Dead Presidents (1995)

"Dead Presidents," the Hughes Brothers' ambitious 1995 follow-up to their equally ambitious debut, the gritty and ultraviolent 1993 drama "Menace II Society," is about as ambitious as most films can get, and in some ways it's better than their previous film, and in some ways it's not.

Many have taken note of co-directing team Allen and Albert Hughes' referencing to their cinema heroes like Martin Scorsese and the bloody gangster classic "Scarface." Indeed, observant viewers will note the explicit bloodshed that's prevalent in "Dead Presidents" as being homage to the graphic gangster pictures of yesteryear, and that doesn't make it bad.

"Presidents" takes a look at the role that the color green played in the lives young black men before and after Vietnam. In fact, on the killing fields of good old 'Nam, mankind is seen at its absolute lowest, where soldiers on both sides of the conflict commit horrific atrocities, including a scene where a black soldier decapitates a (dead) Viet Cong and keeps the head for good luck, or when an American soldier is gutted and castrated.

Obviously, the Hughes Brothers have some real big qualms about black mens' involvement in that conflict, and the film's central character, Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate), finds little prospects awaiting him in the Bronx after doing two tours in Vietnam.

Before he left, however, he'd impregnated his girlfriend Juanita (Rose Jackson) and while in country, he doesn't permit himself to think of what he's left behind in America. So when Anthony's forced to leave his low-paying job as a meat cutter, it's not a surprise that he's already begun plans to knock off an armored truck to get some "dead presidents," which is street slang for dollar bills.

So, together with his two involuntarily enlisted Vietnam buddies Skip (Chris Tucker) and Jose (Freddy Rodriguez), Anthony's Uncle Kirby (Keith David), Juanita's radicalized sister Delilah (N'Bushe Wright) and Cleon (Bokeem Woodbine), they proceed to knock over the truck and make way with its valuable assets.

The film is most definitely a gritty look at the "black experience" during the Civil Rights era and the Hughes Brothers certainly pay a lot more attention to the details of the picture. It's not better than "Menace," but is certainly better-made, now that they have been given a more reasonable budget.

10/10

Fmovies: Chris Tucker is hilarious in this movie, he has great on screen charisma, and he speaks his lines very fluidly, as if he was improvising. Larenz Tate is great as well, being able to pull off the young version of his character, since he has a boyish face. And Bokeem Woodbine reminds me of Samuel L. Jackson in this movie. The cinematography is also great and so is the acting overall. Like everyone says, its not so much as a heist movie, but a reflection on the hardships of the black individual, such as finding work and drug abuse; after fighting a war that wasnt really meant for them or their country.

For all those who liked the movie "Menace 2 Society",you are going to love this one. This movie features the star from Menace to Society "Larenz Tate" and the well known "Chris Tucker". This is a very violent movie and have a few very gory scenes of the Vietnam war,but that is okay because this movie really shows how difficult it must have been for a black man growing up in the Bronx in the 60's.And it shows how life is for him and his friends after coming home from the Vietnam war. The language in this movie is of course very tough and rough and I could actually count the f-word 247 times in this movie and that speaks for it's self.

This is an extremely well made movie that really shows the reality of how hard the world can be for some people.

I advice everybody to go out and pick up this movie, because it is a story that you got to hear.

Dead Presidents fmovies. I really enjoyed this movie. Everyone in it did an excellent job and it was very gripping. It keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Larenz Tate, in his best role ever, plays Anthony Curtis, a young black man from late 1960's The Bronx, who is just a regular guy who hangs out with his friends played by Chris Tucker also in his best role ever as Skip, and Freddy Rodriguez as Jose. Shortly after graduation from high school, Anthony decides he doesn't want to follow his big brother's path of going to college but instead, joining the Marine Corps and fight for his country. Shortly thereafter, we are taken to Vietnam with the boys and we meet some other interesting characters, one of them a psychotic preacher, Cleon, played by Bokeem Woodbine,and the Vietnam sequences are executed very realistically and are very bloody. After a while, we are taken back to the boogie down Bronx, where Anthony upon returning to the old neighborhood after four years,realizes that things are even worse than before, and everyone, including his pre-Vietnam girlfriend, Juanita, all have taken their lives in a different direction. Anthony is now a father, and cannot find a job anywhere and realizes that his own country has turned his back on him and many young black veterans from 'Nam, including his old boys Skip and Jose. We also meet Kirby, played by Keith David, a once cold and ruthless hustler, who has now left the life because the corruption of the city has forced him to quit his old habits, and Juanita's sister Delilah, played by N'Bushe Wright, who is an activist with the Black Panthers. Pretty soon all of these characters, save Juanita, fed up with their lives and their situation, get together to plan a stickup on an armored truck that is making a pickup of old dollar bills and is taking them to a location in Washington to burn them. The stickup sequence is very well made, but of course, bloody. This movie is filled with great performances, the best coming from Larenz Tate, Bokeem Woodbine and Keith David, heart-pounding action and good dialogue. A Hughes Brothers' classic. 9.5 out of 10.

Albert and Allen Hughes direct, produce and co-write (with Michael Henry Brown) this tale about Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate), a South Bronx boy who goes off to fight in Vietnam, to then return after his tours of duty to find things just aren't the same anymore. The follow up to their incendiary debut, Menace II Society, the Hughes brothers deliver another in your face picture that is quite frankly on a perpetual downer. This is no bad thing, though, as long as you are not looking to be cheered up.

That's Uncle Sam for you! Mean Green.

The pic very much harks back to the glory days of film noir in the 40s and 50s, where some talented film makers began to tell stories of returning war veterans finding what they left behind is now alien to them - with some characters, as is the case here - deeply scarred by their experiences. Add in some gangster elements and the coup de grâce that is the scintillating heist, and clearly the brothers have seen many an old classic film. That the narrative is tried and tested stops the piece hitting greater heights, this in spite of some super acting (especially Tate and the always value for money Keith David) and the hard hitting violence that pierces the senses. Predictable yet potent, and certainly memorable, it's well worth a look for the tough of mind and the classic era film of heart. 7/10

Dead Presidents is an okay movie. Not bad, not great. Okay. I give it a B-.

I give Dead Presidents high marks for casting and acting. Larenz Tate, Chris Tucker, and the rest did a fabulous job. I also like the war scenes--very gripping, very scary.

The problem that I have with the movie is that it spans too many genres and as a result, just seems to drag on and on. The tag line would make you believe that this is a cops and robbers film centered around a major heist. But that is terribly misleading. The heist doesn't happen and isn't even an issue until late in the film. Up to that point you could consider this a life in the ghetto movie, trying to escape the ghetto movie, a Viet Nam war movie, a what life was like for blacks in the late 60's early 70's movie, a what the Viet Nam war did to those who survived it movie, so on and so on. By the time it came around for the big robbery, I was wondering when this movie would end. This problem of too grand a scope keeps the movie from getting an A.