Film
American Gangster (rated: 3 of 5 worlds)
(HBO on Comcast) The director Ridley Scott and the screenwriter Steve Zaillian take us back to an era when a drug lord had some class, the drug lord being the real-life ’70s Harlem kingpin Frank Lucas. The movie mixes boilerplate crime-epic frills with pointed observations about a black male rising to the top of a vast business dominated by Italians. It’s a kitschy entertainment with an iffy moral streak. Denzel Washington (above) refuses to turn Lucas into anything more complex than upstanding. Russell Crowe has just as much screen time as the drug cop on his tail. (R; runs through Aug. 10) – Wesley Morris
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