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.
08-27-1997
2h 10m
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
Bill Duke
Production:
United Artists, Frank Mancuso Jr. Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Revenue:
$23,461,013
Budget:
$30,000,000
Key Crew
Screenplay:
Chris Brancato
Executive Producer:
Helen Sugland
Casting:
Amanda Mackey
Executive Producer:
Bill Duke
Second Assistant Director:
Anthony Mason
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961; usually credited as Larry Fishburne until 1993) is an American actor. He is a three-time Emmy Award and Tony Award winner known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative characters in his films. He is known for playing Morpheus in The Matrix series (1999–2003), Jason "Furious" Styles in the John Singleton drama film Boyz n the Hood (1991), Tyrone "Mr. Clean" Miller in Francis Ford Coppola's war film Apocalypse Now (1979), and "The Bowery King" in the John Wick film series (2017–present).
For his portrayal of Ike Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), Fishburne was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in Two Trains Running (1992) and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in TriBeCa (1993). Fishburne became the first African American to portray Othello on film when he appeared in Oliver Parker's 1995 film adaptation of the Shakespeare play. He has also received five Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. He received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead nomination for his performance in Deep Cover (1992).
Other film credits of Fishburne include Steven Spielberg's The Colour Purple (1985), Spike Lee's School Daze (1988), Abel Ferrara's King of New York (1990), Clint Eastwood's Mystic River (2003), Steven Soderbergh's Contagion (2011), and Richard Linklater's Last Flag Flying (2017). He has also gained a wider audience with the blockbuster films Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). On television, he starred as Dr. Raymond Langston on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008–2011) and as Special Agent Jack Crawford in the NBC thriller series Hannibal (2013–2015), as well as having a recurring role as Earl "Pops" Johnson in the ABC sitcom Black-ish (2014–2022). He is currently starring in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's play American Buffalo alongside Sam Rockwell and Darren Criss.
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Timothy Simon Roth (born May 14, 1961) is an English actor and producer. He began acting on films and television series in the 1980s. He was among a group of prominent British actors of the era, the "Brit Pack".
He made his television debut in Made in Britain (1982), and theatrical film debut in The Hit (1984), for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. Since then, he gained more attention for his roles in films, including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, (1989), Vincent & Theo (1990), and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990). Roth collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on several films, such as Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Four Rooms (1995), and The Hateful Eight (2015). For his performance in Rob Roy (1995), Roth won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Roth made his directorial debut with the film The War Zone (1999). He played Cal Lightman in the Fox series Lie to Me (2009–2011) and Jim Worth / Jack Devlin in the Sky Atlantic series Tin Star (2017–2020). Roth also portrayed Emil Blonsky / Abomination in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Incredible Hulk (2008), reprising the role in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022).
Andy García (born Andrés Arturo García Menéndez, April 12, 1956) is a Cuban-American actor. He's best known for his roles as Vincent Mancini in The Godfather III, George Stone in The Untouchables, Dr. Ramirez in Stand and Deliver, Raymond Avila in Internal Affairs, Michael Green in When a Man Loves a Woman, Frank Conner in Desperate Measures, Terry Benedict in the Ocean's Trilogy, Andre Allen on HBO's Ballers, Captain Norris in Passengers (2016), President Andrew Palma in Geostorm, Mitchel in Book Club 1 & 2, Ricardo Montalban in My Dinner with Hervé, Father Patrick in Words on Bathroom Walls, Billy Herrera in remake of Father of the Brida (2022), and Marsh in Expend4bles.
He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) alongside Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Robert De Niro. He continued to act in films such as Stand and Deliver (1988), and Internal Affairs (1990). He then costarred in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part III (1990) as Vincent Mancini, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
In 2000, he produced and acted in the HBO television film, For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000), where he received a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award nominations. In 2005, he won a Latin Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album for producing Cuban musician Cachao's record Ahora sí.
Cicely Louise Tyson (December 19, 1924 – January 28, 2021) was an American actress. In a career which spanned more than seven decades in film, television and theatre, she became known for her portrayal of strong African-American women. Tyson received various awards including three Emmy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Tony Award, an Honorary Academy Award, and a Peabody Award.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Cicely Tyson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Kenneth "Chi" (pronounced "shy") McBride (born September 23, 1961) is an American actor. He starred as Emerson Cod on the ABC series Pushing Daisies, and on Fox's drama Human Target.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Chi McBride, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Clarence Williams III (August 21, 1939 – June 4, 2021) was an American actor. Williams was the son of a professional musician, Clarence "Clay" Williams Jr., and grandson of jazz and blues composer/pianist Clarence Williams and his singer-actress wife, Eva Taylor. Raised by his paternal grandmother, he became interested in acting after accidentally walking onto a stage at a theater below a Harlem YMCA.
Williams began pursuing an acting career after spending two years as a U.S. Army paratrooper in C Company, 506th Infantry, of the 101st Airborne Division. He first appeared on Broadway in The Long Dream (1960). Continuing his work on stage, he appeared in Walk in Darkness (1963), Sarah and the Sax (1964), Doubletalk (1964), and King John. His breakout theatrical role was in William Hanley's Slow Dance on the Killing Ground, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. The New York Times drama critic Howard Taubman wrote of his performance, "Mr. Williams glides like a dancer, giving his long, fraudulently airy speeches the inner rhythms of fear and showing the nakedness of terror when he ceases to pretend." He also served as artist-in-residence at Brandeis University in 1966.
Williams' breakout television role was as undercover cop Linc Hayes on the popular ABC counterculture police television series The Mod Squad (1968), along with fellow relative unknowns Michael Cole and Peggy Lipton. After the series ended in 1973, he worked in a variety of genres on stage and screen, from comedy (I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Half-Baked) to sci-fi (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and drama (Purple Rain).
Spanning over forty years, his career included the role of Prince's tormented father, who was also a musician, in Purple Rain (1984), A guest appearance in Miami Vice (1985), a recurring role in the surreal TV series Twin Peaks (1990), a good cop in Deep Cover (1992), a rioter in the mini-series Against the Wall (1994), and Wesley Snipes' chemically dependent father in Sugar Hill (1993). His other roles on television include Hill Street Blues, the Canadian cult classic The Littlest Hobo, Miami Vice, The Highwayman, Burn Notice, Everybody Hates Chris, Justified, Cold Case, and Law & Order. He can be seen in films such as 52 Pick-Up, Life, The Cool World, Deep Cover, Tales from the Hood, Half-Baked, King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis, Hoodlum, Frogs for Snakes, Starstruck, The General's Daughter, Reindeer Games, Impostor, and as the early jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton in The Legend of 1900. He also played a supporting role as George Wallace's fictional African-American butler and caretaker in the 1997 TNT film George Wallace.
From 2003 to 2007, Williams had a recurring role as Philby Cross in the Mystery Woman film series on the Hallmark Channel. He appeared in all but the first of the eleven films alongside Kellie Martin (J.E. Freeman played Philby in the Mystery Woman first film). In the seventh (Mystery Woman: At First Sight) film, he reunited with his Mod Squad co-star Michael Cole. He played Bumpy Johnson in the film American Gangster. From 2005 to 2007 Williams had another recurring role as the voice of Councilor Andam on the Disney animated series American Dragon: Jake Long.
Williams died in Los Angeles, on June 4, 2021, at the age of 81, from colon cancer. He is buried in St Charles Cemetery in East Farmingdale, New York.
Richard Bradford (November 10, 1934 – March 22, 2016) was an American actor, known for his lead role as former CIA agent turned private eye McGill in the British television adventure series Man in a Suitcase, made by ITC and the films The Missouri Breaks, An Enemy of The People, The Legend of Billie Jean, The Untouchables, and Internal Affairs. His photograph was used as the sleeve image for The Smiths 1986 single, Panic.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Atherton Knight (born July 30, 1947) is an American actor, best known for portraying Richard Thornburg in Die Hard and its sequel and Walter Peck in Ghostbusters.
Loretta Devine (born August 21, 1949) is an American actress, singer and voice actor. She is known for numerous roles across stage and screen. Her most high profile roles include Lorrell Robinson in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls, the long-suffering Gloria Matthews in the film Waiting to Exhale, and her recurring role as Adele Webber on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2011.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Loretta Devine, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album All Hail the Queen on November 28, 1989, featuring the hit single "Ladies First". Nature of a Sista' (1991) was her second and final album with Tommy Boy Records.
Latifah starred as Khadijah James on the Fox sitcom Living Single from 1993 to 1998. Her third album, Black Reign (1993), became the first album by a solo female rapper to receive a RIAA certification, and spawned the single "U.N.I.T.Y.", which was influential in raising awareness of violence against women and the objectification of Black female sexuality. The record won a Grammy Award and peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. She then starred in the lead role of Set It Off (1996) and released her fourth album, Order in the Court, on June 16, 1998, with Motown Records. Latifah garnered acclaim with her role of Matron "Mama" Morton in the musical film Chicago (2002), receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Latifah released her fifth album The Dana Owens Album in 2004. In 2007 and 2009, she released two more studio albums – Trav'lin' Light and Persona. She created the daytime talk show The Queen Latifah Show, which ran from 1999 to 2001, and again from 2013 to 2015, in syndication. She has appeared in a number of films, such as Bringing Down the House (2003), Taxi (2004), Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2005), Beauty Shop (2005), Last Holiday (2006), Hairspray (2007), Joyful Noise (2012), 22 Jump Street (2014) and Girls Trip (2017) and provided voice work in the Ice Age film series. Latifah received critical acclaim for her portrayal of blues singer Bessie Smith in the HBO film Bessie (2015), which she co-produced, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. From 2016 to 2019, she starred as Carlotta Brown in the musical drama series Star. In 2020, she portrayed Hattie McDaniel in the miniseries Hollywood.
Queen Latifah has been referred to as the "Queen of Rap" by several media articles, as well as "rap's first feminist". Latifah became the first hip hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2006). Latifah's work in music, film and television has earned her a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, and an Academy Award nomination.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Queen Latifah, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
An American actor. Known for his large size at 6' 3" or 190 cm, he has typically been typecast as playing thugs or henchmen. Starr was born in Flushing, Queens, New York to a retail employee mother and a meatpacker father. His older brother Beau Starr is also an actor. Mike Starr is a graduate of Hofstra University. He and his family reside in Riverdale, New York.
Beau Starr (born September 1, 1944) is an American actor who has starred in movies and on television. He is known for his film role as Sheriff Ben Meeker in the 1988 hit horror movie Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers; he reprised his role in the 1989 sequel Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers as well as playing Henry Hill's Father in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. Many also remember him as Lt. Harding Welsh in Due South.
Paul Benjamin (born 1938) is an American actor.
Benjamin was born in Pelion, South Carolina. He made his film debut in 1969 as a bartender in Midnight Cowboy. After a small role in Sidney Lumet's The Anderson Tapes, he did extensive television work in the 1970s.
A few notable exceptions were a major role in Barry Shear's Across 110th Street, and smaller parts in Gordon Parks' biopic Leadbelly, Arthur Marks' Friday Foster, and Don Siegel's prison film Escape from Alcatraz. He gave exceptional performances in the TV adaptations of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and Gideon's Trumpet. He later starred in the HBO movie The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains, based on the novel by Robert E. Burns.
On the big screen in the 1990s, Benjamin worked with some well known directors. He appeared in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats, Bill Duke's Hoodlum, and John Singleton's Rosewood.
On television, he appeared in the 1994 pilot episode of ER, which led to his recurring role of homeless man Al Ervin during the next few seasons. Benjamin also worked on the American Masters documentary of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ralph Ellison, which aired on PBS.
After 2000, he appeared primarily in small independent films like Stanley's Gig, The Station Agent, Deacons For Defense, and James Hunter's 2004 drama Back in the Day.
He recently made a special appearance in the independent film The Talk Man, directed by Gene Gallerano.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Benjamin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Ed O'Ross (born Edward Oross; July 4, 1946) is an American actor. Some of his prominent roles are as Itchy in Dick Tracy, Colonel Perry in Universal Soldier, Lt. Touchdown in Full Metal Jacket, ruthless Georgian mobster Viktor Rostavili in Red Heat, police detective Cliff Willis in The Hidden, and for his role on the TV Show Shark (2006-2008).
J.W. Smith is a producer and actor with more than 40 years of entertainment experience in motion pictures and television. J.W. grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where he began his acting career at The Karamu House Community Theater. In the early 1970s, J.W. moved to New York City where he became a student in Uta Hagen's acting class at HB Studio and at The Henry Street Playhouse. During his stint in New York City, J.W. met and became close friends with Morgan Freeman and Bill Duke. More than four decades later, J.W. remains close friends with both Morgan and Bill, often collaborating on scripts and potential projects.
J.W. spent several successful years performing on Broadway and Off Broadway in plays including, "We Interrupt This Program," Public Theater's production of "On the Goddam Lock-in," and "So Nice, They Named It Twice." In addition to acting, J.W. produced shows in and around New York City for the Amas Repertory Theater Company.
In the early 1980s, J.W. moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career in film and television where he immediately landed his first job in television on "Palmerstown, U.S.A." He was selected to be a part of Paramount Pictures Associate Producers Training Program, working on several ground-breaking series for television including, "The Best of The West," "Taxi," and "Cheers." J.W. has also appeared in numerous television shows including, "L.A. Law," "Cagney and Lacey," "Reno 911," "The X-Files," and "Hill Street Blues."
Showing his range and depth of talent, J.W. has appeared in many popular feature films including, "Red Heat" (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger), "Johnny Handsome" (starring Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, and Morgan Freeman), "Undisputed" (starring Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames), "Beetlejuice" (starring Michael Keaton), "Hoodlum" (starring Laurence Fishburne, Tim Roth, and directed by Bill Duke), "The Warriors" (cult classic directed by Walter Hill), to name a few.
J.W. is President of 3000 Realms Entertainment, a production company he co-founded with friend and business partner, Bryan Behuniak. J.W.'s project in development with 3000 Realms Entertainment is "Dead Wrong," executive produced by Morgan Freeman, with producers Bryan Behuniak, James Dyer, and writer Matt Benjamin.
Bill Henderson was born on March 19, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Clue (1985), City Slickers (1991) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984).
Marc Vann (born August 23, 1954), is an Americanactor. He is known for his role as Conrad Ecklie in the CBStelevision series, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He also had notable roles in Angel and Early Edition.
Vann was born in Norfolk, Virginia. He initially had little interest in acting or theater, but he was introduced to the craft through a mime workshop while studying for his MBA. He subsequently got involved in theater
before moving to L.A. to start a career as a television actor. Vann was active in local and regional theater in the Chicago area most memorably in his early career at Wisdom Bridge Theatre and Center Theatre. Marc added immeasurably to the success of the Wisdom Bridge Theatre production of "The Great Gatsby" production of Wisdom Bridge that also starred the actor Harry Lennix who was race/color blind cast as Gatsby.
On February 28, 2008, Vann pulled off a special feat, guest starring back to back in new episodes of two different series, both on ABC. First, he played a ship's doctor on the cult phenom Lost, and then played an automotive worker who was bribed into moving to Hawaii and not testifying in a trial in Eli Stone. He was recently in a "Skittles" commercial as the doctor. In 2011 he appeared in two episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day as camp manager Colin Maloney.
Leonard Roberts (born November 17, 1972) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Sean Taylor in Drumline and its' sequel Drumline: A New Beat, Forrest Gates on the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, D. L. Hawkins on Heroes, and D'Andre Mackey in He Got Game.
He's also known for his roles as Ben Howard on the new 2023 Goosebumps series, Zeke Allen on The CW's All American: Homecoming, Alex on Peacock's The Girl in the Woods, Dennis Schatzman on FX's America Crime Story, Instructor Rolle in American Sniper, Hayes in Savages, Detective Monroe on The Client List, Tyrone in Hoodlum, and Eddie Coles in Love Jones.
He's had recurring roles as Ronnie Cooper on 9-1-1, King Idri of Loria on Syfy's The Magicians, Ray on CBS's Mom, and Jason Avery on ABC's Castle.
John M. Watson Sr. (January 10, 1937 - September 7, 2006) was an American Jazz musician and actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in films such as Groundhog Day, The Fugitive, Natural Born Killers, and Soul Food. He was also a noted trombonist with musicians Red Saunders and Count Basie.
Description above from the Wikipedia article John M. Watson Sr., licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Isley Nicole Melton was born on May 29, 1978 in Mansfield, Ohio, USA as Nicole Michelle Melton. She is an actress and director, known for Patterns of Attraction (2014), Choices (2000) and City Girl Travel Show (2012).
