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24 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
An abridged, urbanized version of "The Deer Hunter", 26 January 2003

Author: isitwewin5 from Iowa

The Hughes Brothers tried to play up the same angle with "Dead Presidents" as Micheal Cimino and Louis Garfinkle did with "The Deer Hunter" by portraying the social effects that the Vietnam war had on its young veterans. And for a while, it seemed as though they were quite successful. But in the end, it became apparent why "The Dead Presidents" fell short of the Academy recognition that "The Deer Hunter" won.

Set in the late 60s and early 70s, the plotline of "Dead Presidents" follows a promising and popular inner-city high school graduate, Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate), who decides to forego college and enter the Vietnam War as a member of the Marine Corps. Anthony survives a graphic and arduous three-plus-year stint in the jungle, but upon his homecoming, he realizes that the "real world" can be just as trying as war. His low-paying job provides little support for his new family and he becomes desperate to make ends meet. He enlists the help of some old friends and plans a daring armored car heist which, if successful, could serve to amend his past and brighten his future...

The first seventy-five minutes of this movie were really well done. Character traits and relationships were well-established and the mood was properly set as suspense built for the anticipated war scenes--a perfect "epic-caliber" introduction.

But instead of continuing with a detailed flow, the directing crew tried to cram about ninety minutes worth of material into the final forty-five minutes, and consequently did not leave themselves enough time to totally develop any strong climactic progression or aptly characterize any of the cast members into their sudden postwar "criminal complex." Thus, the "heist scene," which based on advertising was probably supposed to be one of the more memorable and authoritative parts of the film, seemed to be almost too "spur-of-the-moment" and lacked motivation and definition.

All in all, the film's running time, which was approximately 119 minutes, was simply far too short for the storyline. The postwar segment of the film (the last forty-five minutes) was indeed key in separating a decent movie like "Dead Presidents" from a epic masterpiece like "The Deer Hunter."

Besides the first seventy-five minutes, a couple of notably good performances given by Chris Tucker as Skip (Anthony's best friend) and Rose Jackson as Juanita (Anthony's girlfriend) do make "Dead Presidents" a movie worth seeing at least once. That said, I would warn not to create a preconception based on the title, tagline or any publicity images that you might have seen, because they apply only to a small portion of the action.

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19 out of 28 people found the following review useful:
A strong movie about life for a black man after the Vietnam war, 19 June 2001
Author: martymaster (martymaster@hotmail.com) from Fredrikstad, Norway

For all those who liked the movie "Menace 2 Society",you are going to love this one. This movie features the star from Menace to Society "Larenz Tate" and the well known "Chris Tucker". This is a very violent movie and have a few very gory scenes of the Vietnam war,but that is okay because this movie really shows how difficult it must have been for a black man growing up in the Bronx in the 60's.And it shows how life is for him and his friends after coming home from the Vietnam war. The language in this movie is of course very tough and rough and I could actually count the f-word 247 times in this movie and that speaks for it's self.

This is an extremely well made movie that really shows the reality of how hard the world can be for some people.

I advice everybody to go out and pick up this movie, because it is a story that you got to hear.

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15 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
delivers big for the right fans, 14 September 2002
Author: Special-K88

Gripping, poignant story about a young black man who grows up in the 1960's Bronx, and whose parents groom him to follow in the footsteps of his college-bound older brother. He has his own plans however, and enlists in the Marine Corps where he survives four years of brutal warfare in Vietnam. He returns home to try and make a new life for himself, but a struggling economy and lack of formal education gradually draw him into a life of crime. An effective portrayal of black involvement in Vietnam, with good performances, powerful scenes, and shockingly graphic violence. Tate is commanding in the lead, and Tucker is a real surprise as his drug-addicted pal. Not for all tastes, but well-crafted and well-made. ***

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16 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
"Dead" "Presidents", 11 February 2005

Author: dee.reid from United States

"Dead Presidents," the Hughes Brothers' ambitious 1995 follow-up to their equally ambitious debut, the gritty and ultraviolent 1993 drama "Menace II Society," is about as ambitious as most films can get, and in some ways it's better than their previous film, and in some ways it's not.

Many have taken note of co-directing team Allen and Albert Hughes' referencing to their cinema heroes like Martin Scorsese and the bloody gangster classic "Scarface." Indeed, observant viewers will note the explicit bloodshed that's prevalent in "Dead Presidents" as being homage to the graphic gangster pictures of yesteryear, and that doesn't make it bad.

"Presidents" takes a look at the role that the color green played in the lives young black men before and after Vietnam. In fact, on the killing fields of good old 'Nam, mankind is seen at its absolute lowest, where soldiers on both sides of the conflict commit horrific atrocities, including a scene where a black soldier decapitates a (dead) Viet Cong and keeps the head for good luck, or when an American soldier is gutted and castrated.

Obviously, the Hughes Brothers have some real big qualms about black mens' involvement in that conflict, and the film's central character, Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate), finds little prospects awaiting him in the Bronx after doing two tours in Vietnam.

Before he left, however, he'd impregnated his girlfriend Juanita (Rose Jackson) and while in country, he doesn't permit himself to think of what he's left behind in America. So when Anthony's forced to leave his low-paying job as a meat cutter, it's not a surprise that he's already begun plans to knock off an armored truck to get some "dead presidents," which is street slang for dollar bills.

So, together with his two involuntarily enlisted Vietnam buddies Skip (Chris Tucker) and Jose (Freddy Rodriguez), Anthony's Uncle Kirby (Keith David), Juanita's radicalized sister Delilah (N'Bushe Wright) and Cleon (Bokeem Woodbine), they proceed to knock over the truck and make way with its valuable assets.

The film is most definitely a gritty look at the "black experience" during the Civil Rights era and the Hughes Brothers certainly pay a lot more attention to the details of the picture. It's not better than "Menace," but is certainly better-made, now that they have been given a more reasonable budget.

10/10

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Great Movie, 9 May 2004

Author: gator1110 from United States

This was a great movie, and I think it was overlooked. It is one my favorites due to the unique storytelling and action. This movie is way better than 90% of the crap that comes out today. The acting is also superb, and I think it Chris Tucker's greatest performance. Even though the story has a lot of action, it's very believable, which is hard to do in Hollywood. For those who haven't seen this movie I suggest you go and rent it now, it's a modern day classic. Sit back and be prepared to watch a great moment in filmaking. It's definitely underrated. I think if it was promoted better it might have done better, especially since most war movies do well.

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8 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Great Underrated Powerful Movie, 12 June 2006

Author: Liakot Ali from London

I did not expect much from Dead Presidents when i saw it on my video shop. The cover doesn't look great and i haven't heard of this film. I enjoyed Menace to society, Boyz N the hood and juice. But After these releases there hasn't been any great Black (Hood) Crime movies. There have been so many disgraceful movies that star some rapper used to promote the movies. I gave Dead Presidents a chance, and I'm glad i did. This was a Masterpiece, directed by Hughes Brothers after Hit movie Menace 2 Society. The Hughes Brothers impress once again. Starring highly underrated actor Larenz tate in a powerful, Superb performance. Alongside Chris Tucker in a supporting role. This is a Great Action movie, with some serious situations.

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7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Harrowing follow-up from the Hughes Brothers, 4 November 2000
Author: JawsOfJosh from Chicago

I thought I had seen one of the most intense horror films ever when I saw the Hughes Brothers' debut "Menace II Society" (yes, I do mean 'horror' in the figurative sense). Then I saw "Dead Presidents," and I saw they took it up a notch. This film is set in Harlem in the mid 60's, a young man named Anthony Curtis, who's unsure of what to do with this life after high school and is not really interested in the usual route of college. He decides to enlist in the Marine Corps and no doubt ends up in Vietnam, in a special armed forces unit. Although he makes it out alive unscratched after four years of service, he returns home to find himself, his Marine buddies and their families - including his own new growing family - ravaged physically, emotionally, psychologically and economically by the war. When things seem to really go bleak, Anthony and his friends decide to rob an armored bank truck to get themselves back on track.

"Dead Presidents" confirms the suspicions that were aroused by "Menace" that the Hughes Brothers are without question going to become master filmmakers. There is an obvious graduation in their skills here, look at the brilliant way they segue into Vietnam by showing Anthony hop over backyard fences with dogs barking in the background that suddenly fade into shotgun blasts and officer commands, then with one pass over another fence Anthony is suddenly is Vietnam blasting his shotgun. Be warned, the Vietnam sequence in the film contains the most grotesque war scenes ever filmed (much more brief in length than "Saving Private Ryan" but just as intense).

Larenz Tate gives a strong performance as a man with a do-good heart but a warped mind that's been tarnished by war. Keith David is also skilled as Kirby, the neighborhood elder who serves as Anthony's mentor. N'Bushe Wright is miscast as a Black militant activist who entices Anthony towards the heist, she's a really bad actress and the Hughes Brothers were smart for cutting her screen time. "Dead Presidents" speaks volume about Black Americans' involvement in Vietnam and the consequences they suffered for doing so. Not a happy film, but an honest and skillful one.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Gritty drama from the Hughes Bros., 23 August 1998

Author: Radix from Sunnyvale, CA

A well thought out movie featuring some of the most thrilling violent scenes and intense language. The Criterion Laserdisc commentaries reveals some more interesting background to the production of this movie. Recommended for Hughes Bros. fans out there.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
The 1930's Crime Message Movie Hits The 90's, 29 July 2002

Author: rmc129-2 from Leeds, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

When I saw this movie it reminded me of the 1930's crime movies put out by Warner Brothers which advance the premise that environment and circumstance make the criminal.

Larenz Tate is excellent in the lead and the entire cast play out their roles realistically.

Vietnam is not the ruin of young Anthony Curtis (Tate) but a society devoid of opportunity for a young man who made the wrong choice in life (joining the Services rather than going to college like his brother) is at the root of his problems. Dead Presidents has cadences that match with other movies - The Deer Hunter, for instance.

What makes this a very good movie is its recognition of the duality of some who end up as criminals. This is no awful matey heist movie where crime is a romp, rather it is a believable story about a young man who takes the wrong road.

Doom lies in the composition of the gang - the spaced out explosives expert, the junkie lookout, the girl revolutionary to whom the exercise is the ultimate expression of rebellion, the one legged failed numbers racketeer (not an ideal getaway driver). These are not a gang that would inspire confidence in any but a desperate man and by the time the heist comes we can taste Curtis' desperation - its ultimate expression lying in his choice of Cleon - who chopped off a Viet Cong's head and carried about as a good luck charm when serving in 'Nam - as the final member of the gang.

By now Curtis has drifted right outside the mainstream of society and is shocked when he pulls a life sentence from outraged judge Martin Sheen (a brilliant 2 minute cameo acting as a counterpoint to the sympathy we have come to feel for Curtis)

This is a first rate, well acted movie combining action with a sophisticated argument about the motivation which may lie behind a basically decent man who goes bad. A hard pitch to make, but one at which the Hughes brothers succeed admirably.

8 out of 10

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Great movie, 8 March 2005

Author: Johnny0581 from Washington Heights, NY

I really enjoyed this movie. Everyone in it did an excellent job and it was very gripping. It keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Larenz Tate, in his best role ever, plays Anthony Curtis, a young black man from late 1960's The Bronx, who is just a regular guy who hangs out with his friends played by Chris Tucker also in his best role ever as Skip, and Freddy Rodriguez as Jose. Shortly after graduation from high school, Anthony decides he doesn't want to follow his big brother's path of going to college but instead, joining the Marine Corps and fight for his country. Shortly thereafter, we are taken to Vietnam with the boys and we meet some other interesting characters, one of them a psychotic preacher, Cleon, played by Bokeem Woodbine,and the Vietnam sequences are executed very realistically and are very bloody. After a while, we are taken back to the boogie down Bronx, where Anthony upon returning to the old neighborhood after four years,realizes that things are even worse than before, and everyone, including his pre-Vietnam girlfriend, Juanita, all have taken their lives in a different direction. Anthony is now a father, and cannot find a job anywhere and realizes that his own country has turned his back on him and many young black veterans from 'Nam, including his old boys Skip and Jose. We also meet Kirby, played by Keith David, a once cold and ruthless hustler, who has now left the life because the corruption of the city has forced him to quit his old habits, and Juanita's sister Delilah, played by N'Bushe Wright, who is an activist with the Black Panthers. Pretty soon all of these characters, save Juanita, fed up with their lives and their situation, get together to plan a stickup on an armored truck that is making a pickup of old dollar bills and is taking them to a location in Washington to burn them. The stickup sequence is very well made, but of course, bloody. This movie is filled with great performances, the best coming from Larenz Tate, Bokeem Woodbine and Keith David, heart-pounding action and good dialogue. A Hughes Brothers' classic. 9.5 out of 10.

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