Dutch Schultz Vs Bumpy Johnson
Bill Duke, after breaking Hollywood race barriers by directing Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (the first sequel to a Hollywood blockbuster entrusted to an African-American director) returned to familiar ground with Hoodlum. Hoodlum, like Duke's entertaining adaptation of Chester Himes' A Rage in Harlem, takes place in the underworld of Harlem in the 1930s. But here, Duke is working on a much larger scale. The film is a moderately successful effort to make a film with the sweep and scope of the Godfather films, greatly aided by its able cast. It offers a powerfully assured performance from Laurence Fishburne as crime lord Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson. Tim Roth is hilariously over-the-top as psychopath Dutch Schultz, the Jewish gangster determined to muscle in on the Harlem numbers racket. His performance enlivens the film. He plays Schultz as pure id, totally unable to control his lust, greed, and anger. He cannot even eat an apple without it seeming like an obscene act. This stands in fascinating contrast to the coiled-snake calm of Andy Garcia's Lucky Luciano. Duke clearly knows his actors' strengths and brings out their best. One weak spot in the script is the characterization of Bumpy's love interest, Francine (Vanessa L. Williams), who somewhat unconvincingly becomes completely enraptured with Bumpy, discarding her own strong political views as a follower of Marcus Garvey. The film also received a good deal of negative press attention for its portrayal of the venerated prosecutor Thomas Dewey (William Atherton) as a corrupt opportunist. But for the most part, Hoodlum is a good solid film, offering strong performances, humor, and action, and a compelling metaphor of black empowerment and resistance to white co-optation of the culture.
Dutch Schultz Vs Bumpy Johnson Wife
Dutch Schultz Vs Bumpy Johnson Girlfriend
Dutch Schultz, whose real name was Arthur Flegenheimer made his name and fortune in bootlegging alcohol and the numbers racket. Schultz’s rackets were threatened by Lucky Luciano, and tax evasion trials lead by prosecutor Thomas E.Dewey. In an effort to avert his conviction, Schultz asked the Commission for permission to take out Dewey, which they declined. It offers a powerfully assured performance from Laurence Fishburne as crime lord Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson. Tim Roth is hilariously over-the-top as psychopath Dutch Schultz, the Jewish gangster determined to muscle in on the Harlem numbers racket. His performance enlivens the film. He plays Schultz as pure id, totally unable to control his lust.