‘Hoodlum’: A Fight for Control of Harlem

Laurence Fishburne is one actor who has charisma to burn, but even his incendiary performance can’t ignite “Hoodlum,� a would-be gangster epic that generates less heat than a nickel cigar.

Fishburne does his best, and as Ellsworth “Bumpy� Johnson, the numbers king of 1930s Harlem, that best is considerable. With the thinnest possible mustache and a glare that could melt steel, Fishburne’s Bumpy is fierce, magnetic, irresistible, the kind of handsome, nerveless desperado every crime drama needs. But even this actor, whose Ike Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do With It� still burns in the memory, can only do so much.

There’s nothing wrong with “Hoodlum’s� designs on being a Harlem-based “Godfather,� but the film has turned out more ambitious and physically impressive than dramatically accomplished. While the scenes that are supposed to create audience involvement are easy to spot, they don’t play as intended, and the result is a plodding epic that tends to the lethargic and lackadaisical.

Director Bill Duke has done a considerably better job than Eddie Murphy did with the same period in “Harlem Nights,� but “Hoodlum� lacks the kind of energy and interest that marked Duke’s fine directing debut, “A Rage in Harlem,� or his later “Deep Cover,� which also starred Fishburne.

But while “A Rage in Harlem� had a juicy novel by Chester Himes as source material, “Hoodlum� has to make do with a problematic first produced screenplay by Chris Brancato. He’s loaded his work with self-conscious period slang like the mysterious “You better not frog up on me,� but it still feels inauthentic and incapable of getting even slightly below the surface.

Better writing would have helped most of Fishburne’s co-stars, but it might not have had much effect on Tim Roth’s portrayal of rival gangster Dutch Schultz.

Roth, who could people an entire episode of “The Untouchables� with all the crooks and lowlifes he’s created, plays the Dutchman as a scrappy but genial psychopath who kills without blinking. It’s the kind of self-conscious performance that encourages remarks like “interesting acting choice� instead of sweeping you away the way Fishburne’s work does.

*

Fishburne’s Johnson, who became Dutch Schultz’s ultimate nemesis, is introduced (on the day he’s getting out of Sing-Sing prison) as a kind of one-man Harlem Renaissance who writes poetry, plays chess and thinks deeply about the books he’s read.

Returning to Harlem and hooking up with his cousin, Illinois Gordon (Chi McBride), Johnson is disturbed at the way Schultz’s thuggish minions are treating old pal Stephanie St. Clair (Cicely Tyson), the regal monarch of Harlem numbers known as Madame Queen. He offers to help and is soon thrown by circumstances into a position running the entire operation.

Big a job as that is, it leaves Johnson time to romance the attractive Francine Hughes (Vanessa Williams), a do-right member of Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Assn. who does not usually hang with lowlifes. But it’s not every thug who understands racial empowerment and can talk about the numbers racket as “the only home-grown business we got in Harlem,� and soon Francine’s moral objections prove as disposable as yesterday’s policy slips.

Williams does all she’s asked to do in this largely window-dressing role, which is more than some of the rest of the cast can manage. Many, including Andy Garcia as mob boss Lucky Luciano, are infected by the film’s lack of tension and can’t bring their usual sharpness to bear.

Much of the film is taken up with the battle between the Dutchman and Bumpy for control of Harlem’s numbers, which may be the only thing in “Hoodlum� that actually happened. The film ends with a lengthy disclaimer reminding viewers that “the events, places and most of the characters . . . are purely fictional,� which will be good news to admirers of squeaky-clean special prosecutor and future Republican presidential candidate Thomas Dewey (William Atherton), here depicted as practically drowning in bribes.

“Hoodlum’s� main points vis-a-vis Johnson, that he was passionate about African American dignity and solidarity but at some point risked losing his soul because of his bloody war with Schultz, is not convincingly made. The movie may turn on Bumpy for a time, but audiences will remain unconvinced. He’s the only thing on screen that’s alive, and no one will want to question his choices, no matter where they lead.

* MPAA rating: R, for graphic gangster violence, strong language, a scene of sexuality and some nudity. Times guidelines: considerable bloodletting and some torture.

‘Hoodlum’

Laurence Fishburne: Bumpy Johnson

Tim Roth: Dutch Schultz

Vanessa Williams: Francine Hughes

Andy Garcia: Lucky Luciano

Cicely Tyson: Stephanie St. Clair

Chi McBride: Illinois Gordon

Clarence William III: Bub Hewlett

United Artists Pictures presents a Frank Mancuso Jr. production, released by MGM. Director Bill Duke. Producer Frank Mancuso Jr. Executive producers Bill Duke, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland. Screenplay Chris Brancato. Cinematographer Frank Tidy. Editor Harry Keramidas. Costumes Richard Bruno. Music Elmer Bernstein. Production design Charles Bennett. Art director Gary Baugh. Set decorator Maria Nay. Running time: 2 hours, 11 minutes.

* In general release throughout Southern California.