American Gangster Opens at the Lyric in Blacksburg, Va

This blog is also meant to serve as a teaser for my top ten films list of 2007, which will be revealed here tomorrow.

"American Gangster" is sure to make that list.

The film, directed by Ridley Scott, is a riveting story of the efforts of New York detective Richie Roberts (Rusell Crowe) to track down and help convict drug lord Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), who was a leading kingpin in Harlem in the late '60s and early '70s.
Lucas, who was born in LaGrange, NC, even smuggled heroin from Vietnam to the U.S. through the coffins of American servicemen.
A startling quote from the film's trailer has Washington's Lucas saying the following:
"The man I worked for had one of the biggest companies in New York City. He didn't own his own company. White man owned it, so they owned him. Nobody owns me though.'

The film was even the subject of a social commentary piece by Duke University professor of African and African American Studies Mark Anthony Neal in the Sunday, Dec. 23rd edition of "The Washington Post."
In his article "Does Denzel Always Have to Represent?," Neal said that Washington's career choices should not be ones which solely promote positive images of black characters (meaning Washington should not be a 'race man.').
 Neal said the bigger question is: "Why, as the nation grows to appreciate the many different ways of being black, do we still need race men at all?"

As for the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg, it was built in 1929 and it opened in 1930. The Lyric's web site said it was one of the first cinemas in Virginia to show sound films. The Grandin Theatre in nearby Roanoke opened in 1932.

I last went to the Lyric in March of last year to see the Spanish film "Pan's Labyrinth." A month later there was a devastating shooting in Blacksburg on the campus of Virginia Tech where 32 people lost their lives.
Not that it matters, but The Lyric was showing the thriller film "The Host" that week.

I saw "American Gangster" at the SoBo Theatre in South Boston, Va., in November (the film opened nationally on Nov. 2).

I was even more impressed with Washington's performance in this film than I was with his Oscar-winning performance as the corrupt cop Alonzo in Anton Fuqua's "Training Day." He showed the many dimensions of Frank Lucas, including his family side which included going to church with his mother and his cold-hearted, brutal side which was unflinching and uncompromising. Fuqua was originally going to be the director of "American Gangster," but the film went way over-budget.

Useful Links:

http://thelyric.com

http://www.thewashingtonpost.com

Tags: American Gangster, Denzel Washington, The Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg Virginia, Frank Lucas, Mark Anthony Neal, Duke University, The Washington Post