Deep cover

Author

Bill Duke

Call Number

• DVD DRAMA (CEN, EAS, POW, WSQ)

Edition

Director-approved two-DVD special edition.

Languages

English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Performers

Larry Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Gregory Sierra, Clarence Williams III, Charles Martin Smith, Victoria Dillard, Alex Colon, Sydney Lassick, Kamala Lopez, Roger Guenveur Smith, Julio Oscar Mechoso, Glynn Turman, Sandra Gould.

Publication Information

[Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2021]

Physical Description

2 videodiscs (107 minutes) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 folded sheet (color illustrations ; 19 cm.)

Audience

MPAA rating: R; for violence, language, drug use and sexuality.

Summary

"Film noir hits the mean streets of 1990s Los Angeles in this stylish and subversive underworld odyssey from veteran actor-director Bill Duke. Laurence Fishburne stars as Russell Stevens, a police officer who goes undercover as 'John Hull,' the partner of a dangerously ambitious cocaine trafficker, in order to bring down a powerful Latin American drug ring operating in LA. But the further Stevens descends into this ruthless world of money, violence, and power, the more disillusioned he becomes--and the harder it is to make out the line between right and wrong, crime and justice. Steeped in shadowy, neon-soaked atmosphere and featuring Dr. Dre's debut solo single, Deep Cover is an unsung gem of the nineties' Black cinemal explosion that delivers a riveting character study and sleek action thrills alongside a furious moral indictment of America and the devastating failures of the war on drugs"--Container.

Notes

Originally released as a motion picture in 1992.

Special features: New 4K digital restoration ; new interview with director Bill Duke ; AFI Conservatory seminar from 2018 featuring Duke and actor Laurence Fishburne, moderated by film critic Elvis Mitchell ; new conversation between film scholars Racquel J. Gates and Michael B. Gillespie about Deep Cover's place within both the Black film boom of the early 1990s and the noir genre ; new conversation between scholar Claudrena N. Harold and professor, DJ, and podcaster Oliver Wang about the film's title track and its importance to the history of hip-hop ; trailer.