New Jack City

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Movie
German title New Jack City
Original title New Jack City
New Jack City Logo.png
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1991
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Mario van Peebles
script Thomas Lee Wright ,
Barry Michael Cooper
production George Jackson ,
Doug McHenry
music Michel Colombier
camera Francis Kenny
cut Steven Kemper
occupation

New Jack City is an American gangster film from 1991 assigned to the New Black Cinema .

action

Nino Brown, owner of the nightclub “Spotlite”, is the leader of the gang “Cash Money Brothers”. This is a successful drug trafficker in Harlem in the late 1980s. The gang also includes Gee Money, a childhood friend of Nino, and Da Da Man, a somewhat simple and very violent man.

A new drug, crack , is about to conquer the market and Nino decides to take this opportunity. He wants to get away from the little $ 5 deals on the street corner and into big business. After all, under President Ronald Reagan , in his opinion, only criminals get rich. Enemies are eliminated and new areas conquered, at the end of the "takeover campaign" is the Carter Building - a block of flats in Harlem, which Nino declares to be his personal headquarters. He made it unmistakably clear to the residents of the Carter that from now on they belong to him, and the majority of them became his loyal customers. The machinery gets going: procurement, production, sales. The Carter Building becomes Nino's tiny universe in which the Cash Money Brothers quickly build a million dollar business.

The godfather Don Armeteo of the Italian-American mafia repeatedly comes into conflict with Nino. Only with the blessing of the powerful mafia was Nino able to expand his business. The police try to hunt down Nino. Detective Stone, charged with the case, recruits suspended cops Scotty and Peretti to convict the Cash Money Brothers. Scotty himself is an African American from the Ninos neighborhood and has already worked as an undercover agent in the drug scene.

The investigations of the special unit are slow, because the actions of the gangsters are professional and there is only scant evidence to be found. Investigators are about to end when Scotty watches his old friend Pookie, whom he arrested years ago on a fake deal and who has since become a crack junkie, talking to Nino. The police decide to turn him around and, after rehab, to smuggle him into Nino's company as an informant . Because he had offered him a job if he got a grip on himself again. The plan is running, Pookie succeeds in penetrating the crack factory with a hidden camera, but he has not yet escaped the stimulus of addiction and suffers a relapse when he monitors the crack processing in the "pharmacy".

His cover is blown and he is murdered, the police storm the building, but the gangsters have already left the Carter Building and removed all evidence. The special force is disbanded due to unsuccessfulness. But Scotty and Peretti don't want to give up and avenge Pookie's murder. They want to convict the Cash Money Brothers themselves and hunt down Nino. Nino's conflict with Don Armateo, who does not tolerate rebellious people in his territory, comes to a head. But Nino ignores the godfather's warnings and continues on his way. Because even after the fall of the Carter Building, the gang is still down, the drug business continues to flourish and they are getting back on their feet.

In the meantime, Scotty and Peretti manage to thread a deal with Gee Money. Little by little they manage to earn the trust of the CMB and establish Scotty as Nino's right-hand man. But that wasn't easy, because Nino, now closer to paranoid madness than reality, distrusts everything and everyone. Scotty learns that Nino probably murdered Scotty's mother as a young man.

At a wedding party sponsored by Nino, the Don wants to settle accounts, but Nino survives the attack. Scotty, who had the opportunity to kill Nino during the shooting, decides not to do so because he believes in law. In revenge, Nino has the godfather executed in a drive-by shooting . Nino breaks up with his girlfriend and begins a relationship with Gee's girlfriend. Gee, who has since become addicted to crack, is also far from having a clear view of things.

Nino's refined lover reports to the police and wants to testify against the Cash Money Brothers. The police decide to make a new deal with this important witness to finally hunt down Nino. But things are not going as planned. Scotty is exposed and after a shootout, Nino escapes and retires to his apartment. He shoots Gee Money that same evening in order to eliminate another confidante. But the investigators track him down and after a final fight between Nino and Scotty, Nino is arrested. Again Scotty refrains from killing Nino, which is very difficult for him.

During the following court hearing, the outcome of which everyone thinks they know, Nino succeeds in pulling his head out of the noose with an aggressive and abstruse socially critical statement as well as the reference to the fact that he was just an errand boy and an agreement with the public prosecutor. He only gets two years. But while he is leaving the courtroom confident of victory, he is shot by a resident of the Carter Building (Bill Cobbs). The film ends with the fade-in:

“Although this is a fictional story, there are Nino Browns in every major city in America. If we don't confront the problem realistically — without empty slogans and promises — then drugs will continue to destroy our country. (Even if this is a fictional act, Nino Browns are present in every major American city. If we don't take the problem realistically - without empty slogans and promises - drugs will continue to destroy our country). "

- epilogue

background

The film begins with a slow tracking shot over the New York skyline from a bird's eye view. Various radio reports are sampled that provide an overview of the economic situation in the United States under Reagan: Growing prosperity among the rich and falling incomes among the poor, and an increase in the astronomical national debt.

The Carter Building , in which Nino sets up his headquarters, is the Graham Court , a historic building in Harlem . It was planned by architects Clinton and Russell and built between 1899 and 1901.

The pistol with which Nino is shot is a Parabellum 08 .

Reviews

“The directorial debut of actor Mario Van Peebles turns out to be a tough action thriller against a realistic background. Van Peebles thus easily joined the ranks of the new directors of 'Black Cinema'. Van Peebles hired the journalist Barry Michael Cooper as co-author, especially since he had formed the term 'New Jack' for black people's attitude towards life in two essays. Van Peebles also took on the role of Inspector Stone. "

- prism

“Hard gangster film in the rhythm of rap and hip-hop music of the late 80s - u. a. Ice-T, Queen Latifah, NWA (= Niggers with Attitudes) - who combines the authentic description of the milieu with a committed cinematic contribution in the fight against drugs. "

- film service

Awards

Wesley Snipes won the Image Award for Best Actor in 1993 . Wesley Snipes, Ice-T and the song I Wanna Sex You Up were nominated for the MTV Movie Award in 1992 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article on Complex.com
  2. ↑ See prisma.de
  3. ^ New Jack City. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used