bodies; aware Ferris and Ricky's killer are still alive, he murders them in a vengeful situation. Later that evening, when Tre arrives home, he and Furious stare at each other before entering their bedrooms for the night without having any words exchanged.
The next morning, Doughboy visits Tre, understanding why he abandoned the gang. Knowing he will face retaliation for killing Ferris, and reflecting on his own lifestyle, Doughboy questions why people like him are ignored, and also laments Ricky's death and his mother's disaffection. Tre embraces him as a surrogate brother. As Doughboy departs and Tre goes back into his house, a postscript from the epilogue text reveals that Ricky was buried the next day and Doughboy was murdered two weeks later. Tre and Brandi ultimately depart in the fall to attend college near each other inAtlanta, Georgia.
Singleton wrote the film based on his own life and that of people he knew.[8] When applying for film school, one of the questions on the application form was to describe "three ideas for films". One of the ideas Singleton composed was titledSummer of 84, which later evolved intoBoyz n the Hood.[8] During writing, Singleton was influenced by the 1986 filmStand by Me, which inspired both an early scene where four young boys take a trip to see a dead body and the closing fade-out of main character Doughboy.[8]
Upon completion, Singleton was protective of his script, insisting that he be the one to direct the project, later explaining at a retrospective screening of the film "I wasn't going to have somebody fromIdaho orEncino direct this movie."[3] He sold the script to Columbia Pictures in 1990, whogreenlit the film immediately out of interest in making a film similar to the comedy-drama filmDo the Right Thing (1989).
The role of Doughboy was written specially for Ice Cube, whom Singleton met while working as an intern atThe Arsenio Hall Show.[8] Singleton also noted the studio was unaware of Ice Cube's standing as a member of rap groupN.W.A.[8] Singleton claims Gooding and Chestnut were cast because they were the first ones who showed up to auditions,[8] while Fishburne was cast after Singleton met him on the set ofPee-wee's Playhouse, where Singleton worked as a production assistant and security guard.[9]
Long grew up in the area the film depicts and has said, "It was important as a young actor to me that this feels real because I knew what it was like go home from school and hear gunshots at night." Bassett referred to Singleton as her "little brother" on set. "I'd been in LA for about three years and I was trying, trying, trying to do films," she said. "We talked, I auditioned and he gave me a shot. I've been waiting to work with him ever since."[3]
The film was shot in sequence, with Singleton later noting that as the film goes on, the camera work gets better as Singleton was finding his foothold as a director.[3] He has a cameo in the film, appearing as a mailman handing over mail to Brenda as Doughboy and Ricky are having a scuffle in the front yard. Filming began on October 1, 1990, in South Central Los Angeles, with several gang members serving as consultants, on "wardrobe, vocal emphasis and dialogue changes" to ensure authenticity.[1]
Boyz n the Hood was released in North America on July 12, 1991. It made $10 million in its opening weekend from 829 theaters, debuting at #3 at the box office. It finished its run with $57.5 million.[10]
Review aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 96% based on 71 reviews and an average score of 8.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted and thematically rich,Boyz n the Hood observes urban America with far more depth and compassion than many of the like-minded films its success inspired."[11] AtMetacritic, the film received an average score of 76 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews.[12]
Film scholar Timothy Laurie suggests thatBoyz n the Hood engages with the wider social and political issues of the early 1990s: "Tre Styles is already being ensnared within a discourse of risk that positions young black boys as potential perpetrators of violence; as Andrés Leal argues, the urban environment inBoyz n the Hood becomes ‘a definitory element in the formation of the "hood individuals" present and future identities’ (2013, 30). Tragedies have been pre-plotted in Tre's life story."[13]
Boyz n the Hood launched the acting careers of Gooding, Cube, Chestnut, Long and King, who were given their first major leading roles in the film, as well as the first significant film role for Angela Bassett[3] Along withColors (1988) andDo the Right Thing (1989),Boyz n the Hood is credited as a notable pioneer of thehood film genre, with its success leading to American hood films such asNew Jack City (also 1991),Juice (1992),Menace II Society (1993),Friday (1995),Training Day (2001),8 Mile (2002),Hustle & Flow,Get Rich or Die Tryin' (both 2005),Dope,Straight Outta Compton (both 2015),Moonlight (2016) andThe Hate U Give (2018).
For his work, Singleton earned nominations forBest Director andBest Original Screenplay at the64th Academy Awards, making him theyoungest person andfirst African American to be nominated for Best Director. Since then, the only black nominees in the category have beenLee Daniels,Steve McQueen,Barry Jenkins,Jordan Peele andSpike Lee. In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
In 2024 theAcademy Museum of Motion Pictures launched an exhibition based onBoyz n the Hood, curated by Esme Douglas.[14] Located in The Significant Movies and Moviemakers gallery as part of their Stories of Cinema series, the exhibition examinesJohn Singleton's debut filmBoyz n the Hood as well as "the movie's groundbreaking depiction of Black life in South Central Los Angeles as well as its lasting impact in popular culture."[15] The exhibition features location and production photographs by D Stevens andIthaka Darin Pappas, costumes and props, behind the scenes footage, a mural, and displays discussing the film's impact on pop culture. It opened on February 6, 2024, at theAcademy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California and will run through January 4, 2026.[15]
Boyz n the Hood was released onVHS andLaserDisc in 1992,DVD in 1998,Blu-ray in 2011, andUltra HD Blu-ray in 2020.[24][25] The film will be released on Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray byThe Criterion Collection in April 2026 in the "John Singleton’s Hood Trilogy" set withPoetic Justice andBaby Boy.[26]
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | U.S. R&B | |||
| 1991 | Boyz n the Hood
| 12 | 1 | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
