In 1934, the second most lucrative business in New York City was running 'the numbers'. When Madam Queen—the powerful woman who runs the scam in Harlem—is arrested, Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson takes over the business and must resist an invasion from a merciless mobster.
Acting
Fishburne's simmering restraint vs. Roth's unhinged volatility.
Production
Depression-era Harlem recreated with detail bigger budgets skip.
Direction
Bill Duke brings theatrical discipline to the bloodshed.
Director
Bill Duke
Laurence Fishburne
Bumpy Johnson
Tim Roth
Dutch Schultz
Vanessa Williams
Francine Hughes
Andy Garcia
Lucky Luciano
Cicely Tyson
Stephanie St. Clair
Chi McBride
Illinois Gordon
Clarence Williams III
Bub Hewlett
Richard Bradford
Captain Foley
William Atherton
Thomas E. Dewey
Loretta Devine
Pigfoot Mary
Queen Latifah
Sulie
Mike Starr
Albert Salke
Beau Starr
Jules Salke
Paul Benjamin
Whispers
Joe Guzaldo
Bo Weinberg
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real Bumpy Johnson was a mentor to Frank Lucas (American Gangster) and reportedly threw a party where every attendee was required to bring an unregistered gun.
This was one of the few studio-backed Black gangster films of the '90s, released the same year as Hoodlum's spiritual cousin New Jack City, yet it bombed despite a $25 million budget.
US
