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Re: Re: Re: I disagree he was a Sociopath (Reply to this comment)
by Ed.Williamson
Well, if you recall, this is about reviewing a movie, and that is what the movie unmistakably depicted. Anything else is outside the realm of movie reviewing and should be addressed under another category.
Thanks for your comments.
Ed
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Nov 07 '07
4:26 am PST
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Re: Re: I disagree he was a Sociopath (Reply to this comment)
by lli_wright
There were several parts of the movie that were fiction and made up by the script writer. How do you know he set the man on fire....he never admitted that in the interviews I've read and seen on TV.
He does admit to shooting Tango....and some other murders while he was the right-hand man of Bumpy Johnson.
I think he left most of the killing to his "country boys" brothers and nephews.
He's still alive, 77 yrs old in a wheelchair. You should go to charlierose.com site, click November 2 and see the interviews with all parties. He and Richie are friends, Richie is his attorney and paid for his son's schooling.
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Nov 07 '07
3:47 am PST
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Re: I disagree he was a Sociopath (Reply to this comment)
by Ed.Williamson
Sociopaths are often highly intelligent, and fully capable of making lots of money, promoting political victories, and exterminating thousands of lives (heroin trafficking in Harlem) or millions (the Jews in Nazi Germany) without blinking an eye. They have the remarkable capacity to reinvent reality on their own terms, so that the world becomes their version of the world and anyone without their godlike perspective is just a lower form of life to them that doesn't get how great they are. Sorry, but this "American Gangster" seems to fit the description.
For the record, I've known a number of other poor African-American men who went through racist hell but didn't try to go into lives of torture and murder and drugs like this "American Gangster" did in the film. And they would resent his injustices being used as a rationalization for what he did with that part of his life. The scene at the start where he throws gasoline on a man, sets him afire with a match, watches him die in the writhing agony of being burned alive, and then shoots him, should tell us that what we have here is no poor, misunderstood brother down on his luck with a right to right the scales of justice. Something else entirely.
I picked up the description 'sociopath' from the Sickel & Ebert TV show review of the film. Seems spot-on to me.
Ed
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Nov 05 '07
1:30 pm PST
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I disagree he was a Sociopath (Reply to this comment)
by lli_wright
You may want to revise your heading. He was a poor southern Black man, who had witnessed his cousin's hanging, and his dad deserted the family when he stood up to the law. At 6 yrs old he was the oldest and had to help feed the family so he started stealing. At 12 he left home and went to Harlem, was homeless and was recruited by the Black mob.
He was a desperate man, not a sociopath. Plus, he was illiterate could not read and write, but for an illiterate he was smart enough to amass $250Mil in assets.
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Nov 05 '07
3:41 am PST
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Crowe has had some luck with roles (Reply to this comment)
by pmills1210,  in Movies
I remember "Virtuosity," though, which also starred Washington. I liked the acting, but didn't care for the film itself. I do want to see their second effort together, though. Thanks for sharing!
Sincerely, Pat
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Nov 04 '07
10:29 pm PST
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Re: Crowe's Aussie accent ruined it for me (Reply to this comment)
by Ed.Williamson
I guess I am so impressed with his acting, especially in comparison to so many impeccably American-speaking actors who give such mediocre performances, that the occasional accent thing didn't bother me. I guess it didn't bother Ridley Scott, the director, that much either or he would have re-shot those scenes after coaching Russell.
But we all have our preferences from our movies.
Ed
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Nov 04 '07
5:37 am PST
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Crowe's Aussie accent ruined it for me (Reply to this comment)
by lli_wright
He still hasn't captured the American (NYer) accent. His accent kept going in and out...and I think that won't sit well.
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Nov 04 '07
5:21 am PST
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Re: Great review, Ed (Reply to this comment)
by Ed.Williamson
Well, if someone had asked Michelangelo and Leonardo di Vinci to create a statue of Mary at the same time, I'm sure the results would have been unique in each case as well, so is it unreasonable, in this age, to expect two distinguished masters of the literary arts, to create their own unique reviews? Now to even pretend that we are up on that level is facetious, of course, but it's kind of fun to wish that we were.
Ed
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Nov 04 '07
5:00 am PST
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Re: Ed, (Reply to this comment)
by Ed.Williamson
Some theaters let you become a senior citizen 5-7 years before others do. That discount at 55 is nice.
Ed
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Nov 04 '07
4:53 am PST
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Great review, Ed (Reply to this comment)
by mike.holmes
It always amazes me that we can see the same film at the same time and agree that it's great or lousy, yet write reviews which differ so much. Really like your review here.
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Nov 03 '07
9:21 am PDT
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Ed, (Reply to this comment)
by quidrock
Great review, very succinct, yet captured it all.
I think they did charge me twice. $7 for a matinee? I gotta hurry up and become a senior citizen.
quidrock
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Nov 03 '07
8:26 am PDT
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