Dead Presidents
starring: Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, Freddy RodrÃguez, Rose Jackson
directed by: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
directed by: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
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Product Description:
ANTHONY CURTIS DECIDES TO ENLIST IN THE MARINE CORPS. HIS BUDDIES SKIP AND JOSE SOON JOIN HIM. ANTHONY RETURNS HOME TO FIND HIS NEIGHBORHOOD IN TURMOIL AND HIS PROSPECTS FOR EMPLOYMENT BLEAK. HE TEAMS WITH OF COUPLE OF HIS FELLOW VETERANS TO PLAN AN ARMORED CAR HEIST.
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
ANTHONY CURTIS DECIDES TO ENLIST IN THE MARINE CORPS. HIS BUDDIES SKIP AND JOSE SOON JOIN HIM. ANTHONY RETURNS HOME TO FIND HIS NEIGHBORHOOD IN TURMOIL AND HIS PROSPECTS FOR EMPLOYMENT BLEAK. HE TEAMS WITH OF COUPLE OF HIS FELLOW VETERANS TO PLAN AN ARMORED CAR HEIST.
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
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - 3 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:
Though the plot doesn't always work, especially around the caper scenes, Dead Presidents is an effective and worthy look at what happens when men come back from war into a society that doesn't know quite what to do with them.
Rating: - A great follow up to Meance II Society
The Hughes Brothers did the impossible for some directors avoided the sophmore slump. Dead Presidents is a ghetto classic about violence and a heist. Larenz Tate is good in the lead role and Chris Tucker is funny as always. This movie is very deep and thought provking and it's a shame The Hughes Brothers haven't done a movie since From Hell. After their sucess with American Pimp I thought for sure they'd take on Pimp by Iceberg Silm. Never the less still a good film.
Rating: - Interesting Take on the Black Experience Following Vietnam
The Hughes Brothers' Dead Presidents provides an interesting take on the American experience following the Vietnam war. While many directors have worked with this time period(Hal Ashby, Oliver Stone) this is the first film that deals with the issue from the standpoint of the returning black veteran.
Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate)tries to be a good citizen. He graduates from a Bronx high school and feeling that he is not ready for collge joins the Marine Corps and is sent to Vietnam where ... Read More
Rating: 
- Doesn't Hold Up
I just watched this movie again after several years. I remember I liked it the first time, but it wasn't as good as Menace II Society. After watching it again last night I realized that this movie is a bomb. The acting is good and the characters are interesting, but the movie is so slow and then they rush to an ending that isn't set up very well. Then all of a sudden it's over. Are we supposed to feel bad for somebody getting 15 years to life after he contributed to the deaths of several innocent people? ... Read More
Rating: - Greate Movie!
I loved this movie it's slow building
but towards the end it's greate! Highly recommend it!
- 3 stars out of 4The Bottom Line:
Though the plot doesn't always work, especially around the caper scenes, Dead Presidents is an effective and worthy look at what happens when men come back from war into a society that doesn't know quite what to do with them.
- A great follow up to Meance II SocietyThe Hughes Brothers did the impossible for some directors avoided the sophmore slump. Dead Presidents is a ghetto classic about violence and a heist. Larenz Tate is good in the lead role and Chris Tucker is funny as always. This movie is very deep and thought provking and it's a shame The Hughes Brothers haven't done a movie since From Hell. After their sucess with American Pimp I thought for sure they'd take on Pimp by Iceberg Silm. Never the less still a good film.
- Interesting Take on the Black Experience Following VietnamThe Hughes Brothers' Dead Presidents provides an interesting take on the American experience following the Vietnam war. While many directors have worked with this time period(Hal Ashby, Oliver Stone) this is the first film that deals with the issue from the standpoint of the returning black veteran.
Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate)tries to be a good citizen. He graduates from a Bronx high school and feeling that he is not ready for collge joins the Marine Corps and is sent to Vietnam where ... Read More
- Doesn't Hold UpI just watched this movie again after several years. I remember I liked it the first time, but it wasn't as good as Menace II Society. After watching it again last night I realized that this movie is a bomb. The acting is good and the characters are interesting, but the movie is so slow and then they rush to an ending that isn't set up very well. Then all of a sudden it's over. Are we supposed to feel bad for somebody getting 15 years to life after he contributed to the deaths of several innocent people? ... Read More
- Greate Movie!I loved this movie it's slow building
but towards the end it's greate! Highly recommend it!
