Boyz n the Hood (1991)

Director:

John Singleton

Writer (WGA):

John Singleton (written by)

Release Date:

12 July 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Increase the peace

Plot:

Saga of a group of childhood friends growing up in a Los Angeles ghetto.

Plot Keywords:

Cult Favorite | Hatred | Tragic Incident | Teenage Boy | Mother Son Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Laurence Fishburne	...	Jason 'Furious' Styles (as Larry Fishburne)
Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Tré Styles
Ice Cube	...	Darin 'Doughboy' Baker
Morris Chestnut	...	Ricky Baker
Nia Long	...	Brandi
Angela Bassett	...	Reva Devereaux
Tyra Ferrell	...	Brenda Baker
Lexie Bigham	...	Mad Dog
Hudhail Al-Amir	...	S.A.T. Man
Lloyd Avery II	...	Knucklehead #2
Mia Bell	...	Female Club Member
Kenneth A. Brown	...	Little Chris
Nicole Brown	...	Brandi, Age 10
Ceal	...	Sheryl
Desi Arnez Hines II	...	Tré Styles, Age 10
Darneicea Corley	...	Keisha
John Cothran Jr.	...	Lewis Crump, USC Recruiter
Na'Blonka Durden	...	Trina
Susan Falcon	...	Mrs. Olaf
Jessie Lawrence Ferguson	...	Officer Coffey
Dedrick D. Gobert	...	Dooky
Regi Green	...	Chris
Kareem J. Grimes	...	Ice Cream Truck Kid
Tammy Hanson	...	Rosa
Valentino D. Harrison	...	Bobby, Age 10
Baha Jackson	...	Doughboy, Age 10
Dee Dee Jacobs	...	Renee
Kirk Kinder	...	Officer Graham
Meta King	...	Brandi's Mother
Regina King	...	Shalika
Leanear Lane	...	Gangster #2
Whitman Mayo	...	The Old Man
Donovan McCrary	...	Ricky, Age 10
Don Nelson	...	Gangster #1
Jimmy Lee Newman	...	Kid
Malcolm Norrington	...	Knucklehead #1
Alysia Rogers	...	Shanice
Esther Scott	...	Tisha's Grandmother
Leonette Scott	...	Tisha
Vonte Sweet	...	Ric Rock
Baldwin C. Sykes	...	Monster
Raymond C. Turner	...	Ferris
Yolanda Whittaker	...	Yo-Yo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Singleton	...	Mailman (uncredited)

Directed by
John Singleton

Writing credits (WGA)
John Singleton		(written by)

Produced by
Steve Nicolaides	....	producer

Original Music by
Stanley Clarke
Roger Troutman

Cinematography by
Charles Mills

Film Editing by
Bruce Cannon

Casting by
Jaki Brown

Art Direction by
Bruce Bellamy

Set Decoration by
Kathryn Peters

Makeup Department
Marietta Carter-Narcisse	....	makeup artist (as Marietta A. Carter)
Sterfon Demings	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Steve Nicolaides	....	unit production manager
Chantal Feghali	....	post-production supervisor (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Simone Farber	....	dga trainee
Eric Jones	....	second assistant director
Don Wilkerson	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Shirley Moore	....	assistant property master (as Shirley A. Moore)
Willie J. Thompson	....	property master
Michael D. Costello	....	scenic artist (uncredited)
Amanda J. Flick	....	scenic artist (uncredited)
Johnathon Gallagher	....	painter (uncredited)
Caryn Marcus	....	set dresser (uncredited)

Sound Department
Pamela Bentkowski	....	special effects editor (as Pam Bentkowski)
Ruth Bird	....	assistant adr editor
Veda Campbell	....	sound mixer
Lucy Coldsnow-Smith	....	dialogue editor (as Lucy Coldsnow)
Don Digirolamo	....	sound re-recording mixer
Dean Drabin	....	adr mixer
Patrick Drummond	....	supervising sound editor
Robert Glass	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Bob Glass)
Wayne Griffin	....	dialogue editor
Paul Massey	....	sound re-recording mixer
Karen Minahan	....	assistant special effects editor
Bob Newlan	....	sound effects editor
Dan O'Connell	....	foley artist
Michael A. Patillo	....	boom operator (as Michael Anthony Patillo)
Brenda Sowa	....	assistant special effects editor
Alicia Stevenson	....	foley artist
Renee Tondelli	....	adr editor
Tim Song Jones	....	sound transferer (uncredited)
Greg Orloff	....	foley mixer (uncredited)
Randy Singer	....	foley recordist (uncredited)

Special Effects by
David Domeyer	....	special effects coordinator (uncredited)
Thomas M. Ficke	....	special effects coordinator (uncredited)

Stunts
Ousaun Elam	....	utility stunts
Bob Minor	....	stunt coordinator
Gerard G. Williams	....	utility stunts (as Gerard Williams)

Camera and Electrical Department
Judson S. Brown	....	second assistant camera
Tony Brown	....	dolly grip (as Tony A. Brown)
Sherman Fulton	....	assistant chief lighting technician
Anthony Gaudioz	....	camera operator (as Tony Gaudioz)
Elisha Harris	....	chief lighting technician (as Eli Harris)
D. Stevens	....	still photographer
Robert A. Torres	....	first assistant camera
Chuck Wells	....	key grip
Derek Wells	....	best boy grip (as Derek E. Wells)
Kenneth Estes	....	video playback operator (uncredited)
Chuck Sorensen	....	electrician (uncredited)
Bobby Thomas	....	grip (uncredited)

Casting Department
Darin D. Brown	....	casting assistant (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Darryle Johnson	....	wardrobe: men
Sharlene Williams	....	wardrobe: women (as Shirlene Williams)

Editorial Department
Gary Burritt	....	negative cutter
Lisa Cholodenko	....	post-production assistant
David Giammarco	....	assistant film editor
Margaret Guinee	....	assistant film editor

Music Department
Jamie Forester	....	music editor (as Jamie Gelb)
Raoul Roach	....	music supervisor
Jeff Marsh	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Transportation Department
James R. Brown	....	transportation coordinator (as James Brown)
Joseph E. Knott	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Gregory Allain	....	production assistant
Judith Alonso	....	assistant: Mr. Nicolaides
Gabrielle D. Buford	....	production assistant
Wendy Renskowski Dale	....	assistant accountant (as Wendy Renskowski)
Jeanie Daniels	....	payroll accountant
Therese J. Davis	....	unit publicist
Doris Nomathande Dixon	....	production assistant
Joseph Doughrity	....	production assistant
Linda Folsom	....	production coordinator (as Linda Allan-Folsom)
Dawn Gilliam	....	script supervisor
Katha Jones	....	production accountant
Steven D. Levine	....	production assistant
Kojo Lewis	....	location manager (as Ernest Kojo Lewis)
Melissa Maxwell	....	assistant: Mr. Singleton
Melody Phillips	....	craft service
DJ Pooh	....	drive-by sequence and beats
Brent Rollins	....	logo artwork
Alex S. Samuel	....	production assistant
Dion B. Vines	....	production assistant (as Dion Vines)
Kendrick Wallace	....	production associate (as Kendrick J. Wallace)
Earl West	....	key assistant location manager (uncredited)

Thanks
Spike Lee	....	thanks
Danny Singleton	....	thanks
Sheila Ward	....	thanks (as Sheila L. Ward)
Fred Williams	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1991) (USA) (theatrical)
• CBS Television (1995) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (Argentina)
• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (laserdisc)
• Filmayer (Spain)
• LK-TEL Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• LK-TEL (Argentina) (video)

Special Effects

• Special Effects Unlimited

Other Companies

• Cherokee Studios  music recorded and mixed at
• Cinema Research  titles and opticals
• Clairmont Camera  thanks
• Larry Larson's Continental Catering  catering
• Qwest Records  soundtrack
• The Lench Mob  thanks
• The Nation of Islam  thanks
• USC Film & Writing Program  thanks
• Woodworth Elementary School  thanks

Also Known As:

Boys in the Hood

Runtime:

107 min | 112 min (Anniversary DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Norway:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Laurence Fishburne who plays Cuba Gooding Jr.'s father is only six and a half years older than him in real life

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Furious and Trey are driving back from fishing, film trucks are visible. John Singleton later said that there was not time to move them before shooting the scene.

Quotes:

[Furious has shot at a burglar]
Furious: Somebody must have been praying for that fool, cause I swear I aimed right for his head.
Tre Age 10: You should have blew it off.
Furious Styles: Don't say that. Don't say that. Just would've contributed to the killing of another brother.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 1992 MTV Movie Awards (1992) (TV)

Soundtrack:

How to Survive in South Central

Hard, thoughtful film with messages for everybody

John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood remains one of the best fictionalized and most poignant summaries of some of America's toughest internal problems - racism, violence, poverty, and drug abuse. This is not a hip-hop film, nor a detached and dehumanized story about "gang violence" (the great over-simplified scapegoat of the issues treated in this film), its a story about growing up fatherless or motherless in a war zone with a faceless enemy, where people do not value each other's lives at all and value their own lives only slightly more.

Laurence Fishburn leads one of the best casts of the early 1990s, in his memorable portrayal of Furious Styles, a father trying to raise his son (Cuba Gooding Jr) well in an environment where murder and substance abuse are day-to-day realities - South Central L.A. The film follows his son, Tre, and his friends, from the hardships of childhood in an irrelevant educational system and a neighborhood which doesn't allow kids to be kids, through to the realities of making decisions about the value of life and the development of responsibility and hope as young adults.

The cast disappears into their characters and brings each one to life in a unique and powerful way. losing the identities of big personalities like Fishburne and Ice Cube is no mean feat. Many of the performances recorded here are award-worthy - Fishburne, Bassett, Chesnutt, Gooding, and Ice Cube are especially memorable. For me personally, this is the film that convinced me that Ice Cube was destined to become a major personality in American cinema. While I had enjoyed some of his music prior to this film, it was here that I was first exposed to his versatility and intelligence as an actor.

While some may see some of the film's messages as heavy-handed, and others might have issues with the fact that the film deals with so many of the problems of inner-city life in a very 'in-your-face' almost archetypal manner, I find these criticisms impossible to justify.

This is a great film about real issues, sensitively portrayed and thoughtfully examined. Every American who cares about the vast untapped potential of our people ought to take a long, hard look at this one. These are not 'black problems', they are everybody's problems, and their solutions will require everybody's understanding. I could think of far worse places to begin developing that understanding than Boyz n the Hood.