Straight Out of Brooklyn

Starring:David Belgrave, Dorise Black, Reana E. Drummond, William Erskine, Larry Gilliard Jr., J.R. Hill, Soraya Hyppolite, Mark Malone (II), Booker T. Matthews, James Arnold Mayes, Walter Meade (II), Albertha Moody, Robert N. Nash, George T. Odom, Billy R., Ann D. Sanders, Barbara Sanon, Fran Sperling, Ali Shahid Abdul Wahhad
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

A beleaguered family feverishly tries to get out intact from New York's notorious Red Hook projects in this micro-budget debut film from writer-director-star Matty Rich. The director deserves attention for simply getting this unrelentingly bleak movie created and then released (as has been well documented, the then-19-year-old Rich had to gather the thinnest of shoestring budgets from friends and various grants); but the genuine passion behind this gangland drama can't disguise the fact that what's being presented here isn't particularly new or innovative. (A much more facile treatment of a similar subject can be found in Boaz Yakin's stunning Fresh.) Despite the impressively gritty locations, honestly pessimistic worldview, and George T. Odom's raw performance as a haplessly abusive patriarch, one can't quite shake the unfortunate feeling that this is a film more notable for its backstory than what actually made it up onto the screen. Rich would later go on to make the considerably more polished, Disney-funded coming-of-age story The Inkwell. --Andrew Wright

Description

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival, this raw, uncompromising [and] auspicious feature debut (Screen International) from filmmaker Matty Rich is a remarkable tale about hope, passion and consequence told honestly, powerfully and 'straight from the heart (Reader)! Dennis is sick of his dead-end life in one of Brooklyn's toughest housing projects. Seizing an opportunity to get rich quick, he convinces his two best friends to help him rob the localdrug lord. Amazingly, the plan goes off without a hitch, leaving these urban Robin Hoods thinking they ve got it made until a life-altering event proves to Dennis that the only way out of this urban war zone is either in an honest day's work or a body bag!

Customer Reviews:

EXTRAORDINARY LOW BUDGET ACCOMPLISHMENT!.......2006-01-02

Matty Rich and the entire cast do a fine job here. Way better than Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It--and with a lot more to say.

I have only one question: Why hasn't Matty Rich made more films?

RED HOOK all the way man!.......2005-07-28

yo yo, dis movie rocks big time. Dennis is the man!
"where did you get these beans?" great scene!
It doesn't get any more real than this! It shows the struggle that
so many families living in the projects go through. and how violence really doesn't solve your problems!
"yo, that is my GIRL" " I can get 30 guns, 10 for each of us!"
saab 9000 does 150 in first gear! wow!

don't miss this movie! it's one for the ages. Matty Rich rocks!

life in the projects ain't no game, kid.......2002-04-10

This is the movie that started it all for me. As a suburban white kid in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, I could still relate to these characters and this setting. From the opening moments of a busted up appartment (at the hands of 'Ray', the drunk-up pops) I was 'hooked on Redhook'. I have now seen it 13 times--more than any other movie. Matty Rich directed, wrote--done everything in this movie!
But you know? The show belongs to Dennis (Larry Gillard, Jr.) and Ray (George T. Odom--watch for him as the bartender in "The Hurricane"). When Ray's talkin' to the mirror... i'm feelin it.
I liked this movie so much, me and my boy was gonna do a remake of it, but it never happened... maybe one day...
Highlights of the movie include the scene where Dennis and Ray chat about life, forgotten dreams, and gettin OUT... also watch for the love scene with Sherley (which is sure to steam up your goggles) and the dance sequence where Dennis shows his moves with those crazy nut-caeshe friends of his.
You can't step to this movie. Now turn the lights down low, the volume full blast, and hit that owl like it was a party horn.

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