Boyz n the Hood

 

Boyz n the Hood 1991

• Director: John Singleton
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Cuba Gooding Jr, Laurence Fishburne, Ice Cube, Angela Bassett, Morris  Chestnut, Tyrell Ferrell, Nia Long
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Cuba Gooding Jr – Selma, The Butler, As Good As It Gets,
• Laurence Fishburne – Passengers, Man of Steel, Contagion, Bobby, Akeelah and the Bee, Matrix etc, Mystic River, Othello, What’s Love Got to Do with It, Class Action, The Colour Purple, Rumble Fish, Apocalypse Now
• Angela Bassett – Black Panther Wakanda Forever, Black Panther, London Has Fallen, Akeelah and the Bee, Music of the Heart, Contact, Strange Days, What’s Love Got to Do with It, Malcolm X
• Morris Chestnut – Nurse Jackie, The Call
• Tyrell Ferrell – White Men Can’t Jump, Jungle Fever
• Nia Long – Dear White People, Alfie
• Why?  A modern classic.
• Seen: Once before. Now 5 July 2023 

It’s what it is. Boyz n the Hood, south LA in the 90s. Tre (Gooding) grows up with his father Furious (Fishburne), who tries to raise him to be a good man. It’s not easy in the hood, where drugs and violence are rampant.

It’s an important film about life in a black ghetto in LA, America, a realism that white America knows little about, and cares less.

Things haven’t got better. 

4* of 5