If you're a fan of Goodfellas, C a s i n o or Donnie Brasco, then you will love American Gangster. I rank this right up there with my all time favorite gangster films. This is a great film, but because of so many historical inaccuracy's about Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) and Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe), it doesn't quite hold water as one of the all time greatest. Yes, I get that Hollywood is going to change things around to make a better movie, but they really went out of their way to create a new "identity" for both characters that it's not even really about the actual men themselves, but more about the process of how he became the biggest crime lord in his day.

Even with this fabrication on the filmmakers part, it doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the movie itself. It's still a great ride to get to the end. It just sucks that we have to wait till the last 20 minutes of the film before Denzel and Russell share any screen time together. But they they finally do, it's well worth the wait.

Gotta give props to Josh Brolin, who stole every scene he was in, He owned the role of Reno Trupo. And props to Ridley Scott, who continues to amaze me in his versatility as a Director. He is so adept at changing genres and not losing a step in the process. He really is one of THE greatest filmmakers of all time. Shout out to Cuba Gooding Jr, as Nicky Barnes. This is Cuba's last great role and it just makes me scratch my head in how he chooses his movie projects. If he did more pics like this, he could easily go down as one of the greatest american actors of all time. Oh well.....

I highly recommend this one. A definite Buy. I own the 3 Disc Collector's Edition. I will be watching the Full Length Documentary on the True Life story of Frank and Richie. The above DVD cover isn't the one that represents the 3 Disc Set. I couldn't find the actual cover and went with the closet one I could find online.