Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 American coming-of-age hood drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his feature directorial debut.[2] It stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Regina King, and Angela Bassett. Boyz n the Hood follows Tre Styles (Gooding Jr.), who is sent to live with his father Furious Styles (Fishburne) in South Central Los Angeles, surrounded by the neighborhood's booming gang culture. The film's title is a double entendre: a play on the term boyhood and a reference to the 1987 Eazy-E rap song of the same name, written by Ice Cube.
Boyz n the Hood | |
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Directed by | John Singleton |
Written by | John Singleton |
Produced by | Steve Nicolaides |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Charles Mills |
Edited by | Bruce Cannon |
Music by | Stanley Clarke |
Production company | Columbia Pictures |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 112 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $6.5 million[1] |
Box office | $57.5 million (North America)[1] |
Singleton initially developed the film as a requirement for application to film school in 1986 and sold the script to Columbia Pictures upon graduation in 1990. During writing, he drew inspiration from his own life and from the lives of people he knew and insisted he direct the project. Principal photography began in September 1990 and was filmed on location from October to November 1990. The film is notable for featuring breakout roles for Ice Cube, Gooding Jr., Chestnut, and Long.
Boyz n the Hood premiered in Los Angeles on July 2, 1991 and was theatrically released in the United States ten days later. The film became a critical and commercial success, praised for its emotional weight, acting, and writing. It grossed $57.5 million in North America and was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the 64th Academy Awards, making Singleton the youngest person and the first African American to be nominated for Best Director.
The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.[3] In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.[4][5]
In 1984, ten-year-old Tre Styles lives with his single mother, Reva Devereaux, in Inglewood, California. After Tre gets into a fight at school, his teacher calls Reva and says that although Tre is intelligent, he is immature and lacks respect. Frightened about Tre's future, Reva sends him to live in the Crenshaw neighborhood of South Central with his father, Furious Styles, from whom she hopes Tre will learn life lessons. In Crenshaw, Tre reunites with his childhood friends Darrin "Doughboy" Baker, Doughboy's half-brother Ricky, and their friend Chris. That night, Tre hears Furious shooting at a burglar. Furious calls the LAPD, and two officers arrive an hour later. The white officer is civil, while the black one treats Furious with contempt. The next day, Tre and Furious arrive home and see Doughboy and Chris being arrested for stealing.
Seven years later, a welcome home party is held for Doughboy, now a Crips member, following his release from prison. Also attending the party are Chris, confined to a wheelchair following a previous gunshot wound, "Dookie", and "Monster". Ricky, now a star running back at Crenshaw High School, lives with his mother Brenda, girlfriend Shanice, and their toddler son. Meanwhile, Tre has grown into a responsible teenager who hopes to attend college with his girlfriend, Brandi. Their relationship is troubled over Tre's desire to have sex, while Brandi wants to wait until marriage.
Later, during a street racing gathering, Ricky is provoked by Ferris, a Bloods member. In defense of Ricky, Doughboy brandishes his handgun, leading to an argument between the gangs. Ferris and his gang back down without a fight, however he breaks up the gathering by discharging an automatic weapon into the air, scattering the crowd. While fleeing the car meet, Tre and Ricky are pulled over by an LAPD patrol. The lead officer, Coffey, is the same officer who responded to the burglary seven years earlier. Coffey holds his gun at Tre's throat, threatening him. Distraught, Tre goes to Brandi's house, where he has a breakdown. After she comforts him, they have sex for the first time.
The next afternoon, Ricky has a fight with Doughboy, with Brenda taking Ricky's side and berating Doughboy. Afterward, Brenda asks Ricky to run an errand and Tre accompanies him to a nearby drugstore. After they depart, a mailman delivers a letter with Ricky's SAT results. After leaving the store, Ricky and Tre see Ferris and the Bloods driving around the neighborhood and cut through back alleys to avoid them before splitting up. As they walk in separate directions, the Bloods drive close to Ricky and one of them fatally guns him down. Doughboy, who realized Tre and Ricky were in trouble when he saw the car circling the block, is distraught over Ricky's death and helps Tre carry Ricky's corpse home. Devastated emotionally, Brenda and Shanice blame Doughboy, who unsuccessfully tries to comfort them. Later, Brenda sobs over Ricky's test results, discovering he scored 710, enough to qualify for the USC scholarship.
Angered and distraught, the remaining boys vow vengeance on the Bloods. Furious finds Tre preparing to take his gun but convinces him to abandon his plans for revenge. However, Brandi and Furious catch Tre sneaking out to join Doughboy. Later that night, as the gang drives around the city, Tre asks to be let out of the car and returns home, realizing that his father was right. Doughboy finds the Bloods at a fast-food restaurant, and Monster shoots at them through the parking lot, killing one and wounding the other two. Doughboy gets out of his car and kills Ferris and the other wounded gang member, avenging Ricky's death. Later from that evening, after coming home, Furious confronts Tre about avenging Ricky's death as they walk into their bedrooms with no words exchanged.
The next morning, Doughboy visits Tre, understanding Tre's reasons for abandoning the gang. Doughboy knows he will face retaliation for killing Ferris, and accepts the consequences of his crime-ridden life. He questions why American media "don't know, don't show, or don't care about what's going on in the hood." He says that he has no brothers left after Ricky's death, but is embraced by Tre, who says Doughboy "still got one brother left." Doughboy then walks away, pouring out his liquor.
The epilogue text reveals that Ricky was buried the next day, Doughboy was murdered two weeks later, and Tre later goes to college with Brandi in Atlanta.
Singleton wrote the film based on his own life and that of people he knew.[7] When applying for film school, one of the questions on the application form was to describe "three ideas for films". One of the ideas Singleton composed was titled Summer of 84, which later evolved into Boyz n the Hood.[7] During writing, Singleton was influenced by the 1986 film Stand by Me, which inspired both an early scene where four young boys take a trip to see a dead body and the closing fade-out of main character Doughboy.[7]
Upon completion, Singleton was protective of his script, insisting that he be the one to direct the project, later explaining at a retrospective screening of the film "I wasn't going to have somebody from Idaho or Encino direct this movie."[2] He sold the script to Columbia Pictures in 1990, who greenlit the film immediately out of interest in making a film similar to the comedy-drama film Do the Right Thing (1989).
The role of Doughboy was written specially for Ice Cube, whom Singleton met while working as an intern at The Arsenio Hall Show.[7] Singleton also noted the studio was unaware of Ice Cube's standing as a member of rap group N.W.A.[7] Singleton claims Gooding and Chestnut were cast because they were the first ones who showed up to auditions,[7] while Fishburne was cast after Singleton met him on the set of Pee-wee's Playhouse, where Singleton worked as a production assistant and security guard.[8]
Long grew up in the area the film depicts and has said, “It was important as a young actor to me that this feels real because I knew what it was like go home from school and hear gunshots at night.” Bassett referred to the filmmaker as her “little brother” on set. “I'd been in LA for about three years and I was trying, trying, trying to do films,” she said. “We talked, I auditioned and he gave me a shot. I’ve been waiting to work with him ever since.”[2]
The film was shot in sequence, with Singleton later noting that, as the film goes on, the camera work gets better as Singleton was finding his foothold as a director.[2] He has a cameo in the film, appearing as a mailman handing over mail to Brenda as Doughboy and Ricky are having a scuffle in the front yard.
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 96% based on 69 reviews and an average score of 8.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted and thematically rich, Boyz n the Hood observes urban America with far more depth and compassion than many of the like-minded films its success inspired."[9] At Metacritic, the film received an average score of 76 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[10]
Boyz n the Hood kickstarted the acting careers of Gooding, Chestnut, and Long, who were relatively unknown before it. It also launched Ice Cube's career as a Hollywood actor and was Angela Bassett's and Regina King's first significant film role.[2]
Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
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Academy Awards[11] | Best Director | John Singleton | Nominated |
Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen | Nominated | ||
Awards Circuit Community Awards | Best Motion Picture | Steve Nicolaides | Nominated |
Best Director | John Singleton | Nominated | |
Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Laurence Fishburne | Nominated | |
Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Angela Bassett | Nominated | |
Best Original Screenplay | John Singleton | Nominated | |
Best Cast Ensemble | Jaki Brown | Nominated | |
Best Film Editing | Bruce Cannon | Nominated | |
BMI Film & TV Awards | Film Music Award | Stanley Clarke | Won |
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards[12] | Best Film | Nominated | |
Best Director | John Singleton | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actor | Ice Cube | Nominated | |
Laurence Fishburne | Nominated | ||
Best Screenplay | John Singleton | Nominated | |
Most Promising Actor | Ice Cube | Won | |
Cuba Gooding Jr. | Nominated | ||
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards | Best Film | Nominated | |
Best Director | John Singleton | Nominated | |
Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Movie | Nominated | |
Favorite Movie Actor | Ice Cube | Nominated | |
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards[13] | New Generation Award | John Singleton | Won |
MTV Movie Awards | Best Movie | Nominated | |
Best New Filmmaker | John Singleton | Won | |
NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Motion Picture | Won | |
National Board of Review Awards[14] | Top Ten Films | 7th Place | |
National Film Preservation Board | National Film Registry | Inducted | |
New York Film Critics Circle Awards[15] | Best New Director | John Singleton | Won |
Online Film & Television Association Awards[16] | Hall of Fame – Motion Picture | Won | |
Political Film Society Awards | Exposé | Nominated | |
Human Rights | Won | ||
Peace | Won | ||
Stockholm International Film Festival | Bronze Horse | John Singleton | Nominated |
Writers Guild of America Awards[17] | Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen | Nominated | |
Young Artist Awards[18] | Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture | Desi Arnez Hines II, Baha Jackson and Donovan McCrary | Won |
In 2007, Boyz n the Hood was selected as one of the 50 Films To See in your lifetime by Channel 4.
American Film Institute Lists
Australian alternative rock band TISM released a live VHS called Boyz n the Hoods in 1992, whose cover artwork is presented as a parody of the film's original VHS box, albeit with a fake disclaimer printed on the cover stating that due to a manufacturing error, the non-existent film was replaced with TISM's concert.
Characters and scenes from Boyz n the Hood are parodied in the 1996 crime comedy parody film, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.
In the 2015 comedy film Get Hard, Kevin Hart's character Darnell is asked to talk about the reason for his fabricated incarceration years earlier. Fumbling for a story, he describes the final scene of Boyz n the Hood, passing it off as his own experience to Will Ferrell's character.
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1991 | Boyz n the Hood
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12 | 1 |
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