This year's Autumn Show of American Dramas is of great significance.
In September alone, there were long-lived dramas "South Park", "The Simpsons", and "Law & Order: Special Victims", which collectively returned.
The final seasons of "Modern Family", "Get Away with It", and "Hip Hop Empire" also began broadcasting at the end of September.
Caught between a number of popular episodes, the Epix gangster drama "The Godfather of Harlem" obviously lacks a lot of presence.
Even in Douban and IMDb, there are few followers, but on Rotten Tomatoes, "The Godfather of Harlem" has received a good evaluation.
Among them, Forrest Whitaker's Harlem gangster leader Ellsworth Raymond Johnson ("Bumpy" Johnson) is inevitably reminiscent of his [last dictatorship] of Amin (a former Ugandan dictator who slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people during his tenure).
Compared to Amin's brutality, Johnson is more restrained.
[The last dictatorship] made Whitaker the Golden Globe & Golden Statue
Compared with other gang members, Johnson did not look like a street gangster at all, but looked like a legitimate businessman.
Frank Lucas, who claimed to have been Johnson's driver (and later punched in the face), spoke highly of Johnson, and when Johnson ran amok in Harlem after johnson's death, [the American gangster] used Lucas as a prototype
Johnson is adept at creating a personal image, publishing poetry, helping the community, and socializing with many celebrities.
The godfather played by Whitaker looks bright and pure and harmless
However, as the "godfather" who ruled Harlem in New York for nearly 40 years, Johnson's cold-blooded and decisive side should not be underestimated.
Johnson often personally addresses those who dare to invade territory or challenge authority.
He is adept at using knives and has stabbed his opponent 36 times in a street fight.
The real Johnson ©Pinterest
The more horrific crime scene takes place in another standoff.
Johnson was out eating, and when he saw his opponent in the restaurant, he pounced on him and stripped the other person of one of his eyes alive. Then he went back to the table and said casually that he wanted to try the meatballs.
But Johnson's career has by no means been smooth sailing.
In 1952, he was imprisoned on charges of drug trafficking, and soon after a failed appeal began serving his sentence in Alcatraz, California.
The real Johnson's prison license
Alcatraz Island is surrounded by the sea and can only be traveled by plane or ferry, so many federal felons have been held there. The film "Escape from Yakala" is based on the only three criminals in history who have successfully escaped from Alcatraz Island, and "Daredevil Island" is also set on Alcatraz Island
The plot of "The Godfather of Harlem" begins after Johnson is released from prison.
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In 1963, Johnson returned home after completing his sentence.
After more than a decade of absence from Harlem, he was warmly welcomed by his old friends and the community.
Both the parish and the gang came to the godfather for help.
This is reminiscent of the movie [The Godfather]
Although the majesty is still there, Johnson's absence over the years has inevitably made other gangsters begin to covet Harlem's territory.
The Italian mafia "Chin" Gigante attempted to cannibalize Harlem, wounding Johnson's men in demonstrations.
The godfather naturally did not give up, he broke into The Gigant's lair and shot the other party's poisonous frozen flesh.
Gigant was the genoese family, one of the five major families of the Mafia, who guarded the territory and later became the head of the family
A war for territory began.
The entire "The Godfather of Harlem" is based on the reorganization of Harlem after Johnson's release from prison. Among them, his confrontation with Gigant is undoubtedly the biggest highlight of the series.
At the mediation of the Genoese family, the two temporarily maintained a superficial peace.
But the framing, kidnappings, and assassinations never stopped.
In addition to portraying Johnson's well-dressed side, "The Godfather of Harlem" also does not shy away from its "infamous" cruelty.
Shooting and cutting the throat is considered to be kindness.
Lynching and abuse is the essence of the big guy.
The gangsters are certainly the protagonists of "The Godfathers of Harlem", but the creators clearly have greater ambitions.
The creators of The Godfather of Harlem have also been involved in the Creation of the Narcos series
In the 1950s, the black civil rights movement arose, and the apartheid system gradually disintegrated.
In the year of the Story of the Godfather of Harlem, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a famous speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, "I Have a Dream."
In New York, there was also a civil rights leader, Malcolm M. X (Malcolm X) is synonymous with it.
Unlike Martin Ludkin,000, malcolm, who was mild in his pursuit of equality, was more radical and embraced black supremacy.
Malcolm X joined the Islamic State degree in prison and also changed his surname to "X"
Malcolm and Johnson have known each other since the 1940s, when the former was a low-level gangster and the latter had become a Harlem hero.
After Johnson was released from Alcatraz, Harlem became drug-ridden.
Malcolm allied himself with the old guy with the intention of fighting drugs to rebuild the community. Johnson also wants to take back the initiative from Gigant.
Congressman Adam Clayton Powell stepped in to get more votes. Therefore, the three decisively teamed up to start cooperation.
Johnson and Powell
Of course, this temporary alliance of taking what is needed is doomed not to last.
From gangster legends, to civil rights movements, to political corruption, "The Godfather of Harlem" incorporates a grander context of the times and multiple intricate threads beyond traditional gangster works.
Given that "The Godfathers of Harlem" only aired 4 episodes (10 episodes in total), we do not yet know whether the show is involved in another incident that shook the United States in 1963 - the assassination of Kennedy.
Whether it is the black movement or political struggle, it is the unavoidable background of the times in this drama.
The film also features a Romeo-Juliet love line, and the daughter of the mafia Gigant falls in love with a black musician. The magazine featured actress May Britt and singer Sammy Davis Jr., and after the two married, May disappeared from the screen for a while.
But with such a huge narrative, this ambitious "The Godfather of Harlem" could easily turn into a sloppy 60s show.
For the protagonist Johnson, the creator gave him more human touch.
Not only did he value his family, but he also deliberately joined the civil rights movement under the influence of Malcolm.
So much so that his emotional entanglement with his wife, lover, and drug-addicted daughter almost reduced the third episode to a family ethics drama.
However, for most viewers, the gangster godfather legend is still the biggest motivation for them to follow the drama.
As far as the gangster part of the plot is concerned, "The Godfather of Harlem" has the characteristics of traditional American gangster movies.
Hong Kong gangster films attach importance to brotherhood, and Japanese gangster films are bloody and brutal. American gangster movies are not very different from both.
Hong Kong gangster films also carry the characteristics of many martial arts films in the past, and the brotherhood between Song Zihao and Xiao Ma Ge is not difficult to think of many movies cooperated by "Di Jiang"
As a branch of crime cinema, the birth of gangster cinema dates back to the early 20th century.
In 1906, an 11-minute silent film directed by Wallace Mike Kuchingen was released.
The film tells the story of two Criminals of Italian descent who extort a butcher
The film is widely regarded as the earliest surviving gangster film (also a mafia film).
The first all-sound film [New York Lights] was also a gangster movie.
However, the real rise of gangster cinema in the United States, and the formation of its most enduring model, occurred in the early 1930s.
Under the influence of Prohibition, American gangsters ushered in spring.
[Little Caesar], [Enemy of the Nation], and [Scarface] are all classic gangster films from the early 30s.
Gangster movies of this period can be seen as a history of American crime.
After the repeal of the Hayes Code, gangsters also gained more freedom.
Even though the '70s [The Godfather] has surpassed the measure of gangsters and crime films and become one of the greatest American films, it has indeed become a model for American gangster films in the future, and it has also broken a characteristic of American gangsters.
Then take family blood and ethnic beliefs as the inheritance link.
In The Godfather of Harlem, this is also made clear — none of the core members of the organization are from a foreign race.
But "The Godfather of Harlem" takes a different approach on top of tradition, and while creating a gangster drama, its exploration of racial and political issues is rare in similar dramas.
It's certainly a nostalgic drama, but the world it describes, the world of racial division (antagonism), clash of beliefs, corruption and chaos, still applies to the world today.