Dead Presidents

Starring:Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, Freddy RodrÃguez, Rose Jackson, N'Bushe Wright, Alvaleta Guess, James Pickens Jr., Jenifer Lewis, Clifton Powell, Elizabeth Rodriguez (III), Terrence Howard, Ryan Williams, Larry McCoy, Rodney Winfield, Cheryl Freeman, Sticky Fingaz, Bokeem Woodbine, David Barry Gray, Michael Imperioli
Director: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Twin brother codirectors Albert and Alan Hughes planned their first film, the 1991 ghetto crime drama Menace II Society as a response to John Singleton's Boyz N the Hood, which they considered wimpy and moralistic. They set their sights on The Deer Hunter in this ambitious follow-up, and they just about pull it off. Larenz Tate (from Why Do Fools Fall in Love) plays Anthony Curtis, an open-hearted African American teenager who gets shipped out to Vietnam with several of his pals, witnesses unspeakable horrors, and then struggles to readjust to civilian life. The evolving textures of life in a declining inner-city neighborhood over a period of a decade are seamlessly evoked, and there's enough nuanced character development and personal interaction for a seven-hour miniseries. Still in their early 20s, the Hughes brothers are already poised and masterful moviemakers; they cover an enormous amount of historical and emotional ground, and every twist and turn is crystal clear. They betray their inexperience only at the very end, in an elaborately staged heist sequence that, while stunningly executed, feels a bit desperate, as if they were reaching blindly for a big payoff. Chris Tucker (Rush Hour) has a startling supporting role as a kid who becomes junkie during the war, and never quite recovers. --David Chute

Description

Get ready for action with this explosively exciting hit! On the streets they call cash dead presidents. And that's just what a Vietnam veteran (Larenz Tate -- MENACE II SOCIETY) is after when he returns home from the war only to find himself drawn into a life of crime. With the aid of his fellow vets he plans the ultimate heist -- a daring robbery of an armored car filled with unmarked U.S. currency! From the Hughes Brothers, acclaimed directors of the smash hit MENACE II SOCIETY -- you'll love every pulse-pounding second as these bold thieves risk it all for the score of a lifetime!

Customer Reviews:

Greate Movie!.......2007-04-03

I loved this movie it's slow building
but towards the end it's greate! Highly recommend it!

Great movie and Great soundtrack.....................2007-01-15

Dead Presidents tells the story of 3 childhood friends that are sent off to Vietnam right after graduating high school. What awaits them when they get home from the war sets the stage for this dramatic piece of art.

Bokeem steals the show as Cleon. This is my movie!

3.5--"People out of work everywhere and the government just be throwing money away!"..........2006-09-07

The Hughes brothers certainly had the right idea in mind making this a cool heist, and I give them credit for trying, but they bite off more than they can chew. Dead Presidents is a really good film. Most people think this movie is all about robbing a bank but it really isn't even though it comes at the end.

The most obvious problem is the film tries to be too many things at once. It starts as a ghetto drama-then it's a war movie-then it ends as a crime thriller! (More than a bit reminiscent of Kubrick's "The Killing.") This could have worked with the proper care, but DP suffers from trying to cram too much story in just under two hours. An extra twenty minutes would properly flesh out the plot. The film opens in the late sixties as we meet Anthony (Larenz Tate), Anthony's girl Juanita (Rose Jackson), his friend Skip (Chris Tucker-as bug-eyed as ever) and boss Kirby (Keith David). We follow Anthony through his first experiences with sex, violence, and family resistance. Anthony wants to join the Marines and through a rather clever edit, we are plunged into the Vietnam War head first. The Hughes Bros. handle this material well, although it gets a bit busy with all the Vietnam-isms: drug use, severed heads, mercy killings, Agent Orange, air strikes, etc. The audience discovers that before the war Anthony got Juanita pregnant, and that he has a baby girl "back in the world." It is a lot of material to cover in the brief period of time, and we only get a brief glimpse of what is was like to be a black soldier in country.

We jump back to the "world", where we witness the domestic turmoil the war has brought upon Anthony and Juanita. Another pitfall is the Juanita character, who is so abrasive that we feel no sympathy towards her. The scene where Anthony assaults her is problematic; I mean what did she expect waging the verbal attack that she does on an alcoholic Vietnam Vet? The confrontation with Cutty (Clifton Powell), Juantia's sugar daddy, is contrived and goes on far too long. Broke and alone, Anthony, in his moral confusion, turns to the film's equivalent of the Black Panther Party for support...

This is where `Dead Presidents' abandons the drama for the above mentioned heist aspects. Ignoring the pragmatic problems with the robbery (i.e. face paint instead of masks), it is a rather poor way to resolve a film where so much time has been expended creating complex characters. One does not get the sense that Anthony is desperate enough to do something that goes so much against his character. The other members of the heist have not been properly set up to take part in it either. It seems tacked on, almost an afterthought to the plot proper. Anyway the heist does not go as planned; everything leading to the final shot of `Dead Presidents' seems anticlimactic, leaving many questions unanswered.

One of the major flaws of the film is the lead performance by Larenz Tate; he is a good actor, but does not seem dynamic enough to bring Anthony through a narrative arc that gets lost in the clouds. The editing leaves scenes unfinished and cold. The story: If the Hughes Bros. had focused on one or two aspects of the plot, we would have been presented with a more thoughtful and detailed story. I'll give them credit for being ambitious though, but experienced film makers also know what to cut from a film when everything seems like a good idea. But that is a skill that comes with time.

Dead Presidents is alive and well!.......2006-05-29

Dead Presidents is an engaging war movie directed by Allen and Albert Hughes, also known as the Hughes brothers (From Hell), and featuring an excellent cast including Larenz Tate (Crash), Chris Tucker (Rush Hour), Keith David (There's Something About Mary), Bokeem Woodbine (Almost Heroes), and Terrence Howard (Hustle And Flow).

Tate plays Anthony Curtis, a young African American, who joins the army straight out of high school in 1969, fights in Vietnam, and returns to America to find no respect and no job anywhere. Anthony then plans a doomed heist with his former war buddies including the heroin addicted Skip, played by the electrifying and hilarious Tucker, pool hall owner and big time hustler named Kirby, played by David, and priest, played by Woodbine.

What makes Presidents an extraordinary film is its depiction of black life before, during, and after the Vietnam war, and how they (the black veterans) got it worse than their peers, and a remarkable screenplay. The movie also succeeds in bringing about a well designed late 60's, early 70's theme with the music, fashion, and lingo.

Recommended

B+

Get Rich or Die tryin'...................2006-01-08

I rented "4 Brothers" and I did NOT ENJOY it, so after that fiasco, I wanted to see a REAL homie movie. Thank goodness I own "Dead Prez" and after all these years it still stands the test of time. The thing that makes this film good is the story and the 5* acting. Every actor in this film is in my oppinion, brilliant. The guy from "Hustle and Flow" has a small part in this, I knew he was good from the get, it's nice to see him getting bigger roles. This and "Set It Off" have got to be the best homie movies out there right now, in my oppinion. Dead Prez gives bank robbery a heart if that makes any sense. This is not a mindless action flick. It's intellectual, political, and deep. And it's all set to a killer soundtrack.

Average customer rating:

Greate Movie!
Great movie and Great soundtrack..............
3.5--"People out of work everywhere and the government just be throwing money away!"...
Dead Presidents is alive and well!
Get Rich or Die tryin'............

Dead Presidents [Region 2]
Starring: Larenz Tate , Keith David , Chris Tucker , Freddy Rodríguez , and Rose Jackson
Director: Allen Hughes , and Albert Hughes
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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