Hoodlum (1997)

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.

Fmovies: A solid, well-to-do flick, "Hoodlum" is a good film trying to

live up the dying genre of the 1930's gangster flick. Laurence

Fishburne is in top form as Bumpy, an ex-con from Sing Sing who

becomes a big time ganglord in Harlem. While not tackling

enemies such as Dutch Schultz (Tim Roth) and Lucky Luchiano

(Andy Garcia), Bumpy romances his girl Francine (the fine

Vanessa Williams). Packed with machine gun-toting violence,

"Hoodlum" has the cool style of modern day crime thrillers such

as "New Jack City" and the sneering Al Caponeish look of the old

style

I would highly recommend the movie. I am not a big fan of gangster movies but this one it's much larger than that. I was browsing through my cable channels, stumbled on it and got hooked right away. The performances are awesome, the directing excellent, the costumes & sets perfect. And the story, well...true. That's what makes the movie even more attractive. The reason I am posting this comment - I've never done it before - is because I got irritated by critics' opinion about it. I am no movie expert, but to trash this one it's just plain or deliberate oversight. Please don't skip the movie just because somebody else tells you so. Give it a shot and you won't regret it. I promise.

Hoodlum fmovies. The 1997 movie `Hoodlum' takes place during the depression. A black man named Ellsworth `Bumpy' Johnson (Lawrence Fishburne) was released from prison and went back to Harlem. Then he joins his cousin, Illinois Gordon, and gets back into an illegal lottery racket ran by Madame Queen. They call the game `numbers.' They say that numbers is the only business in Harlem which provides them with work. A white man from uptown named Dutch Shultz (Tim Roth) is also trying to run the numbers downtown in Harlem, and there ends up being a battle between Shultz and the Queen. Madame goes to jail and leaves Bumpy in charge. Bumpy meets a fine woman, Francine (Vanessa Williams), who sees good in him and wants him to stop messing around with `numbers.' But she stays by his side while things get chaotic. Will he realize what he should do in time or will he lose everything?

The director Bill Duke has a message in this movie. It says when people are left limited options, they are going to find a way to get by. In one scene, Bumpy is telling Illinois because of the depression there isn't very many jobs and white men didn't leave them any jobs, so they had no options for making money other than through the numbers racket.

This movie had fast paced action. I liked the part where Dutch Shultz wants Madame Queen's organization out of the numbers racket in Harlem, so he can make all the money from it. Bumpy, who works for Madame Queen, comes up with a plan for eliminating the problem of Dutch, by getting Lucky Luciano (Andy Garcia), another gangster, and Dutch in a fight. This movie is a `classic gangster movie.'

Riveting film about gang wars and race relations in 1930s New York, with Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (Laurence Fishburne) at the center. Engaging characters and situations make this overlong movie watchable; but Andy Garcia doesn't channel Luciano as well as he should, and Tim Roth turns Dutch Schultz into such a blatant stock villain that one wonders what the real Arthur Fleggenheimer was like. Otherwise, excellent performances all around - and Paul Benjamin steals several scenes as a creepy assassin who talks as if he eats tobacco leaves for breakfast. Emotional and powerful.

I think that Hoodlum is a great gangster film and is extremely underrated. I think that this movie can definitely hang up there with all the other movies that get praise for being good crime dramas. What I like about the film is the way it really portrays the actual characters in real life. Lawrence Fishburne and Tim Roth give great performances that really bring this movie alive. Also, Andy Garcia does a good job portraying Lucky Luciano. I think that this movie had all the elements of a good movie but it just got shafted a little. I'm not saying it's Goodfellas, but if you like that movie then there is no reason why you would not like this one. I love the story behind this movie and the subplot of his relationship with Vanessa Williams. and I must admit that I do like this movie because I love crime family dramas and it is nice to see one with black people starring in it showing what part they played in that world back in that time frame. I would suggest to anyone who likes gangster and mafia movies to go see this one. If you want to learn about the history of organized crime back in the 20's and 30's then this is a great way to get a feel for that time! This movie gets nothing but rave reviews from me :)