Dead Presidents

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Dead Presidents
Directed by Albert Hughes
Allen Hughes
Produced by Michael Bennett
Darryl Porter
Albert Hughes
Allen Hughes
Written by Albert Hughes
Allen Hughes
Michael Henry Brown
Starring Larenz Tate
Keith David
Chris Tucker
Music by Danny Elfman
Distributed by Hollywood Pictures
Release date(s) October 4, 1995
Running time 119 min.
Language English
Budget $15,000,000
IMDb profile

This article is about the American action movie. For the American hip hop group, see Dead Prez.

Dead Presidents is a 1995 action-thriller film written and directed by the Hughes Brothers (Albert and Allen Hughes), and stars Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, N'Bushe Wright and Bokeem Woodbine.

Dead Presidents is based partly on the real life experiences of Haywood T. Kirkland, whose true story was detailed in the book "Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans" by Wallace Terry. Certain characters from the film are based on real acquaintances of Kirkland, who served time in prison after committing robbery in facepaint[1]. Haywood eventually changed his name to Ari Sesu Merretazon and was released from prison for good behavior and contributing to the prison community.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Dead Presidents opens in 1968, as Anthony (Larenz Tate) is about to graduate from high school. Not wanting to go to college, but needing to get away from home to find himself, he enlists in the U.S. Marine Corps, shortly after graduating high school. He is sent to Vietnam, leaving behind a middle-class family, a pregnant girlfriend (Rose Jackson), and a small time crook, Kirby (Keith David), who is like a second father.

Joining Anthony in the military are two of his close friends, Skip (Chris Tucker) and Jose (Freddy Rodriguez). During their tour in Vietnam as members of an elite Force Recon unit, they experience the horror of war, losing several fellow soldiers during combat. One of their squad is killed by stepping on a land mine and another is the victim of terror tactics of the North Vietnamese; he is disemboweled and castrated alive. (Later, while returning to their command post, Anthony, succumbing to the request of the dying soldier, gives the man a fatal overdose of morphine.) The soldiers also commit atrocities, including executing enemy prisoners and mutilating bodies.

When Anthony finally comes back to the Bronx in 1973, after two tours of duty, he discovers that returning to "normal" life isn't easy or pleasant. He finds his friend Skip, who used drugs during the war, is now a heroin addict. He is laid off from his job in a butcher shop and finds himself unable to support his daughter. Anthony, Kirby, Skip, Jose, Delilah (a member of the 'Nat Turner Cadre', a fictional group of Black Panthers-like black revolutionaries), and Cleon plot to rob an armored car making a stop at the Federal Reserve Bank of Brooklyn.

Though they plan the heist very carefully, it goes horribly wrong when a policeman stumbles on the scene. Jose makes use of an excessive amount of explosives, destroying the armored car and the cash inside. A gunfight with the police arriving on the scene ensues and both Jose and Delilah are killed, as are seven bank guards and policemen. Kirby, Anthony and Cleon are all arrested shortly afterwards and Skip is found dead of a heroin overdose in his apartment. Anthony is tried, convicted, and sent to prison for 15 years to life; he berates the judge before being taken away. The last scene shows him on a bus headed for prison.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Themes

The film depicts the struggle of returning war veterans who are neglected by the US government. Many veterans of the Vietnam War were denied benefits, compensation, and recognition for their efforts in serving their country.[2] Anthony is no exception; upon his arrival in Brooklyn he is unable to find gainful employment to support his daughter, born while he was on tour in Vietnam. His friend Kirby, a Korean War veteran (who lost a leg during combat), is the main character's inspiration to join the military, yet he too has become a low-level neighborhood enforcer, a man who turned to crime to sustain a living.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "'Dead Presidents' Precedent: The Heist Is Only Half of the Story, Says the Man Who Pulled It Off."
  2. ^ Evans-Pfeifer, Kelly. American Veterans. Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War. 1996.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Soundtrack listings

Vol. I

  1. "If You Want Me To Stay", by Sly & The Family Stone
  2. "Walk On By", by Isaac Hayes
  3. "The Payback", by James Brown
  4. "I'll Be Around", by The Spinners
  5. "Never Never Gonna Give You Up", by Barry White
  6. "I Miss You", by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
  7. "Get Up & Get Down", by The Dramatics
  8. "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go", by Curtis Mayfield
  9. "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man", by Aretha Franklin
  10. "Where Is The Love", by Jesse & Trina
  11. "Tired Of Being Alone", by Al Green
  12. "Love Train" by The O'Jays
  13. "The Look Of Love", by Isaac Hayes
  14. "Dead Presidents Theme", by Danny Elfman

Vol. II

  1. "I Got the Feelin'", by James Brown
  2. Keep on Pushin'", by the Impressions
  3. "Smiling Faces Sometimes", by the Undisputed Truth
  4. "Right on for the Darkness", by Curtis Mayfield
  5. "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)", by the Temptations
  6. "Cowboys to Girls", by the Intruders
  7. "Never Gonna Give You Up, by Jerry Butler
  8. "I Was Made to Love Her, by Stevie Wonder
  9. "(Man Oh Man) I Want to Go Back", by the Impressions
  10. "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby", by Sam & Dave
  11. "We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue", by Curtis Mayfield
  12. "Ain't That a Groove", by James Brown

Score

  • A fourteen minute suite of Danny Elfman's score can be found on his Music for a Darkened Theatre Volume 2 compilation.

[edit] Trivia

  • This film derived its title from the phrase "Dead Presidents", a slang term (in hip hop music) used to refer to American currency; referring to the faces of dead Presidents on United States tender. The phrase "It's all about the Benjamins" is also a hip-hop slang term used to refer to $100 bills (since it displays the portrait of Benjamin Franklin).
  • This movie features the actors Larenz Tate, Bokeem Woodbine, Terrence Howard and Clifton Powell. These four actors also all appeared together in the 2004 movie Ray.

[edit] External links

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