Illinois Gordon is with Mary aka Pigfoot, played by Loretta Divine.

“The only way a cat can make a dime these days is running numbers” – Gordon

Gordon works for Madame Queen, played by Cicely Tyson. She’s the only holdout in Harlem who doesn’t join Schultz.

Bumby Johnson positions himself as her bodyguard “I want everybody to know the queen carries power in Harlem”.

The Queen meets Dutch and it doesn’t go well. She tries to get him to respect that she has her own bank. He doesn’t want to peacefully coexist and guns are drawn. Madame Queen is cultured, speaking in French to Schultz and explaining plainly he won’t be a part of her operation and rightly so, we see he doesn’t want a partnership. He’d eventually betray her through his crooked bag men.

Bumpy Johnson is well respected by everyone he meets.

Tim Roth’s Dutch is leading with the gun & not respected by those he needs to be.

When Henry Miro wanted to pay off the loan he made with Dutch but ended up dead when he didn’t roll over. 

“Big balls, no brains”

Arthur Felgenheimer is Dutch Schultz’s real name but he changed it so he could be respected & feared. Andy Garcia brings a level headedness as Lucky Luciano. It’s interesting that an Hispanic actor is playing an Italian mobster but he’s phenomenal. You believe that he’s the man.

Dutch is already in trouble with the law, Lucky himself comes up to Schultz place of business to collect $2k so they can stay under the radar.

In an example of what kind of man Dutch is he tells Lucky that he’d rather assassinate the special prosecutor than give any necessary money in order to do business.

Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey is paid off by Lucky Luciano but believes he isn’t swayed by the vices Lucky offers. Luciano disagrees and knows he’s as greedy as the rest, “It’s clear you took the [dirty] money”. 

Sulie, Queen Latifah, is friends with Pigfoot. There’s a scene where they’re speaking about numbers. Sulie had a dream that a catfish jumped off and bit her. There also was sweet potato pie on the plate.

We as the audience see how they come up with their choices from Madame Zora’s book correlating food to numbers. We get to see how superstitions play into choosing their numbers. Pigfoot tells Sulie, “potatoes give me gas, I don’t play any numbers that give me gas”

‘Garveyite’ Francine is against numbers running. Francine Hughes is working for the United Negro Improvement Assosciation, she gives away food to the hungry.

“The man who walks with Franchine walks the Christian path”

Bub, the black goon for Dutch played Bumpy Johnson in American Gangster.

Love the dialogue “you can’t judge a book with just one look”, when someone’s attractive characters say “she’s fine as frogs hair”. Pigfoot tells Illinois it’ll be awhile until he “gets his hambone boiled” which is a sexual innuendo.

When asked by Francine what makes him choose the path he’s on Bumpy says,

“I’m a colored man. White folks ain’t left me nothing but the underworld”

It’s the Great Depression and Bumpy doesn’t wanna shine shoes or carry bags for white men. According to Johnson the numbers provide jobs to 2000 black Harlemites and Gordon says the odds of a dime to $6 can provide groceries for a month.

Francine encourages Bumby that there are colored accountants, doctors and lawyers, at first she makes fun of his street name ‘Bumpy’ and instead calls him Ellsworth.

He’s not going to change but we see his charisma when he recites a poem about her eyes.

When Bumpy and Gordon rob Schultz’s men they go to the UNIA soup line and give all the money they stole directly to the people.

Tee-Nichy, Whispers and Bumpy are front line in protecting Queen Madame.

Madame got ambushed on the way to the opera by Dutch’s men. There’s a war started because she won’t give her business over to Dutch Schultz.

The scene after the shootout you hear the opera that they were going to see and it’s slowly revealed Madame Queen and Bumpy are sitting on the sofa, hands clasped still in their bloody clothes is an example of great directing by Bill Duke, brilliant acting by Lawrence Fishburne and Cicely Tyson & wonderful editing.

There’s a showdown that shows the difference of mentalities, Lucky is figuring out how to clean the mob’s money with Cuban bank accounts while Dutch is strong-arming the Queen’s people & starting wars.

“Always missing the point. You’re on your own. Do as you wish” Lucky to Schultz. And warns him if he does eventually need help from them that the price has gone up for their assistance.

Madame Queen is furious with what Bumpy has done, Schultz has already burned down three of her buildings where they collect and count their profits. She doesn’t want to go to war even though that’s what’s already happened.

“So you’re the Queen now? Think I don’t see why you’re sticking close to me? Don’t see your ambition?” to Bumpy.

He calls out the fact that she’s afraid of Dutch. He believes he can beat the Dutchman at his own game

There’s racism even in the underworld. Bub asks the crooked cop meeting with the Dutchman if he’s beat up any niggas lately, he replies that he hasn’t then turned the question on him.

In this game they’re paying $3k for hitmen and it costs $20k to purchase a judge.

The cop explains he’d rather have those pick-ax hitmen to get with his sister rather than a Black guy.

The music in this movie is next level.

Malcolm X’s movie before the conversion had this style of music but we get to live in this world longer, which I enjoy. I may not know the singers who performed but I do like the genre, it reminds me of Cadillac Records with the stylings of Howling Wolf, Little Walter and Etta James.

Who isn’t in this movie?

Big brother Tin Man from Drumline is a youngster who wants to work for Bumpy Johnson, quitting his job at the pool hall to be a runner for him. Tyrone has the idea of printing on different colored paper so the community can tell the difference between Dutch and the Queen’s numbers.

The community are supportive of him because he stands and fights. Francine doesn’t not support his murderous ways. “You shot three people, don’t you have any remorse?”

He believes he has done nothing wrong, references the lynching and the Scottsborough Boys being wrongfully imprisoned.

“I don’t understand you…within a blink of an eye, you can kill or be killed”. He asks if she has anything that she’d be willing to die or be killed for.

I really enjoy their back and forth, she’s a woman of principles.

The hitmen conversations about food reminds me of Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and the French version of the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. It shows even though their murderers they’re human beings with opinions and personalities.

Francine learned she could kill when they were ambushed during the assassination attempt. “You done right. Lord knows there’s a shortage of eligible men in this town” – Sulie to Francine

The crooked cop Foley not only robbed Illinois but also used the law to arrest Madame Queen which left the bank to Bumpy. She gave orders to avoid any bloodshed.

“How we gon’ get people to come back to work if we can’t go toe to toe?” Bumpy answers that they need to be smart and think carefully while moving throughout the city.

Whispers tells Bumpy it’s his time. He implements new routes, hides the slips so the crooked police can’t rob them and at the end of the night they will burn the slips, which gets rid of the evidence.

Immediately after there’s a montage of violence throughout 1935 culminating in Tyrone, the 17 year old runner, got murdered.

The mortician who Bumpy first met at the beginning of the movie tells his son to thank God for Johnson who has brought “prosperity back to the neighborhood”

I believe that’s a dual meaning, because of all this death he’s stayed busy but also the numbers game has been successful for Harlemites.

Tyrone’s mom explains there’s no honor in death. All her hard work, scrubbing floors for two decades to get a house where Tyrone can lay his head is in vain. Mrs. Aders spits at Bumpy’s feet.

The difference between Bumpy and Schultz is that Johnson honors the numbers paid even if it may bankrupt the organization instead of changing the number people played so the Dutchman can avoid honoring the agreement made. 

Gordon warns Bumpy, Madame Zora’s book says ‘235’ means death.

Now I heard about this scene with the banana split. This also is another example of Black famous, Paul from Temptations series is an ice cream shop worker who gave Bumpy and Francine a banana split with nuts. This was a faux pas and Johnson let him know, complete with guns being drawn. Jimmy put “almonds on his split”. I just want to show Jimmy the difference between a traditional split and the way he wants it.

Vallie did an assassination attempt with the new guy Jimmy putting almonds in his solit.

He accepted $3k from the Dutchman and begged for mercy. Vallie promised to go to Philly, but ended up getting sliced by Whispers.

The showdown at the Cotton Club has Bumpy and his crew cross the color line and warn Dutch Schultz that his time is over. They say if he doesn’t shut down all his runner operations then they’d kill him themselves.

This is a great movie and we see the result of the war. Pigfoot is killed by Dutch

“I’ve got bodies, all over the front page…Hoover is asking if I need his help

If one crazy negro is provoked into coming downtown they’ll all come… You get this numbers thing settled or I will launch an investigation into every syndicate activity in New York.” – Special prosecutor Dewey, though crooked, is a racist himself calling Luciano an Italian slur.

The ancient proverb, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is accurate here.

“Dutch Schultz doesn’t recognize that a partnership requires compromises. You do”, Lucky to Bumpy Johnson.

He wants to make a deal where Lucky gets a cut of their dealings and Luciano offers political connections. Bumby turns him down, wanting to stay independent. Dutch also objects “we do not bring that nigga in my presence”

Lucky is making a call to bring Bumby to the syndicate table and Dutch has been outvoted.

I believe both Cicely and Lawrence should have received awards for their performances.

The scene where the Queen meets with Bumby shows the passing of the torch, though it didn’t happen amicably. She’s mad he kept the war going even after promising to put the guns down.

Madame Queen accuses Johnson of blind ambition. He believes he can win the Dutchman’s game and has proof that his way is successful because of the progress with Lucky Luciano.

She believes in the quality of life and that the way he’s risen to power isn’t worth it. “Doesn’t life come for anything”

Francine is fed up with the bloodshed and will leave. “Bumpy, I’m leaving you…I don’t care about your trophies. It was wrong to take them in the first place”

She tells him “you’re just like Dutch Shultz” which is a change from the ice cream parlor scene where she affirms the difference between the two. Now that the love is gone she has found her fire again. She doesn’t see a human being anymore, he’s a cold hearted murder.

Bub and police chief Foley clash again over his usage of the n-word. The crooked cop takes exception to being questioned by a Black man 

Hewlett begins to leave Jack Foley “don’t be proud. Wrap up the scraps and take them home”

I believe he’s trying to ‘son’ him.

The dynasty is falling, Gordon confronts Bumpy who didn’t go to Mary’s funeral.

Illinois, who was Johnson’s right hand man, is done with all of it. He said he’s seen more deaths in six months than he had his entire life. They’re killing their own, because the Dutchman has Black people working for him. “So we all just killing each other”. We see Bumpy’s heartless side when he responds “any nigga fool enough to work for the Dutchman deserve to die”.

Illinois gets kidnapped by Officer Foley, he’s tortured to learn where the policy slips are. Bub doesn’t join in the killing of Gordon. This saves his life when Bumpy after killing Foley gets the drop on Hewlett. Johnson tells Bub he owes him, this is cashed in when Bumpy invites him to join the plan of assassinating Dutch.

He gets Lucky’s driver Cecil to set Dutch up. Bub knew Cecil from the old days when he was a shooter but now has turned his life around, thanks to his wife‘s encouragement.

They’re outside Bumpy’s accountant’s place of business where Lucky’s people are going over the odds and ends of Johnson’s operation.

They playing chess for real. I didn’t think Lucky would know.

Bumpy paid off Tom Dewey, Lucky got Dutch’s own shooter to kill Schultz then turned to kill him.

“Looks like the Queen has the bank back”

That’s how it’s supposed to be

This was a phenomenal movie, it ends with Bumpy finally entering the church to pay his respects to his cousin Illinois Gordon. It shows he’s learned from his mentality with Mary’s death.

Favorite quotes:

I’m gonna start saying “a few ticks” when I’m talking about taking some time

Tyrone’s mom tells Bumpy, “some see you as a hero, you just a common thief. You stole the only reason I had to live”

“If you open a faucet of blood, you never shut it off”- Madame Queen to Bumpy

“The Queen ain’t here and when she’s gone I’m carrying the power” – Bumpy Johnson

“I need my man hard down with his boots laced up” Bumpy to Gordon. 

That’s a great way of saying he wants his right hand man with him.

“You used to write me poetry, Ellsworth” – Francine

“Long live the King” – Madame Queen

“When you going down your list of accomplishments, Harlem used to be still and silent at night. You can thank yourself for the way it is now. I’m through cousin. You fight this war by your…self now. I’m Jack the Bear’s brother, I can’t go no further” – Illinois to Bumby

How you sleep at night? – Bumpy

“How you know I see at all?” – Bup/Hewlett

What does 235 mean? – Dutch to the accountant

“235 means death” Bub responds

What you gonna do Bumby?

I have some unfinished business to take care of

“I’m gonna finally get some sleep”