Robert Goulet: American Gangster

So, this weekend I saw American Gangster with Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, a heroin kingpin of Harlem. It was good and I recommend seeing it (it is 157 minutes - thats 2 hours and 37 minutes - so its kinda long, but worth it). I won't say much about the movie other than that, because its a drama and I don't want to spoil anything. As far as the cast goes, beyond Denzel and Russel Crowe, I was interested to see the 3rd-tier supporting cast for this movie. That's right the 3rd-tier guys, not the main people or their supporting actors (whom I would consider 2nd-tier), but the rest of the cast.

Why was I interested in the rest of the cast? Because, Jay-Z was producing the music for the movie and I figured he and his crew/posse/boys would have a cameo/minor part as a result of this fact (and more than likely, mess it up). Turns out that the movie features hip-hop artists Common, RZA and T.I. who all perform very well in their smaller roles. No Jay-Z, and, strangely, no new Jay-Z songs (there was one older song). Turns out the director's wanted to go with a 70's feel for the music, and so Jay-Z is instead releasing a concept CD "inspired" by the movie (the last time I heard a CD called a concept album, it was Dr. Dre promoting something called Detox. which has only been delayed like 5-6 years...but that's another post - I digress). I really know nothing about Jay-Z's new album. I hope its better than his last one - because that one sucked. Fortunately for us, Jay-Z has done a lot of things that don't suck, like this skit with Will Ferrell.



That's right, a second Robert Goulet SNL Skit, this time with profanity (that's really old but for some reason I had never seen that one...or just don't remember it)! Goulet really appears to have that gangsta thing down. Why wasn't he in American Gangster, you ask? Well, you may or may not know, but Goulet passed away last week (RIP). And even though they film the movie months in advance, they removed the scenes he was in the movie because they felt it was poor taste. Everything in the last sentence is also false - he simply was not in the movie. In any case, most people in 18-30 range (so, pretty much everyone that reads this blog...all 8 of us) best know Goulet from those skits or perhaps this Emerald Nuts commercial from the SuperBowl.



I think that was my favorite commercial from the Super Bowl. Well done, Goulet. Well done, indeed.