The Background of the study

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. The Background of the study

As the film develop in some various genre, until now film is still as an entertainment media that being a favorite entertainment beside music. Film is a creation art of fiction about the phenomenon in the world which is served in auditory visual form that reflected a condition by a setting of place with all systems inside it, be its social system, economy, culture, tradition etc with the theme that was performed inside of it. 1 Related to film’s development, in the years of 2000, America produced more films described American’s social condition such Bad Boyz, American Pie, American Dream, American Crime, American Gangster, etc. They reflected all kinds of American’s trademark, character and social life. One of those films that attract the writer’s attention to make an analysis is American Gangster directed by Ridley Scott on November 2 nd , 2007, produced by Universal Studio. writer thought the film is very interesting to be analyzed because this Film got the Prize as “The Best Film of The Year” from Hollywood Films Awards in 2007 and “The Best Action Film” in Film Box Office, 2007 with the best actor of the film of Gladiator, Russell Crowe and the best Actor of 1 Sony Set, Rahasia Menulis Skenario Professional Bandung: Liliput Press, 2005, p.31 1 Action Film and the most popular actor in Box Office 2000, Denzel Washington. 2 The writer argued that American Gangster is a movie that boasts two b ig g e st movie stars in the world; Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Separately, Washington and Crowe can lay claim to the type of film that actors would sell their souls for, and they’re just getting started. In “Gangster”, the two actors don’t even come eye to eye until almost towards the end of the film. That’s exactly how it should be. Before Crowe’s crusading cop and Washington’s drug dealer ever looks each other in the eyes, when watched it, the writer felt traveled the roads with them through their respective territories and come to know them as more than just cop and criminal, but men. “American Gangster” opened in 1968 with a blunt introduction to Frank Lucas Denzel Washington. The Writer saw him nonchalantly set a man on fire before shooting him five times at point blank range. Lucas is the former chauffeur and prodigy to Harlem’s reigning gangster, Bumpy Johnson, who quickly passed away and leaving his empire to Lucas. The young Frank, realizing that the drug business is going fast, with the mafia, the crooked cops, and his fellow Harlem gangsters all cutting in on the business, comes up with an ingenious way to get back on top. He’ll go to the source, into the jungles of Southeast Asia, and bring pure, undiluted heroin back to America in the coffins of dead American servicemen from the Vietnam War. And then there’s Richie Roberts Russell Crowe, a New York Detective at the crossroads. Roberts spent his nights attending law school and his days as a crusader cop, albeit one who isn’t beyond tweaking the law in favor of the means justifying the end. His neglected wife Carla Gugino is divorcing him and threatening to take their son to Las Vegas, and his partner has fallen 2 http: www.b e yo ndho llywo o d.c o m a me ric a n-g a ng ste r-2007-mo vie 2 down the rabbit hole of drugs. When Roberts turned in nearly a million dollars of mob money, he became a leper to the police department. But salvation came in the guise of a newly created federal drug task force. Their mission: get guys like Frank Lucas. “American Gangster” is a richly detailed period film, vibrant with the signs of the times in which it is set. Everything, from the cars to the clothes to the Harlem neighborhood is brought to vivid life by the production staff, and Scott fully embraced the grimy, and at the same time nostalgic cool of the ’60s and ’70s. As a director with many great experiences of best film making such Kingdom of Heaven 2000, Scott has never had less to do. What is there to do when he has two Oscar-caliber actors filling up every second of his film? If Washington’s smooth criminal isn’t holding court on the streets of Harlem, the people are racing across New York with Crowe’s scruffy cop. For the writer, Scott’s job is simply to point and shoot, and fill in the details between Washington and Crowe’s command of the screen. “American Gangster” is not without humor, with a notable scene featuring Lucas arguing the finer points of copyright infringement with fellow gangster Nicky Barnes a giddy and pimped out Cuba Gooding Jr.. Josh Brolin turns in an effective supporting performance as a crooked cop who ran his own crew as if they were another gang roaming the streets of New York protecting their turf. Lucas’ wife is played by Lymari Nada as a former Puerto Rican beauty queen who catches Lucas’ fancy. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Armand Assante as a representative of the established New York mob that wants in on Lucas’ business. So, it can be said that “American Gangster” is really two separate movies included the rise and fall of Frank Lucas’ criminal empire, and the police procedurals of Richie Roberts’ war on crime. It just so happened that toward the end, their two worlds finally converge, as they must. It 3 was a great, understated verbal duel filled with unspoken threats and counter-threats, written superbly by Zaillian and shot without fanfare by Scott, who knows he is working with great actors, and so never interjects himself into their affairs. Therefore, the writer thought “American Gangster” really is that good that it can take two hours to build up a confrontation, and have that confrontation be a simple back and forth dialogue scene between two actors in a room across a cheap table. Separately, Roberts and Lucas’ story can stand on their own, but together, they make for one of the best crime films in a long while. The description of writer’s reasons and opinion about American Gangster above is enough to choose this film to be analyzed related to the theme of Crime that often appeared in this film.

B. Focus of the Study