Dead Presidents:

A nostalgia trip/review

By

Max McPike

Dead Presidents (1995) is a film I have been nostalgic for since childhood. However, it was only recently that I saw the film for the first time. One of my favorite pastimes as a kid was browsing the horror aisle of my local video store gazing at the lurid, eye-catching, and creepy cover art. And among those many covers was Dead Presidents. Just so there is no confusion—Dead Presidents is not a horror film and is best described as a crime-drama. Misplaced or mislabeled, ‘Presidents’ lingered on the horror aisle for some time (if my memory serves) and for years I believed it to be a horror film. The cover boasts a profile of N’Bushe Wright in white face-paint holding a gun. As a kid I wondered who and what she was? Was she a ghost? A vengeful phantom?

Even with the front of the covers creepy enough as it was, my curiosity eventually dared me to gaze upon the back cover. The back box of ‘Presidents’ featured an armored truck on fire (I loved nothing more as a kid than trucks) and a grinning, face-painted robber (Freddy Rodriguez) with a sack of money running from a police car. Were these robbers supernatural? Or were they pretending to be? Or was this a heist movie that happened to be scary? As I grew older I never tired of peering at the cover for ‘Presidents.’ By then my logic told me that this was not a horror film and by then the tape had since moved to the action aisle. My awareness of the film has been a constant in the years since, but I was recently reminded of how the imagination of my impressionable, young mind was stirred by a simple VHS cover. Suddenly the film was stuck in the forefront of my mind. I needed to see it! And after more than 20 years I finally did.

Fresh off the success of their debut feature Menace II Society (1993), Dead Presidents marked the second directorial effort of brothers Albert and Allen Hughes, which chronicles the life of Bronx youth Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate) through several life stages. As the film begins we are introduced to Anthony and his friends: Skip (Chris Tucker), Jose (Freddy Rodriguez), Kirby—a pool-hall operator and small-time criminal (Keith David), and Anthony’s girlfriend Juanita (Rose Jackson). A soon-to-be-graduate, Anthony seeks something different in life other than college. After enlisting in the Marine Corp, Anthony is sent to Vietnam where he and his squad witness the grisly, gory horrors of war. Among his squad are his buddy Skip and the mentally unstable Cleon (Bokeem Woodbine) who at one point carries a decapitated Vietnamese head as a good luck charm.

Anthony and Juanita

Kirby and Anthony

Upon returning home, Anthony reunites with all his old friends including his girlfriend Juanita—now a prostitute and mother of his child. Working to earn a living for his girlfriend and daughter, Anthony’s life takes an aimless direction and together with his friends is eventually brought on board by Kirby to take part in a heist involving a collection of used bills to be taken out of circulation (dead presidents). In addition they recruit Cleon (now a minister) and Juanita’s sister Delilah (N'Bushe Wright), a member of a black revolutionary group. Armed and donned with face paint, the crew move to carry out their heist.

Anthony, Skip, and Kirby

          Dead Presidents is a well-made and greatly enjoyable crime-drama. The heist sequence alone is brilliantly executed and taut with suspense while the violence is bloodily over-the-top and on-par with that of Tarantino. The film boasts an impressive cast with Larenz Tate cast against type in the lead while Keith David lends great support as the wise and seasoned Kirby. Chris Tucker, known for his comedic roles, reins in a performance that is serious yet remains true to his comedic persona, while the rest of the cast each do a great job with their characters. Among the supporting cast is a young Terrence Howard (as a pool hustler) and a brief appearance by Martin Sheen as a judge.

As much I liked the film, Dead Presidents is not the movie it would lead you to believe. The advertising and home media art present it as an action/heist film when in reality the heist sequence only makes up a small portion of the film. As a result, we the audience anxiously await the sequence based on the expectations of the trailer and video art. Additionally, the film at times feels as though it doesn’t know what it wants to be. It starts as a coming-of-age story, shifts to Vietnam for an extended period, and then shifts back to the Bronx in which some time passes before the heist is even mentioned—and when it is mentioned, the characters speak as though they’ve had previous discussions that the audience was not privy to. Thus, the different stages in Anthony’s life don’t feel as seamless as they should be.

Delilah in face paint 

         The film also raises many themes such as the adjustment of veterans returning home among other things, but arguably never actually makes a full-fledged statement in regard to these themes. We are ultimately left guessing as to the film’s meaning, in that we ask ourselves what it was likely meant to mean as opposed to what it truly does mean. Roger Ebert echoed a similar sentiment in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times. He wrote:

"...[the filmmakers] have a sure sense of the camera, of actors, of the life

 within a scene. But they are not as sure when it comes to story and meaning,

 and here is a film that feels incomplete, as if its last step is into thin air. Scene

 by scene you feel its skill, but you leave the theater wondering about the

 meaning of it all."

One might find such criticisms detrimental to the overall enjoyment and effectiveness of the film, but I must reiterate that I did very much enjoy the movie and that is not to say that one can’t get a sense of what the filmmakers were trying to convey. While these issues do take away from the film, we are still left with an engaging story with interesting and tragic characters that is also an accomplishment both technically and stylistically. Plus, I’m not as hard of a critic compared to many of the professionals both in print and on the web. At least, when it comes to the kinds of films I like.

3 out of 5.

Works Cited:

Ebert, Roger. “Dead Presidents.” Roger Ebert.com. Ebert Digital, LLC, 4 Oct. 1995. Web. 18

Sept. 2017.