Review of New Jack City (1991) by Darrell T — 16 Apr 2013

Directed by Mario Van Peebles (Posse (1993) and Panther (1995)), this film grew out of a rejected draft screenwriter Thomas Lee Wright did for The Godfather Part III (1990), Wright rejigged the plot with fellow writer Barry Michael Cooper to have it take place during the crack cocaine wars in 1980's New York.

It's a powerful film, which has the structure blaxploitation films did, only it's brought kicking and screaming into the 1990's. In 1986, Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) has a gang called the Cash Money Brothers, who within no time at all, become the dominant gang for drug dealing, and Brown takes control of an apartment block called the Carter, which with help from right hand man Gee Money (Allen Payne) and enforcer Duh Duh Man (Bill Nunn), they turn into a crack house.

Meanwhile, New York Police Detective Scotty Appleton (Ice-T) wants to infiltrate Brown's gang, and he does so with help from police informant Pookie (Chris Rock), but this is a dangerous world to be in, and there's a lot of suspicion going around, but Scotty gains Brown's trust, but it's shaky.

It's a very violent but engaging film, which is a good time piece of what urban New York was like back in the 1980's, it's a timepiece then. Peebles manages to get the best from his cast, and it owes a lot to Scarface (1983), which influenced this whole culture.