| Hoodlum | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Bill Duke |
| Written by | Chris Brancato |
| Produced by | Frank Mancuso Jr. |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Frank Tidy |
| Edited by | Harry Keramidas |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
Production companies | United Artists Frank Mancuso Jr. Productions |
| Distributed by |
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Release date |
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Running time | 130 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million[1] |
| Box office | $23,461,013 (US) |
Hoodlum is a 1997 Americancrimedrama film that gives a fictionalized account of the gang war between theItalian/Jewish mafia alliance and the black gangsters ofHarlem that took place in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The film concentrates onEllsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (Laurence Fishburne),Dutch Schultz (Tim Roth), andLucky Luciano (Andy García).[2]
In 1934,Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson is released fromSing Sing and returns toHarlem, where mobsterDutch Schultz asserts his control of the lucrativenumbers game. Schultz begrudgingly reports toMafia bossCharles "Lucky" Luciano, who pays bribes to special prosecutorThomas E. Dewey to protect his business.
Reuniting with his cousin "Illinois" Gordon, Bumpy returns to the employ of Harlem crime bossMadame Queen, whose business is threatened by Schultz. Bumpy is introduced to Francine, a friend of Illinois' girlfriend Mary. Schultz’s meeting with the Queen ends in a standoff when he presents her with a rival’stesticles. Walking Francine home from a club, Bumpy charms her with his poetry.
Madame Queen is attacked by Schultz’s men, led by black enforcer Bub Hewlett, but Bumpy and fellow mobster Whispers repel the assassins and rescue her. At a meeting of theCommission, Schultz states his determination to take over Harlem. After robbing Schultz’s operation with Illinois, Bumpy is chastised by Madame Queen for making his own decisions. Schultz then hires two hitmen, the Salke brothers, to kill Bumpy, and has his police contact,NYPD Captain Foley, arrange for Madame Queen's arrest. At a party, a 17-year-old named Tyrone asks Bumpy for a job, and Francine struggles to reconcile her feelings for Bumpy with his criminal ways.
The Salkes break into Bumpy’s home, killing his guards, but Bumpy ambushes them and kills one while a terrified Francine shoots the other dead. Illinois is beaten and robbed by Foley and his officers, while Madame Queen is arrested for illegal gambling. Taking over her operation, Bumpy enlists Tyrone as a runner, and ignores the Queen’s orders to avoid violence. By May 1935, he is locked in an all-out war with Schultz. His wealth and power grow, as does the body count, including Tyrone. Bumpy’s attempt to comfort Tyrone’s mother at his funeral is rejected.
At anice cream parlor with Francine, Bumpy realizes hisbanana split has been poisoned. When the shop owner reveals that Bumpy’s associate Vallie ordered him to hire the new teenage employee responsible, Bumpy forces the boy to eat the poisoned ice cream despite his attempts to apologize. Whispers then kills Vallie with a razor. Bumpy confronts Schultz at theCotton Club with Vallie’s severed finger, demanding he cease his Harlem operations, but Schultz refuses.
Disguised as truck drivers, Bumpy and Illinois deliver a bomb to one of Schultz’s illicitbreweries, narrowly escaping before the warehouse explodes. Illinois returns home to find Schultz had Mary killed in retaliation. Threatened by Dewey to end the bloodshed in Harlem, Luciano invites Bumpy and Schultz to a meeting, against both their wills.
Visiting Madame Queen in prison, Bumpy is rebuked for inciting a gang war. Finding she can no longer accept who he is, Francine leaves him, and Illinois drunkenly confronts him over the innocent lives lost. Illinois is abducted and tortured by Foley, to Hewlett’s disgust, but refuses to betray his cousin. At Luciano’s meeting, Bumpy and Schultz refuse to settle their dispute. After finding Illinois’ corpse left as a message, Bumpy slits Foley’s throat while he's with a black prostitute, but spares Hewlett’s life and offers him a partnership.
Bumpy accepts an alliance with Luciano, and Luciano’s driver – on Bumpy’s orders – informs Schultz that Bumpy will be meeting with Luciano’saccountant. Schultz and his men burst in; when the accountant pleads innocence, Dutch shoots him dead. At a restaurant, Schultz’s long-suffering bodyguard Lulu shoots him in the bathroom, and Schultz calmly returns to his table before dying. Meeting Luciano outside for payment, Lulu is shot dead. With Dutch eliminated and the gang war settled, Dewey – having received an enormous bribe from Bumpy, delivered by Hewlett – warns Luciano to stay away from Harlem. Hewlett and Bumpy part ways, and Bumpy arrives at Illinois’ funeral. After exchanging looks with Francine and Madame Queen, Bumpy walks out into the rain alone.
Although set in 1930s Harlem, the film was shot in Chicago.[3]
A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on August 12, 1997 byInterscope Records. It peaked at #94 on theBillboard 200 and #23 on theTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 43% based on 21 reviews.[4]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 50 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[5] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F.[6]
CriticRoger Ebert noted that "the film is being marketed as a violent action picture, and in a sense, it is" and that directorBill Duke having made "a historical drama as much as a thriller, and his characters reflect a time when Harlem seemed poised on the brink of better things, and the despair of the postwar years was not easily seen on its prosperous streets."[7]It was also criticized for many historical inaccuracies including the claim thatThomas E. Dewey took bribes.[8]
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