South Central

It's the summer 1982. Bobby Johnson (Glenn Plummer) leaves jail to reconnect with Ray Ray, Bear and Loco. Ray Ray wants to get rid of smackman Genie Lamp and build his gang The Deuces. Bobby suspects that his baby mama Carole has been with Genie. Bobby kills Genie and gets put away in prison. Ray Ray becomes a rich gang leader and he gets Bobby's son Jimmie working for him. In prison, drug addicted Loco tells Bobby about Ray Ray's self serving ways. When Jimmie gets shot, Bobby blames Ray Ray and leaves the Deuces. He takes up with Muslim Ali (Carl Lumbly) and tries to straighten out his life. In the hospital, Jimmie is befriended by nurse Shelly. The story is functional urban gang crime drama. The production is lower grade. Director Stephen Milburn Anderson doesn't have much cinematic style. The acting is generally good with some bad exceptions. There are a few too many incidents of over-acting. The plot is uninspired without any surprises. It's not particularly special.

South central is a realistic factual based drama which focuses on the struggles of life in South Central Los Angeles and prison during the 80's I enjoyed the film throughout but one thing I found frustrating was one particular characters bad acting. If it wasn't for that one character I probably would've rated the film higher.

One of the best street movies ever made! It shows how the gang lifestyle isn't really cool, and how important fathers are to the kids.

I saw only part of this film on TV, and would have skipped to another channel except I realized that I was seeing some genuine, very good acting, so I watched the movie to the end. Now, I must rent it to get the whole picture. I didn't know Steve Anderson (director and writer) but I now am interested in seeing his other work. This comment may not help other viewers who want to really know the film, but it might pique their interest as my brief peek at the film piqued my interest in seeing the whole film and seeing more that the director has done.

South Central (1992) is a movie I recently rewatched on HBOMax. The storyline follows a man that grew up thinking the gang life would be the life for him. Shortly after his son is born he is sent to jail for ten years where his gang affiliation protects him from other inmates. When he discovers his son has joined the gang he is part of and starts his own life of crime, the father reforms, drops out of the gang, and works to gain parole so he can get out of jail and hopefully save his son from the life he lived. This movie is directed by Stephen Milburn Anderson (Ca$h) and stars Glenn Plummer (City of Lies), Byron Minns (Black Dynamite), LaRita Shelby (Martin), Reginald T. Dorsey (Hill Street Blues) and Tim DeZarn (Fight Club). The storyline for this film is very well done and does a great job of developing the characters so that you genuinely care about what happens to them. The roots of the storyline and why people make decisions is well told. The prison dynamics are also well presented. I really enjoyed the messages and the scriptures used to mentally get the father where he needed to be. The film also does a great job of showing how the responsibilities of parenting changes your perspectives on life. The evolution of all the characters in this film over the ten years are a delight to see and this is a powerful film that is really well done. While not perfect, I still strongly recommend this gem and would score it an 8/10.

Having a slew of "hood" movies to choose from,imo this is the best one! Yes I've seen them ALL-colours and boyz n the hood set the premise,menace 2 society took it next level-new jersey drive kept it there then south central was the crown. This movie isn't your typical run of the mill gang banger movie,this has a awesome story! It's starts of with a look In the gang world,then the dark portrayal of how bobby OG Johnson ends up. After "putting in work" Bobby OG Johnson is sent up for 10 years,after he turns his life around In prison,he gets out only to find his only son walking the same path he did and even the same gang(Hoover deuces) After what seems constant brick walls stopping Bobby from becoming a normal citizen,he eventually tracks his son down in a group home,only for his son to turn on him for walking away from th gang life! This is a b grade movie with a A story line! Watch it!

This movie is one of the best in this genre,I think of it among with "Boys N the hood" and "Menace to society". It shows how hard it can be to grow up in a bad neighborhood,and how easy drugs and criminal life takes over.

My wife wanted to rate South Central with a five and I get it. It wasn't the greatest acting from everyone but I kept in mind it was made in 1992 and for that it looked maybe a bit too oldschool. The movie is watchable even with the below average acting skills of half of the cast. The story contains a lot of clichés, and a lot of testosteron what makes some scenes look a bit ridiculous, but there is a message of hope that is enjoyable to watch. I like gang movies, this one is just not the best one, but that's only my opinion. People rating South Central with a ten is just ridiculous (do they really compare this movie with gems?). It doesn't matter the message is positive, you have to look at the whole picture, the script, the cinematography, the acting etcetera, and that was for sure not perfect so giving it a perfect score is just exaggerated, but it's watchable, I'll give them that.

This film has a powerful story and some incredibly good acting. Thematically they are unrelated but the context is the same as Straight Outta LA, but South Central is more real and more gritty.

Years ago I saw Donald Bakeer speak to talk about his book, "Crips", and upcoming movie, "South Central," based upon his book. I saw the movie then but I lacked the maturity and life experience to truly understand the significance of the movie. It wasn't Godfather, nor Scarface, nor was it Boyz n the Hood--this was a story of reformation. Bobby Johnson (Glen Plummer) helped start the Deuce gang in L.A. with friend Ray Ray (Byron Keith Minns). Bobby earned his heart tattoo after killing a local drug dealer named Genie Lamp (Kevin Best). Bobby would serve time for that murder and reform while in prison. His sole goal became saving his son. I really appreciated this movie's message and direction. Reforming would be hard, changing one's attitude would be hard, and doing all of that in same environment would be doubly hard. But someone has to break the cycle so why not let it be you.