Frank Lucas (Washington) is a soldier and budding businessman. His retirement plan for when he returns home from the Vietnam War is heroin. Cutting out the middle-man by shipping his product into the country from South East Asia in the coffins of dead soldiers, Lucas managed to build a drug empire wider than any other in the history of the USA. His product was better. His prices were lower.

The man tasked with bringing Lucas down was Richie Roberts (Crowe). Struggling amidst bribery and corruption to lead a taskforce against the kingpin and his mafia goons, Roberts took both years and bloodshed to bring Lucas down. Based on a true story, American Gangster is Ridley Scott's (Gladiator, Kingdom Of Heaven) latest historical epic. While it doesn't feature the swords and sandals that this probably conjures up, it nails its period just as well as Scott's other epics. American Gangster lives and breathes the 1970s with its style and characters. It certainly doesn't hurt to have Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington headlining the bill, but more impressive is the vast array of supporting actors (many of whom have easily carried their own films). American Gangster is a unique crime drama. No other movie tells such an evenly balanced story, and the pacing is perfectly pitched between action and plot.