Movie #201 Boyz N the Hood *1991*

When my crew and I were in High School there was a big gangsta rap trend going on.  Us being middle class white kids, we loved rap music if for no other reason than our parents hated it.  That always struck me as funny because I know my parents listed to rock-and-roll or "black music" that there parents hated, and my grandparents listened to jazz and swing (more black music) and their parents hated that.

Not only did we embrace the music culture of South Central LA, we adopted the style of dress and the style of speech.  With all it's colorful language.  Looking back we were wanna be's.  But I didn't care.  I loved NWA and Dr Dre and Snoop.  The more vulgar and anti-authority the better.

The movie best represented what we sort of strove for was Menace II Society.  Menace was about a bunch of gangsta's doing a bunch of gangsta sh*t.  I haven't watched Menace in years, so it is hard for me to comment on the character development of cinematic techniques.  All I remember was I wanted to be Stacy and my best friend wanted to be O'Dog.

We never really got into Boyz N the Hood.  I'm not sure why, but we were content watching our gang fantasies being played out in Menace.  So I watched Boyz the other night to see what I was missing.  I was totally surprised by what was presented.  I was expecting another gangsta paradise.  What I got was a lesson.

I found Boyz N the Hood to be the most preachy movie in my Year in Film project.  This movie moralizes early and often.  I didn't think that I was going to be in for a "message movie".  I knew that it had been nominated for several awards and a few Oscars I think.  I sort of figured it wouldn't be as raw as Menace, but I did expect something more edgy.

Boyz opens on black with a couple of voices (I assume to be black actors) cursing and throwing the "N" word around quite a bit.  I felt comfortable at this point.  For a moment I was 15 again with my Dickie work pants and Seattle Super Sonics cap on.  The movie then proceeds to show 30 minutes of the lives of a few young black men that will eventually grow up and become the focus of the rest of the film.  I felt this portion of the movie was a little like the black Stand by Me or an after school special.  It was even filmed that way.  At times I thought I was watching reading rainbow.  I also felt that the first act may not have been entirely unnecessary, but it drug on too way long. 

We are then presented a title card that says "7 Years Later" that would usher us to the present day.  Somehow the past in this movie felt more current or contemporary then the modern day portions.  The dress and music and language was definitely of it's time and it dated the "modern day" elements and made the movie, now 20 years later, seem fictional.

Boyz is the story of Tre, Doughboy, Ricky and Bobby.  Four young men and the struggles they encounter growing up in the streets of Crenshaw, LA.  A neighborhood that seemed a little to sanitary for me.  Again, Menace was set DEEP in the hood.  The area in Boyz seemed like a sub-burb of the hood.  Tre has come to live with his father (played very well by Lawrence Fishburne).  He is being raised right by a strong, proud black man.  Doughboy and Ricky are brothers.  The mother seems to favor Ricky who has aspirations of playing pro football.  Dough is content sitting on the porch drinking 40's and "gang banging" although we don't actually see him pick any fights or really get in much of any trouble.

Bring on the proselytizing!  This movie and it's director (John Singleton) wanted to make sure that its message got across.  Over and over again we got speeches about black people owning their property, how the military had no place for a black man, how cops couldn't be trusted and even more so black cops and the hate generated by misogyny.  There was a scene where three gangstas started philosophizing about religion.  It was almost the most forced thing in the film. It got so bad that at one point I thought that the movie had stopped and an AIDS PSA had been inserted as a commercial.  I genuinely thought that the movie was being self reflective and irreverent.  

Towards the end of the film Tre is forced to deal with the murder of a friend and we, the audience, are forced to accept that this good kid is now going to turn "hard" and attempt to avenge his friends death.  I didn't buy it for a minute.  Cuba Gooding Jr was good in his role, but a thug he is not.  Ice Cube was really the scene stealer here.  His performance was powerful and moving.  I wish he had a little better script to work with.  I would have loved to see how deep he could have gone into this character.

Overall I did enjoy this movie even though it was not what I was expecting.  I give Boyz N the Hood ★★★1/2.