American Gangster - There are two sides to the American dream.

I liked this movie for Frank Lucas's shrewdness...i like it for his guts to go all the way to Thailand to procure dope, to use Military plane for the transportation, to take on Italians and other gangs, all with full collaboration,to consider the dope selling from a pure business perspective.
It was really sad to see that a chinchilla fur coat and hat brought him into the police radar. No wonder he burns it later!

At the same, Detective Richie Roberts is simply amazing. It really takes quite a steel of strength to turn over a million and go on with your job, when the whole department is corrupted.
Interestingly, Frank Lucas becomes the first client for Richie Roberts as defense attorney.

My most fav quote from the movie:

"Success. It's got enemies. You can be successful and have enemies or you can be unsuccessful and have friends."
"Listen to me, the loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room."
"Judges, lawyers, cops, politicians. They stop bringing dope into this country, about a hundred thousand people are gonna be out of a job."
"The most important thing in business is honesty, integrity, hardwork... family... never forgetting where we came from."

Regarding the cast, Denzel washington seems to be a perfect fit for an uptight mafia don role and Russell crowe fits perfectly as the ruffled honest cop.