American Gangster.. Is it based on a real story??

Oh well, this is my second post that relate to a movie. Last time was about Rocky Balboa. And now, I'd like to review about American Gangster starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe (did I spell their name right?).

American Gangster is said based on a true story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) who become a drug lord from a driver and right-hand man for Bumpy Johnson, a mob leader of Harlem, USA. Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas, the quiet driver to one of the inner city's leading black crime bosses. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and create his own version of the American Dream. Through ingenuity and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with a purer product at a better price. And condemning the other drug dealer in the neighborhood.

He is shown to have a confident character to march deep into the jungle of South-East Asia as the Vietnam War still rages, looking for drugs right to it sources and smuggle the drugs into the States by hide the drugs under the caskets of Vietnam casualties. Besides that, Lucas outplays all of the leading crime syndicates and becomes not only one of the city's mainline corrupter, but part of its circle of legit civic superstars.

Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is an outcast cop close enough to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene. Both Lucas and Roberts share a rigorous ethical code that sets them apart from their own colleagues, making them lone figures on opposite sides of the law.

Later in the story, Richie Roberts gets a source that lead to the biggest heroin confiscated in the States history. And later leads to the capture of Frank Lucas. He was convicted, but Richie demand his cooperation capture corrupts police. And this leads to revelation legions of corrupted police officers.

This review is based from the story shown in the movie. But the real thing is the story is just 1% reality and 99% Hollywood. Here is part of the issues. Everyone has thought about hiding the drug inside the caskets but the reality is, it didn't hidden there. And the other one is Frank Lucas didn't help rooting the corrupted officers based on the movie. It was fabricated in this movie.

So, how great this movie is, I think Hollywood ought to say that they fabricate American Gangster based on the real events. However, this movie is one of the best movie I've seen. So I should say that I recommend to watch this movie.

Denzel Washington rules!!!! ;P

Courtesy from The Star and Wikipedia