SEMINAR PRESEMNTATION By Chanelle Asmah

BASIC PLOT

Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, Brian Grazer, Steve Zaillian and director Ridley Scott team to tell the true success story of a cult hero from the streets of 1970s Harlem in American Gangster .

In American Gangster , Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) is the quiet, often unnoticed driver for one of the inner city’s leading black crime bosses. 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 originality and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade. Lucas outplays all of the leading crime associations and becomes not only one of the city’s mainline corrupters, but part of its circle of legit civic superstars.

American Gangster’s 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.

TRAILER

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3216048409/ The trailer is 1 minute 56 seconds long, packed with

various scenes, enough to catch the attention of the target audience but does not reveal too much information.

The trailer gives cues about the type of genre it is through the cinematography and mise-en-scene.

POSTER

No sell lines In all three posters the heads of the cast is cut

off. Black and white. Aspects of red. Contrasting colours. Antagonist is wearing black while the protagonist

is wearing white. Connotations of black- Connotations of white-

MAGAZINES

Empire devoted 50 pages

ALSO IN WORKS EXTRA1, METRO AND SHORT LIST UK

Music

Denzel Washington originally pressed for film producer Brian Grazer to have rapper and Def Jam president Jay-Z compile a soundtrack for the film, but Grazer and director Ridley Scott resisted because they wanted an authentic 1970s feel to the film. As a result, only two new vocal songs, both done by soul singer Anthony Hamilton's in a 1970s style, were recorded for the film. "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)", a Jay-Z song from his 2001 album The Blueprint, was included in the film's trailer. Instead of directly recording for the film, Jay-Z released an album inspired by the film, similarly titled American Gangster, in conjunction with the release of the film

CRITICAL RECEPTION

At the review website Rotten Tomatoes- 79% of 199 reviewers approved of American Gangster

American Gangster was observed as a candidate for the Oscars based on the film's style and the performance of the actors, including the possibility of an Academy Award for Best Director for Ridley Scott.

In an interview Lucas "was gushing" about the film and Denzel Washington's performance; he said he felt amazement at the way he ‘had’ him down.

A New York Post article by Susannah Callahan stated that Lucas "admitted to sources that 'only 20 percent of the film is true

Sterling Johnson Jr, a federal judge who served as a special narcotics prosecutor and assisted the arrest and trial of Lucas Scott, described the film as ‘1% real and 99% Hollywood’.

Johnson described the real life Lucas as "illiterate," "vicious," "violent," and "everything Denzel Washington was not.’’

CONTINUED …

The film appeared on 50 critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.

2nd - Carrie Rickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer 5th - Richard Roeper, At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper 5th - Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post 6th - David Germain, Associated Press 6th - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone 7th - Lou Lumenick, New York Post 8th - Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald

AWARDS && NOMINATIONS

The film was put forward for a total 18 nominations.

Out of these nominations, the wins include Best supporting Actress (Ruby Dee) from the African American Film Critics.

Best Editing from the Satellite Awards and Outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role (Ruby Dee)