Boyz n the Hood **** (1991, Cuba Gooding Jr, Laurence Fishburne, Morris Chestnut, Ice Cube, Nia Long, Tyra Ferrell, Angela Bassett, Regina King) – Classic Movie Review 8413

Writer-director John Singleton’s 1991 phenomenon of a movie, Boyz n the Hood caused riots and huge queues at the box-office in the US, though at heart it is a fairly routine tale of growing up in an African American neighbourhood of Los Angeles, South Central LA. It cost $6,500,000 and grossed $57,504,000 in the US, and it was nominated for two Oscars. It was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

Its success is led by a trio of very good performances by Laurence [Larry] Fishburne as the father Furious Styles, Cuba Gooding Jr as his son Tre Styles, and Morris Chestnut as his friend, Ricky Baker. However, rap artist Ice Cube’s performance as the third buddy Doughboy (Darren), Ricky’s half-brother, and some of the women’s performances are in a lesser league.

The film is a mixture of extremes of sentimentality and violence, scenes that are unsubtly underscored with either treacly or thumping music by Stanley Clarke. Singleton’s story often seems precariously undernourished, and the provocative film does at times seem inflammatory and incendiary as an entertainment. Nevertheless, it brings a dangerously, apparently explosive situation into the open, and the airing of any problem should help towards a solution.

There are many scenes of powerful effectiveness, though it is perhaps unfortunate that these are the violent ones, while the soft-centred sentimental family scenes play more like something out of The Cosby Show.

Nevertheless, début director Singleton has, at the age of only 23, confidently and successfully made the movie he intended, and it captured the zeitgeist of 1991, leading to two Oscar nominations for its creator. Singleton said much of the story comes from his own experiences in South Central LA and thanked his parents for keeping him off the streets. Singleton attended the Film Writing Program at USC.

RIP John Singleton, who died on 29 April 2019, aged 51. He was the youngest director and the first African-American to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar, for Boyz n the Hood, for which he was also Oscar nominated for Best Writing.

Also in the cast are Nia Long, Tyra Ferrell, Angela Bassett and Regina King.

Boyz n the Hood is directed by John Singleton, runs 109 minutes, is made by New Deal and Columbia Pictures, is released by Columbia Pictures, is written by John Singleton, is shot by Charles Mills, is produced by Steve Nicolaides, is scored by Stanley Clarke and is designed by Bruce Bellamy.

It is rated R for language, violence and sensuality.

Singleton started the acting career of hip-hop musician Ice Cube, who said the director screen-tested him to see if he could act.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8413

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