Boyz N the Hood

John Singleton, at the age of 23, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his debut film, Boyz N the Hood. The film stars Laurence Fishburne, Angela Basset, Ice Cube, and Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. in his first starring role in a feature film. Gooding plays Tre Styles, a teenager growing up in South Central Los Angeles. His father, Furious (Fishburne), is divorced and living away from Tre and his mother (Basset), but he's still involved in Tre's upbringing, teaching him the values of right and wrong and responsibility. Meanwhile, Tre's childhood buddies Ricky (Morris Chestnut) and Doughboy (Ice Cube) are living their lives in terms of the epidemic of violence and poverty that has plagued their neighborhood. Ricky, a talented football player, strives to get a full athletic scholarship to college. If only his SAT scores were higher. Doughboy lives a life full of crime but still remains true to his friends. The obstacles that these three young men come across result in dire consequences, devastatingly avoidable and inevitable at the same time. Boyz N the Hood is a landmark film beyond its commercial success, presenting a portrait of South Central in the late '80s and early '90s as painted by Singleton (who grew up in that neighborhood), achieving accuracy and dramatic resonance in this story of at-risk youth. –Shannon Gee

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Life in the hood
Four boys from the hood show u how they live day after day where they from and what go's on in their black community. one boy left his mother to bee with his father and friends in the hood and from that day on it was trouble in the end their was a tragic thing happend one of the boys brothers died in the end they still suceeded.

5 Stars Story of Moderan Day Segregation
Boyz N the Hood is a nitty gritty look at South LA (formerly known as South Central LA) and is one of John Singleton's best pictures. Because it is so gripping and real. Cuba Gooding Jr. gives a stand-alone performance playing Tr? Styles; a young man that is on the brink of self discovery. Most of Tr?'s childhood friends got locked up but Tr? led a pretty square life. Thanks to the support of his father, Jason 'Furious' Styles (Laurence Fishburne.) Boyz N the Hood will keep you glued to your seats. It will make you think and it will make you laugh. But, most of all it will make you sad; because this is not just a movie. This is a true story.

5 Stars Set the scene for BLACK CINEMA>>But what happened?
I was born in 1986, so obviously I was too young to understand what this was all about around the time it came out. However, as I grew up, I began to love this more and more - however never being able to get to watch the entire film for some reason. Eventually I know its crazy, but I have recently sat down to watch the ENTIRE film, and man I could see it again.

What it represents is the reality of life in a certain neighbourhood in America, being from the UK we have our equivalents but they are not as harsh as the U.S seriously. Obviously people watch this today and think "okay this was based on lives back then in the hood.." hmmmm, yeh right because the ghetto has all of a sudden come up to a life of luxury? No more like the people acting in this movie are living the lush life, but the ghetto still exists!

This film brought Cuba to the attention of Hollywood of course, and out of all the films he has done (yes including Jerry McGuire where he acts stereotypically black), this is the best he has done by far! However, Morris Chestnut and Ice Cube made it what it was, and for Ice Cube this was the beginning of creating more and more black based movies that started a new genre of realism to the big screen (don't make me start on FRIDAY - that's my film right there - Chris bloody Tucker - aka SMOKEY - classic).

I really do wish they could still be making films like MENACE II SOCIETY, JUICE, BOYZ N THE HOOD and NEW JACK CITY nowadays because young black America need that realism we used to have - they are growing up to believe that everything is all peachy and that they can all be Chris Brown's in the future? Life is not a party - this is the message that needs expressing!

4 Stars BOYZ
SAD THIS LETS YOU KNOW SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENS ALL EVEN THOU YOU NEVER HEAR ABOUT IT.

4 Stars Good movie, wrongly presented on amazon though
Amazon had this movie listed as a widescreen with 5.1 when it was really only a full screen version with dolby 2.0 only. Still a good movie though.

Buy/More Info