Dead Presidents
| Dead Presidents | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Albert Hughes Allen Hughes |
| Produced by | Albert Hughes Allen Hughes |
| Screenplay by | Michael Henry Brown |
| Story by |
Hughes brothers Michael Henry Brown |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
| Cinematography | Lisa Rinzler |
| Edited by | Dan Lebental |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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119 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Box office | $24.1 million (domestic) |
Dead Presidents is a 1995 American crime thriller film co-written by Michael Henry Brown, and the Hughes brothers, Albert and Allen, who also produced and directed the film. It stars Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, Freddy Rodriguez, N'Bushe Wright, and Bokeem Woodbine. The film chronicles the life of Anthony Curtis, focusing on his teenage years as a high school graduate and his experiences during the Vietnam War. As he returns to his hometown in The Bronx, Curtis finds himself struggling to support himself and his family, eventually turning to a life of crime.
Dead Presidents is based partly on the real-life experiences of Haywood T. Kirkland, whose true story was detailed in the book Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans by Wallace Terry. Certain characters from the film are based on real acquaintances of Kirkland, who served time in prison after committing robbery in facepaint.
In the spring of 1969, Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate) is about to graduate from high school, and decides to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps rather than go to college. He is sent to Vietnam, leaving behind his middle-class family, his pregnant girlfriend Juanita (Rose Jackson), and small-time crook Kirby (Keith David), who is like a second father. Anthony's close friend, Skip (Chris Tucker), later joins Curtis' squad after flunking out of college, and his other friend, Jose (Freddy Rodriguez), is drafted into the Army. Once in the Marines, Curtis and his squad lose several fellow marines during combat, and commit several atrocities of their own, such as executing enemy prisoners and beheading corpses for war trophies.
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Wikipedia