American Gangster

Det. Richie Roberts (Crowe) and his men use one of Frank Lucas' (Washington) men to locate and track a load of drugs. They are lead to Newark's projects where Frank's brother Huey (Ejiofor) is supervising the cutting of the drugs. After using swift tactics to break into the apartment, a large shootout occurs and Roberts ends up chasing Huey. Frank being at church the entire time, walks out to find Roberts standing in front of the church and roadblocks on either side of the street, ready to bust him. While in custody, Frank attempts to smart-talk his way out of a large sentence, but Roberts assures him of all the charges he has against Lucas and all the witnesses willing to testify, claiming that the list stretches around the block. Left with no choice, Lucas cooperates with Roberts, giving up 75% of New York's Drug Enforcement Agency, who are claimed to be corrupt detectives. Detective Trupo (Brolin) is among the list and to avoid arrest, he shoots himself. Richie Roberts resigns from the prosecutor's office to become a defense attorney. Frank receives 70 years for conspiracy to distribute narcotics, and all his assets are seized. But his sentence is reduced to a light 15 years for his cooperation. The final shot shows Frank's release in 1991, looking older and out of place.

Jezzy T

American Gangster mistake picture

Factual error: In a shot in Harlem, a Ford Econoline AVIS rental truck drives on the adjacent street. The specific Econoline van was at least a mid-90's to 2000+ model van and the movie takes place in the 70s.

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Richie Roberts: This man murdered thousands, and he did it from a penthouse and driving a Lincoln.

Friso94

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Trivia: Ruby Dee was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as Mama Lucas, even though she's only on screen for less than 10 minutes.

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Question: When Denzil and his new wife are traveling home from their wedding, they are stopped by the crooked SIU cops. When they get home, Denzil goes straight upstairs, gets the fur coat his wife bought him and throws it on the fire. Why did he do this? The look on his face suggests he is angry at his wife, but I can't figure out why.

Answer: The expensive and flashy fur coat (150,000 dollars) makes him extremely noticeable to police. Before the fight, he has been under the radar, but believes the gaudy clothes have given him away as a person with too much money, which gets the police to investigate him.

Answer: The other person who answered is correct but I want to add a little bit more detail. Earlier in the film, Frank chides his cousin at the club for wearing a flashy suit because he said it brings him too much attention. Frank's lapse in judgment in wearing the very expensive mink fur coat out in public as well as shaking hands with Muhammad Ali in front of everybody is ironic because his behavior contradicts what he told his cousin earlier. He is upset because he is now being forced to pay even more bribes, and he's probably upset with himself for not heeding his own advice on staying low key.

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