editorial

Love is the Drug

What does a drug kingpin have to do to be considered unlikeable these days? Frank Lucas, a notorious dealer who flooded 1970s Harlem with heroin shipped to the States from Vietnam in the coffins of American soldiers, is considered by a surprising number of people to be a likeable guy — including the judge who finally sent him to jail.

Mark Jacobson, who penned “The Return of Superfly,” the 2000 New York Magazine article that inspired the new Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe movie American Gangster, paints a picture of a boastful, blameful, hypocritical turncoat responsible for countless deaths and who — at the time of the interview — showed no signs of remorse.

At one point in the article Lucas even recalls the so-called “Cadaver Connection” scheme with apparent pride and fondness, as if reminiscing about a college football prank involving hijinks performed on another team’s mascot.

 “‘We did it all right…ha ha ha…’ Lucas chortles in his dying-crapshooter’s scrape of a voice,” writes Jacobson. “‘Who the hell is gonna look in a dead soldier’s coffin? Ha ha ha.’”

But Lucas also took care of his dear ol’ ma, stuck it to the man, and appeared to be loyal to his North Carolina kin…whom he turned into fellow drug dealers. This seems to be enough to make the guy a mensch for some; even Jacobson admits he liked the ex-con. And although the reasons for that affection may be lost on me, the fact that it exists makes a challenging premise for a movie.

In our story “Opposites Attract,” Washington, who plays Lucas, and Crowe, who plays the cop who brought him down, paint both men as swirling mixtures of good and bad, temptation and duty.

Speaking of unlikeable, Javier Bardem plays his most vicious character to date in the new Coen Brothers movie, No Country for Old Men. Read “Psycho Analysis” to find out why a bad hairdo was so pivotal in creating Bardem’s bloodthirsty character.

Meryl Streep joins Robert Redford and Tom Cruise in this month’s Lions for Lambs, a political drama that happens to be the first movie released by United Artists since Cruise took over. In “Don’t be Afraid. It’s Just Meryl…,” the woman widely considered to be the best actress of her generation tells young thespians why they shouldn’t be intimidated by her.

And don't miss “Some Assembly Required,” our chat with director Todd Haynes about his odd new movie I’m Not There. Why odd? The bio-pic tears apart multifaceted folk-rocker Bob Dylan and then puts him back together with six different actors (including Cate Blanchett) sharing the role.

—Marni Weisz