Boyz in the Hood (1991)

[K1stpierre]

Discuss

[baumer]

The film Spike Lee wishes he made.

 

10/10

 

Not my review...but sums it up nicely

 

"Increase the Peace"

The final scene in "Boyz n the Hood" contains possibly the most memorable pieces of dialogue from the whole film. One of the characters is talking about how he turned on the TV to find a show which was talking about how we live in a violent world. They showed scenes from 'foreign' places to convey this, and this character simply states that either they don't know or they just don't care about what goes on in 'da hood'. They don't care enough about what's going on in America's own back-yard to even attempt to tackle these issues. Enter John Singleton...

John Singleton became the youngest ever director to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director at the tender age of 24 for this powerful and influential film, "Boyz n the Hood". It's a powerful coming-of-age drama charting the development of three young boys growing up in South Central LA in the late 80's, early 90's. It begins in 1984 when Tre, a highly intelligent child with a bad attitude, gets into a fight in school and his mother (Angela Bassett) decides that it would be best for him to go live with his father to learn how to 'be a man'. Tre moves in with his Vietnam Veteran father Furious (Laurence Fishburne) who is a very intelligent and strict man who has lived and survived these streets. He teaches Tre responsibility and forms him into the streetwise and book smart young man we see seven years later (Now played by Cuba Gooding Jr). Ricky's two best friends are half brothers. Ricky (Morris Chestnut), is a promising athlete heading for a football scholarship, while Doughboy (Ice Cube) has been in and out of prison since he was ten years-old and spends his days drinking and resenting the world around him. Tre and Ricky are heading for better things than what this environment has to offer them. If they can stay out of trouble for another few months...

Singleton's debut is the best film he has made to date. For a young director to make a film which would resonate through popular culture for over a decade and be such an inspirational piece is quite an achievement. Singleton employs a similar technique used by Spike Lee with his 1989 urban drama "Do the Right Thing" in how he sets out the community in which these young men live in. It becomes personal to us as we feel involved with the characters, much like what Lee does in all of his films. Singleton's niche here was the young African-American male growing up in poverty amidst gang-warfare and sporadic violence in the heart of America. No one had depicted this so vividly or personally before Singleton with "Boyz n the Hood". Out of all of the wannabes to follow, the only film to even come close to matching it was "Menace II Society".

Cuba Gooding Jr, Morris Chestnut, Ice Cube, Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne are superb. Fishburne is the best in my opinion. His character Furious is very interesting and admirable in how he sees the world around him, and in how he teaches his son. Ice Cube made his debut here and I don't think that he's ever been given a role like this since, which is a real shame. The man proves here that he is on a higher level than the mediocre comedies and action films we do see him in nowadays. "Boyz n the Hood" is one of the best and most important contemporary films of the last twenty five years.

[baumer]

My favourite scene:

 

"Oh you a big man now...hunh?  GIVE ME THE MUTHFUCKIN GUN, TREY!"

[DAR]

Couldn't have said it better.   A

[Lordmandeep]

The best of the  early 90s Gangster movies.