Review of Boyz n the Hood (1991) by Lord N — 24 Aug 2010

With my limited world knowledge being what it is, I may be drastically wrong. But, I think that this is the film that inspired white people to "talk all gangster yo". All of the stereotypical stuff is in there. "f*** that s*** n*****" or a variation, was said every third line or so. I know that a lot of this is based off of the directors own life. Knowing that makes the film much more interesting. It was interesting to see a more human side to the gang wars that go on in those areas. Usually you just hear the stories on the news or on a documentary or something like that and it doesn't mean too much. I must say though, I really liked Lawrence Fishburne's character. He added most of of the films depth. I liked the film. I would suggest anyone who has not seen it to do so. it was fantastic.

TRIVIA TIME: 1. The self-hating black police officer was based on a cop whom John Singleton witnessed as a kid. Singleton felt it was critical to show this officer to show how racist black police could be towards black people.

2. The opening and closing scenes are direct references to Rob Reiner's movie Stand by Me.

3. Many of the people portrayed in the film were based on people in John Singleton's life.

4. In the scene where Furious (Laurence Fishburne) and his son (Cuba Gooding Jr.) are sitting on the rocks having a father-to-son chat, Furious mentions fighting as a young soldier in Vietnam. Laurence Fishburne starred in Apocalypse Now (1979) as a young soldier in Vietnam.

5. John Singleton's Oscar nomination for Best Director at the age of 24 makes him the youngest director to ever receive such an accolade, beating Orson Welles by a good 2 years.