Taglines: Once upon a time in South Central L.A. … It ain’t no fairy tale.
Boyz n the Hood movie storyline. John Singleton’s portrayal of social problems in inner-city Los Angeles takes the form of a tale of three friends growing up together ‘in the ‘hood.’ Half-brothers Doughboy and Ricky Baker are foils for each other’s personality, presenting very different approaches to the tough lives they face.
Ricky is the ‘All-American’ athlete, looking to win a football scholarship to USC and seeks salvation through sports, while ‘Dough’ succumbs to the violence, alcohol, and crime surrounding him in his environment, but maintains a strong sense of pride and code of honor. Between these two is their friend Tre, who is lucky to have a father, ‘Furious’ Styles, to teach him to have the strength of character to do what is right and to always take responsibility for his actions.
Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 American teen hood drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his directorial debut, and starring Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Regina King and Angela Bassett. This was the film debut for both Ice Cube and Morris Chestnut.
Boyz n the Hood was filmed in (then called) South Central Los Angeles, California from October 1 to November 28, 1990 and released in the United States on July 12, 1991. It was nominated for both Best Director and Best Original Screenplay during the 64th Academy Awards, making Singleton the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director and the first African-American to be nominated for the award.
The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
About the Story
In 1984, ten-year-old Tre Styles lives with his divorced single mother, Reva in Watts, Los Angeles. After Tre gets into a fight at school, his teacher informs Reva that Tre is highly intelligent but has a volatile temper and lacks respect. Worried about Tre’s future, Reva sends him to live in the Crenshaw neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles with his father, Furious Styles, from whom she hopes Tre will learn valuable life lessons and how to be a man.
In Crenshaw, Tre reunites with his friends, Darrin “Doughboy” Baker, Doughboy’s maternal half-brother Ricky, and Chris, their mutual friend. That night, Tre hears his father shooting at a burglar who tried to rob the house. Two policemen arrive an hour later, and while the white officer is civil, the black officer treats Furious with disrespect and contempt.
The next day, Tre and his friends go out with Chris who shows them a dead body. While there, a group of older boys in the Watts Crip gang steal Ricky’s football and Doughboy aggressively tries to retrieve it, but is easily defeated. While the older boys walk away, one of them gives Ricky his ball back and a frustrated Doughboy says he is going with Chris to the store.
Later in the day, Furious spends father/son bonding time with Tre, taking him to fishing by the seaside and tells the boy more about his life prior to becoming a father, including his military experience in the Vietnam War, in hopes of making his son proud of him. He concludes his story by advising Tre to never join the army, stating that a black man has no place in the army. When returning home, they see Doughboy and Chris being arrested for shoplifting (Doughboy had said earlier on that they had no money), while Ricky and Tre look on.
The film then flashes forward seven years to summer 1991. At a barbecue, Doughboy is now a Crip and is celebrating his recent release from jail, along with most of his friends, including Chris, who is now paralysed and wheelchair-bound from a gun wound, and new friends Dooky and Monster, also Crips. Ricky, now a star running back for Crenshaw High School, lives with his single mother Brenda, girlfriend Shanice, and their infant son. Tre has grown into a mature and responsible teenager, works at a clothes shop at the Fox Hills Mall, and aspires to attend college with his girlfriend, Brandi.
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Directed by: John Singleton
Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Hudhail Al-Amir, Mia Bell, Kenneth A. Brown, Morris Chestnut, Nicole Brown, Ice Cube
Screenplay by: John Singleton
Cinematography by: Charles Mills
Film Editing by: Bruce Cannon
Set Decoration by: Kathryn Peters
Art Direction by: Bruce Bellamy
Music by: Stanley Clarke
MPAA Rating: R for language, violence and sensuality.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: July 12, 1991
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