Hoodlum (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hoodlum
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Bill Duke
Produced by	Frank Mancuso Jr.
Written by	Chris Brancato
Starring	Laurence Fishburne Tim Roth Andy Garcia
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography	Frank Tidy
Editing by	Harry Keramidas
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	August 27, 1997
Running time	130 minutes
Country	USA
Language	English
Gross revenue	$23,461,013 (USA)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Hoodlum is a 1997 United Artists film that gives a partially fictional account of the gang war between the Italian/Jewish mafia alliance and the black gangsters of Harlem that took place in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The film concentrated on the illegal activities lives of Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (Laurence Fishburne), Dutch Schultz (Tim Roth), and Lucky Luciano (Andy Garcia).

The film is notable in that it casts Johnson as the ring leader in the death of Schultz, influencing Luciano into committing the crime himself. The accepted viewpoint is quite different: Schultz is believed to have been killed by Murder Inc, a group which is only tangentially related to Luciano, due to his threats towards then crusading District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. Johnson, who freely cooperated with Schultz following his takeover, is not known to have had a hand in his death. While the film also shows Dewey accepting payoffs from the mob, there is no evidence for this, historical or hearsay. Hoodlum is followed by Ridley Scott's film American Gangster, which continues the life story of gangster Bumpy Johnson and the man that took over his operation, Frank Lucas.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Character
Laurence Fishburne	Bumpy Johnson
Tim Roth	Dutch Schultz
Vanessa L. Williams	Francine Hughes
Andy Garcia	Lucky Luciano
Cicely Tyson	Stephanie St. Clair
Chi McBride	Illinois Gordon
Clarence Williams III	Bub Hewlett
Richard Bradford	Captain Foley
William Atherton	Thomas Dewey
Loretta Devine	Pigfoot Mary
Queen Latifah	Sulie
Mike Starr	Albert Salke
Beau Starr	Jules Salke
Paul Benjamin	Whispers