American Gangster, Uncut

[pluckyduck]

The husband and I watched American Gangster, uncut last night. The uncut version is 20 minutes longer than the theatrical release, so it was just shy of three hours. Add potty and snack breaks, and it was close to a four hour investment.

Now there was four hours well spent. I can't recall having had the pleasure to enjoy that much character development in a big commercial release in recent times. Russel Crowe and Denzel Washington were fabulous.

There wasn't as much violence as I expected. Violence was used to show the utterly brutal side of Washington's character, to temper the sympathy you would feel for him, but not overdone nor glorified.

The racial themes were fascinating. I haven't had a chance to digest them.

The ending was unexpected!

We watched, the day before, a 1970 documentary on the making of "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" and I couldn't help but make some connections (obscure) between the two movies. They aren't screamingly obvious but if I were back in college, I could write a compare/contrast paper......

Anybody else? This was the kind of movie that sticks with you.

[magenta321]

I remember liking it... but I can't remember a single detail of it :o

Maybe it'll come back to me through out the day, or reading some of the replies you get.

But it did not stick with me. I can remember more about the talk about the movie on NPR than I can on the actual movie

[pluckyduck]

magenta321 said

I remember liking it... but I can't remember a single detail of it :o

Maybe it'll come back to me through out the day, or reading some of the replies you get.

But it did not stick with me. I can remember more about the talk about the movie on NPR than I can on the actual movie

It's a lot to take in. The pace is *gorgeous*, just perfect (speaking of the uncut version, all I've seen), but it's a lot to take in. I think frame of mind and distractions about would affect the experience greatly.