Actual Characters
Just curious, does anyone know how or where I could find more information about the actual characters from this movie?
shareYou can find info on all the major players on wikipedia. Here's the links
Dutch Schultz (Tim Roth)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Schultz
Lucky Luciano (Andy Garcia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Luciano
Bumpy Johnson (Lawrence Fishburne) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellsworth_Johnson
Queen (Cicely Tyson) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_St._Clair
Cool....thanks!
shareNo problem. After watching the movie the other day I found myself curious about the real life stories of the characters.
shareThe only bad thing is to realize that their actual stories is different than what is in the movie.
"One hand washes the other...both hands wash the face."-Sam Giancana
The only bad thing is to realize that their actual stories is different than what is in the movie.
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True but that's typical of movies. They value entertainment over accuracy. The closest your going to get to the truth when it comes to film is a Documentary.
Sure entertainment is something important, but they should at least be accurate to the fact that Arthur Flegenheimer dominated the policy rackets in Harlem and was far stronger than Bumpy and his Queen, and not to forget that Schultz's death had nothing to do with Bumpy's alliance with Luciano, he already dominated the numbers at that time. It was all about the idea of killing Thomas Dewey and getting rid of a non-Italian ruling power in the way of New York's five families.
"One hand washes the other...both hands wash the face."-Sam Giancana
but they should at least be accurate to the fact that Arthur Flegenheimer dominated the policy rackets in Harlem and was far stronger than Bumpy and his Queen
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But that would defeat the whole purpose of this movie. I don't want to turn this into an issue of race but they're telling a story of a black man going up against these powerful gangsters and a lot of it was quite unrealistic even if you don't know the facts but I'm assuming it was done all for entertainment's sake, catering to a black perspective. If your going that route then you have to play down Dutch's dominance.
there is a bit with bumpy johnson in ridley scotts american gangster - i almost forgot about hoodlum until that name came up!
share^Funny thing is Clarence Williams III played Bumpy in American Gangster but he was also in this film as one of Dutch's men Bub Hewlett.
shareWhat I don't like is that they could've made the story more accurate, and still kept the them of a black person fighting against the white establishment. But to be accurate, it was the madam St.Clair who was the one who stood up against shultz. At the time, bumpy was more of a lieutenant for the queen then her partner. He tried to get St. Clair to take a deal with shutltz but she refused for a long time, but finally gave in when bumpy said he couldn't protect her anymore.
In the end, bumpy began doing business with italians and was their representative in Harlm.
Now they could've worked the story like that, but instead they chose to make it completely inaccurate.
Don't believe that getting rid of non-Italian ruling power was part of it.
They used Lepke's men to do the hit.
Short Cut, Draw Blood
The only bad thing is to realize that their actual stories is different than what is in the movie.
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True but that's typical of movies. They value entertainment over accuracy. The closest your going to get to the truth when it comes to film is a Documentary.
Yeah, but this movie is waaaaaaaaay over the top with inaccuracies and misrepresentations.. share