Cast and Crew:   Nicholas Pileggi (Executive Producer); Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Ted Levine, John Hawkes, RZA, Ruby Dee, Carla Gugino, Cuba Gooding Jr., Armand Assante, Idris Elba, Common, Jon Polito, Kevin Corrigan

What It’s About: The “true story” of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), who used the knowledge he gained as “Bumpy” Johnson’s (Clarence Williams III) driver and his cousin Nate’s (Roger Guenveur Smith) connections in Vietnam to corner the heroin market in the 1970s, and Ritchie Roberts (Russell Crowe), the cop that finally busted Lucas’s organization.

Why Watch it Today?: Frank Lucas was convicted on this date in 1984.  Ridley Scott’s version of Lucas’s story plays like a “what if” film that mashes up Black Caesar and Serpico, at least during its best moments.