Theo Robertson A young black man Anthony Curtis is about to graduate from college in 1969 and volunteers from the United States Marine Corps . Coming home after a tour in the early 1970s . Needing a focus in life Anthony finds himself being drawn in to a life of crime DEAD PRESIDENTS was released in 1995 with a fair amount of hype . Directed by the Hughes brothers it was marketed as a film that marketed the black experience of coming home after Vietnam . One can understand why the film was marketed this way since the Hughes did make the critically acclaimed MENACE II SOCIETY , part of a short lived but acclaimed " Ghetto subgenre " in the early 1990s . DEAD PRESIDENTS might try to fit in to this type of genre but what ever type of movie it's trying to be it fails because there's an obvious flaw - there's not one single likable character in the movie If the Hughes brothers had been white I'm sure they'd have been accused of playing up to ethnic stereotypes or at the very least making a blacksplotation movie twenty years too late . The film starts with some foul mouthed characters lamenting the lack of sex in their lives and goes downhill from there . The film then cuts to Vietnam and if Anthnoy ( And the audience ) thought the ghetto was bad then Vietnam is a lot worse . The war scenes are genuinely disturbing and violent but again this seems very old hat when we'd already had a glut of anti-war films featuring the 'Nam ten years earlier and most of them making an anti-war point much better too . When Anthony returns to America he gets involved in a robbery that makes the Vietnam war look like an episode of TELETUBBIES This is a muddled , unfocused violent film that becomes more and more depressing as it goes along . If the Hughes are making a comment that returning soldiers from conflicts regardless of their colour are callously ignored by the country they fought to defend then they have failed . There's little incitement for the characters to become the violent ruthless criminals they are . Just because an educated college boy fought in a war zone it never seems a convincing character motivation to become a criminal , and the robbery itself on an armoured car is done so graphically and violently is enough to evaporate any potential sympathy one might have had at Anthony's plight Despite being a competently made film , the editing is very good for example , DEAD PRESIDENTS is a classic example of a film having to elicit empathy from the audience and if it fails to do this then the entire film fails

kenny_capcity I re-watched this for the first time in over 7 years as I dug it out of my VHS collection. Solid socio-political time peace addressing the issues facing young men growing up in the Bronx during the 70's. Good cast with a firm performance by Larenz Tate in the lead role. The movie showcased three distinct times in the lives of the main character, pre war, during Vietnam and post war struggling with life back in society. Good supporting cast with some noteworthy performances by Bookeem Woodbine, Clifton Powell, N'Bushe Wright and Terrance Howard. Howard steals a few scenes in his small role. Chris Tucker was funny with his usual flamboyant, loud and quick witted character that he has since built a solid career on. The ending was moving and powerful and the movie moved along fairly well accept for a scene or two. The soundtrack was fantastic and had me moving in my chair the whole time, worked excellent with the scenes, mood and period of the film. Well worth the watch.

blaisetelfer Please spare me this cliché: the tragedies of a shell-shocked veteran who comes back to his inner city neighborhood and has trouble finding work, his disillusion with the American dream, and how joining the military was the worst decision he ever made. That I could handle, (because I've seen it a million times), but all that nonsense at the end about "how dare you lock me up, after all I did for this country", spoken by a cop-killer? The Black Panthers are portrayed as strong and justified, when really they were a bunch of jabbering radicals who couldn't grow out of their teenage rebellion. The main character was not screwed by "the man" or "the system", he was just psychotic. A lot of men came back from Vietnam and many were troubled, but most did not hit their wives or robbed armored cars.

edwagreen Larenz Tate gives a masterful performance in this 1995 film which chronicles black America during the Viet Nam era and the turbulent 1970s that came after the survivors of this war came home.Tate is in a bad environment in the Bronx, though he is supported by a very decent family and a brother on the way to graduate school from college. College is not for Tate as he really hangs around with the wrong crowd.Viewing the horrors of war turns Anthony Curtis (Tate) into a heavy smoker, alcoholic and user of drugs. He returns home to a restless society and hears young black revolutionaries calling for violence to obtain their objectives.His girlfriend had a child from him while he was in Vietnam. Unable to adequately provide for them, he turns to crime which ultimately in his planned caper becomes a disaster.Though he is angry and sorry for what he has done, he can't comprehend why society has dealt with him so severely in a 15 year to life sentence. He is contemplative and brooding as he rides to prison.This is definitely a compelling film dealing with the societal problems following a period of tremendous upheaval in our nation.