History Film / AmericanGangster

* ArmorPiercingSlap: When Mama Lucas realizes that Frank is about to [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope start attacking cops outright]], she tries to talk him out of it and reveals that she's known about his drug dealing for some time, but played the fool to keep the peace in the house. When Frank dismisses her concerns, she cracks him across the face and takes him to task for endangering everyone's lives.

-->'''Frank:''' Alright, everybody get out! ''GET OUT!''

* GetOut: After delivering the [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown smashes]] one of his cousins, Jimmy, to the piano for causing a disturbance with Huey in his cocktail party, Frank kicks all of his guests out.

* WhatTheHellHero: In his quest to take down Frank, Richie has the coffin of a dead American soldier opened and attempts to search the body. This upsets the military policemen, arouses the outrage of a nearby US Army officer, and enrages the District Attorney.

* EnemyMine: At the end of the film, Frank and Ritchie cooperate to put NYC's corrupt cops in prison. In return for information, Frank's sentence is reduced by 55 years. [[spoiler: Ritchie eventually becomes a defense attorney. His first client is Frank Lucas. A deleted scene had Ritchie picking up Lucas from jail and helping him find a place, but Scott thought it was too much of a genre shift from gangster film to buddy film.[[note]]In RealLife, Lucas and Ritchie are HeterosexualLifePartners[[/note]]]] [[spoiler: And then it's humorously undone a little when they're consultants during filming and get back into their old roles as adversaries. Ritchie (paraphrased): "Lucas' having too much fun, and I want to arrest him again!"]]

* InformedJudaism: Ritchie wears a Star of David necklace throughout the film. Nothing aside from this detail implies him being Jewish or having any connections with Judaism (other than being called a "kike" by the [[{{Jerkass}} Fistrict Attorney]] who reams him out over [[spoiler:raiding the military plane]]).

* CrazyEnoughToWork: Frank arrives in Thailand through his cousin-in-law, Sgt. Ike Atkinson, and travels to an opium field controlled by a former Chinese Natonalist general. The general is, at first, fairly apprehensive about selling him the heroin, and quizzes Lucas on how he expects to transport 100kg of heroin without the US military noticing and without the help of a well-known and experienced organization; Lucas simply responds "[[BadassBoast You don't have to worry about that]]". The general then asks what happens if he survives the attempt, or evades capture. Lucas confidently responds that he'll purchase much more from them - through a representative. Amused, and impressed by his determination, the general agrees on the deal. [[spoiler:It turns out that Frank had the heroin transported by hiding it in the coffins of dead US servicemen]].

--> '''Nationalist General:''' Quitting while you're ahead isn't the same as quitting.

* CassandraTruth: Leading into the finale [[spoiler: Richie tries to start checking one of the coffins for drugs, and is stopped by just about everybody present, including his boss. Guess where the drugs were hidden?]]

** Every cop except Ritchie and most of his team. ''Three quarters of New York City's Drug Enforcement Agency and the NYPD'' end up convicted by the end of the film.

** Everyone except Ritchie. ''Three quarters of New York City's Drug Enforcement Agency'' end up convicted by the end of the film.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler: Frank agrees to cooperate with the NYPD to expose corrupt cops; he ensures that 3/4 of the NYPD and DEA are exposed and arrested, and corners Trupo into committing suicide.]]

** The District Attorney blows off all of Richie's explanations of Frank's operation and calls him an anti-Semitic slur.

* InformedJudaism: Ritchie wears a Star of David necklace throughout the film. Nothing aside from this detail implies him being Jewish or having any connections with Judaism (other than being called a "kike" by the [[{{Jerkass}} FBI special agent]] who reams him out over [[spoiler:raiding the military plane]]).

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Despite being based on Frank Lucas' life, ''many'' aspects of the story are either disputed--the use of the coffins to smuggle drugs, Lucas being Bumpy Robinson's right-hand man--or outright untrue. For example, Richie Roberts never had children, yet spends the movie in a custody battle with his ex. Meanwhile, Frank Lucas and his wife had seven children, his wife herself was arrested and convicted for involvement with Frank's drug business, and the two have been married for over 40 years--completely the opposite of what was portrayed in the film--the Lucas' are childless, his wife is aware of his business, but uninvolved, and she leaves him after his arrest.

* CrazyEnoughToWork: Frank arrives in Thailand through his cousin-in-law, Sgt. Ike Atkinson, and travels to an opium field controlled by a Kuomintang general. The general is, at first, fairly apprehensive about selling him the heroin, and quizzes Lucas on how he expects to transport 100kg of heroin without the US military noticing and without the help of a well-known and experienced organization; Lucas simply responds "[[BadassBoast You don't have to worry about that]]". The general then asks what happens if he survives the attempt, or evades capture. Lucas confidently responds that he'll purchase much more from them - through a representative. Amused, and impressed by his determination, the general agrees on the deal. [[spoiler:It turns out that Frank had the heroin transported by hiding it in the coffins of dead US servicemen]].

--> '''Khun Sa:''' Quitting while you're ahead isn't the same as quitting.

--> '''Chinese General:''' Quitting while you're ahead isn't the same as quitting.

-->'''District Attorney:''' That was a military transport plane. If there was heroin onboard that means that someone in the military would have to be involved. Which means even as it fights a war that has claimed 50,000 American lives, the military is involved in narcotics. That is how this event today will be interpreted: That someone employed by this office believes that the US Army is involved in the drug trafficking business, and is trying to prove it by descrecrating the corpses of young men who have GIVEN THEIR LIVES IN DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY!

* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: Frank tries to persuade his nephew Steve, a talented baseball player, to pursue a pro career. He even arranges an interview with the manager of the New York Yankees. Frank is understandably upset when Steve decides to go into the drug business and when Frank's operations get busted and is shot and killed during the shootout with police]].

* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: Frank tries to persuade his nephew Steve, a talented baseball player, to pursue a pro career. He even arranges an interview with the manager of the New York Yankees. Frank is understandably upset when Steve decides to go into the drug business and is shot and killed during a shootout with police]].

* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: Frank tries to persuade nephew Steve, a talented baseball player, to pursue a pro career. He even arranges an interview with the manager of the New York Yankees. Frank is understandably upset when Steve decides to stick with the family business and is shot and killed during a shootout with police.

* MoodDissonance: One sequence shows Frank having a hearty Thanksgiving dinner in his mansion with his family, and contrasts it with Ritchie's crappy excuse of a dinner and drug addicts overdosing on Frank's product.

* RiseAndFallGangsterArc: The film charts the career of Frank Lucas, from his time serving as the driver for a Harlem mob boss through his ascent to become head of one of the most lucrative heroin rings in the United States. He is ultimately arrested when the police force one of his cousins to turn informant, and will himself go on to testify against many of the [[DirtyCop corrupt officers]] he bribed over the years.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Richie Roberts finds $1 million in cash and turns it in to the chagrin of his partner because it was "the right thing to do."

-->Quitting while you're ahead isn't the same as quitting.
* TheLastDJ: Ritchie discovers he's this in the NYPD, when he turns in $1 million he found in the boot of a car. The rest of the NYPD officers treat him as a pariah because someone that honest might just try to turn them in for their own corruption. His career is dead in the water until a friendly supervisor moves him across the river to New Jersey and puts Ritchie in charge of a special unit. His partner, despite being less squeaky clean, gets hit with it too for having gone along with Ritchie in turning in the money, and goes on a downward spiral that includes becoming an addict and overdosing on Frank's product, which was cut down and thus made more dangerous against Frank's instructions.

* WeddingSmashers: Not the wedding itself, but close enough. Trupo deliberately pulls over Frank and Eva as they're driving away from their wedding ceremony out of spite despite Frank's pleas not to. Frank is understandably [pissed ItsPersonal] at this, and retaliates by bombing Trupo's prized Shelby Mustang.

* WeddingSmashers: Not the wedding itself, but close enough. Trupo deliberately pulls over Frank and Eva as they're driving away from their wedding ceremony out of spite despite Frank's pleas not to. Frank is understandably [[pissed ItsPersonal]] at this, and retaliates by bombing Trupo's prized Shelby Mustang.