New Jack City
"Drugs ain't a black thing, or a white thing. It's a death thing. Death don't give a shit about color."
- Nick Peretti
- Nick Peretti
Forewarning: Spoiler Alert!
Hi, friends! Welcome to the third installment of "Throwback Thursday." I missed you last week, but I had to postpone writing due to first-week-of-school shenanigans. However, in the legendary words of Chance the Rapper, "We back!"
Before we get to the meat of this post, I have a question for you. What do you remember about the late 1980s/early 1990s? If you're my age, probably nothing because I wasn't born until 1995. However, for older generations, this time was marked by drugs, police brutality and extreme poverty in some areas of the U.S. While this period sounds bleak, there was something good that came out of it. That "thing" is New Jack City.
If you read my first two blog posts you'll know that New Jack City is a lot grittier than the previous films I've reviewed. If you didn't read my earlier posts, I need you to go back and do that ASAP (please and thank you). Now, let's get into it!
If you read my first two blog posts you'll know that New Jack City is a lot grittier than the previous films I've reviewed. If you didn't read my earlier posts, I need you to go back and do that ASAP (please and thank you). Now, let's get into it!
New Jack City is an American gangster/drama film based on an original story and screenplay written by Thomas Lee Wright and directed by Mario Van Peebles. The cast is stacked, and I'm willing to bet that even if you don't know the plot, you're familiar with the characters: Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes), G Money (Allen Payne), Scotty Appleton (Ice-T), Pookie (Chris Rock), Nick Peretti (Judd Nelson), Park (Russell Wong), the Cash Money Brothers (Bill Nunn, Christopher Williams, Vanessa Williams) and last, but certainly not least, Stone (Mario Van Peebles). The supporting cast is phenomenal, and includes some people you wouldn't expect, such as Flavor Flav and Keith Sweat.
The film starts off panning the landscape of New York City with a remixed version of the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money" and audio of numerous troubling news reports concerning poverty, wealth disparity and crime playing in the background. This subtle foreshadowing sets the scene and theme of what New Jack City will be about from the very beginning. Shortly after, we are introduced to the man of the hour, Nino Brown (Snipes), doing what he does best: terrorizing. This too is a recurring theme in New Jack City.
Set in 1986, New Jack City centers around Nino Brown - feared drug-kingpin who runs the streets of Harlem with his gang, the Cash Money Brothers (CMB). Crack-cocaine is a major problem in the inner cities of the United States, and the CMB takes full advantage by taking over the Carter housing complex and converting it into a crack house of sorts. At the same time, Undercover Det. Scotty Appleton (Ice-T) attempts to make a deal with stick-up kid, Pookie (Rock). All seems to be going well, until Pookie, being a stick-up kid, runs off with Scotty's money, initiating a cross-town chase that ultimately ends with Pookie being shot in the leg. Pookie is eventually released by police.
Fast forward three years, Nino and the CMB have grown in numbers and have become more powerful, resulting in increased pressure on the NYPD and Det. Stone's (Peeble) unit to find and prosecute them. Scotty volunteers to take down the CMB and is paired with Det. Nick Peretti (Nelson). During a stakeout of Nino's gang, Scotty sees Pookie again, this time as a crackhead. Scotty eventually takes Pookie to a rehab center where he gets clean. After finishing his program, Pookie persuades Scotty to use him as an informant in the Carter. Things seem to be going smoothly for Pookie, until the temptation from the drugs in the Carter become too much for him to handle. Pookie starts using crack-cocaine again and is eventually caught by G Money (Nino's right-hand-man) as being a police informant.
After Pookie is killed, Scotty has to create a new way to bring the CMB down. He decides to go undercover, and befriends Nino, who Scotty eventually discovers killed his mother in cold blood. Scotty ultimately earns Nino's trust by revealing information about a side deal that G Money made behind Nino's back, and also by stopping an old man who attempts to kill Nino. Toward the end of the movie, one of the members of the CMB recognizes Scotty and calls him out as a cop. A gun fight ensues, and Nino gets away. Nino hides out in his apartment until Scotty and Nick apprehend him. In the heat of the moment, Scotty savagely beats Nino and then releases him into police custody.
During Nino's trial, due to the prosecution's failure to find adequate evidence incriminating him, the judge finds Nino guilty of petty crimes and gives him a reduced sentence. Outraged, Scotty threatens Nino's life, but ultimately there is nothing he can do. In the final minutes of the movie, all hope seems lost, until the same older gentleman who previously tried to kill Nino shoots him in the stairwell of the courthouse. That's what I call justice served.
The film starts off panning the landscape of New York City with a remixed version of the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money" and audio of numerous troubling news reports concerning poverty, wealth disparity and crime playing in the background. This subtle foreshadowing sets the scene and theme of what New Jack City will be about from the very beginning. Shortly after, we are introduced to the man of the hour, Nino Brown (Snipes), doing what he does best: terrorizing. This too is a recurring theme in New Jack City.
Set in 1986, New Jack City centers around Nino Brown - feared drug-kingpin who runs the streets of Harlem with his gang, the Cash Money Brothers (CMB). Crack-cocaine is a major problem in the inner cities of the United States, and the CMB takes full advantage by taking over the Carter housing complex and converting it into a crack house of sorts. At the same time, Undercover Det. Scotty Appleton (Ice-T) attempts to make a deal with stick-up kid, Pookie (Rock). All seems to be going well, until Pookie, being a stick-up kid, runs off with Scotty's money, initiating a cross-town chase that ultimately ends with Pookie being shot in the leg. Pookie is eventually released by police.
Fast forward three years, Nino and the CMB have grown in numbers and have become more powerful, resulting in increased pressure on the NYPD and Det. Stone's (Peeble) unit to find and prosecute them. Scotty volunteers to take down the CMB and is paired with Det. Nick Peretti (Nelson). During a stakeout of Nino's gang, Scotty sees Pookie again, this time as a crackhead. Scotty eventually takes Pookie to a rehab center where he gets clean. After finishing his program, Pookie persuades Scotty to use him as an informant in the Carter. Things seem to be going smoothly for Pookie, until the temptation from the drugs in the Carter become too much for him to handle. Pookie starts using crack-cocaine again and is eventually caught by G Money (Nino's right-hand-man) as being a police informant.
After Pookie is killed, Scotty has to create a new way to bring the CMB down. He decides to go undercover, and befriends Nino, who Scotty eventually discovers killed his mother in cold blood. Scotty ultimately earns Nino's trust by revealing information about a side deal that G Money made behind Nino's back, and also by stopping an old man who attempts to kill Nino. Toward the end of the movie, one of the members of the CMB recognizes Scotty and calls him out as a cop. A gun fight ensues, and Nino gets away. Nino hides out in his apartment until Scotty and Nick apprehend him. In the heat of the moment, Scotty savagely beats Nino and then releases him into police custody.
During Nino's trial, due to the prosecution's failure to find adequate evidence incriminating him, the judge finds Nino guilty of petty crimes and gives him a reduced sentence. Outraged, Scotty threatens Nino's life, but ultimately there is nothing he can do. In the final minutes of the movie, all hope seems lost, until the same older gentleman who previously tried to kill Nino shoots him in the stairwell of the courthouse. That's what I call justice served.
In any other setting and under different circumstances, I would say that Nino Brown and his "business associates," the Cash Money Brothers, are the epitome of black excellence - they are entrepreneurs experiencing success from their business ventures; however, in New Jack City, they are truly a plague to their community. In this light, it is extremely ironic that Nino's favorite phrase is, "Am I my brother's keeper?" because he willingly sells crack-cocaine to his black brothers and sisters without batting an eye or losing sleep.Saying that Nino rules his kingdom with an iron fist is an understatement. The man is a psychopath. Nino is the physical embodiment of "cash rules everything around me." The love of money more than people is what eventually ruled his kingdom to ruin.
Before you go, I'd like to leave you with some gems from the movie. These quotes are truly words to live by.
"I'm not guilty. You're the one that's guilty. The lawmakers, the politicians, the Columbian drug lords, all you who lobby against making drugs legal. Just like you did with alcohol during the prohibition. You're the ones who's guilty. I mean, c'mon, let's kick the ballistics here: Ain't no Uzi's made in Harlem. Not one of us in here owns a poppy field. This thing is bigger than Nino Brown. This is big business. This is the American way."
- Nino Brown
"Am I my brother's keeper? Yes I am!"
- Nino Brown
"You know, a drug dealer is the worst kind of brother. He won't sell it [drugs] to his sister, he won't sell it to his mother. But he'll sell it to one of his boys on the street."
- Det. Scotty Appleton
"Sit yo five dollar ass down before I make change!"
- Nino Brown
"Money talks, bullshit runs a marathon. So see ya, wouldn't want to be ya."
- Nino Brown
"I tried to kick...but that shit just be callin' me, man, it be callin' me, man...I just got to go to it!"
- Pookie
"I'm not guilty. You're the one that's guilty. The lawmakers, the politicians, the Columbian drug lords, all you who lobby against making drugs legal. Just like you did with alcohol during the prohibition. You're the ones who's guilty. I mean, c'mon, let's kick the ballistics here: Ain't no Uzi's made in Harlem. Not one of us in here owns a poppy field. This thing is bigger than Nino Brown. This is big business. This is the American way."
- Nino Brown
"Am I my brother's keeper? Yes I am!"
- Nino Brown
(Photos courtesy of FanArt.TV, Complex and Drafthouse. Quotations courtesy of Movie Quote DB)
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