Boyz 'n the Hood is a 1991 American coming of age drama film directed by John Singleton (in his directorial debut).
The film starred rapper Ice Cube (in his film debut), Cuba Gooding, Jr., Morris Chestnut (in his film debut), Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett and Nia Long.
Summary
| Spoiler Warning: The following contains important plot details of the entire film. |
In 1984, ten-year-old Tre Styles (Desi Arnez Hines II) lives with his single mother Reva (Angela Bassett) in Inglewood, California. After Tre gets involved in a fight at school, his teacher informs Reva that Tre is rather intelligent, but is immature and lacks respect.
Concerned about Tre's future, Reva sends him to live with his father, Furious Styles (Laurence Fishburne) in the Crenshaw neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles, California, hoping that Tre will learn valuable life lessons from him.
In Crenshaw, Tre reunites with his friends, Darrin "Doughboy" Baker (Baha Jackson), Doughboy's maternal half-brother Ricky (Donovan McCrary) and their mutual friend Chris (Kenneth A. Brown).
That night, Tre hears his father shooting at a burglar who tried to rob the house. Police officers arrive more than an hour later, and while the Caucasian officer is civil, the African-American officer treats Furious with disrespect and contempt.
Seven years later in 1991, Doughboy (Ice Cube) is now a part of the Crips along with Chris (Redge Green), who is now in a wheelchair from a gunshot wound. They hang out with Dookie (Dedrick D. Gobert) and Monster (Baldwin C. Sykes).
Ricky (Morris Chestnut) is now a star running-back for Crenshaw High School & lives at home with his mother Brenda (Tyra Ferrell), his girlfriend Shanice (Alysia Rogers) and their toddler son.
Tre (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) has grown into a mature and responsible teenager, who hopes to attend college with his girlfriend, Brandi (Nia Long).
During a local street racing gathering, Ricky is provoked by Ferris (Raymond Turner), a member of the rival Bloods gang. In response, Doughboy brandishes his handgun, leading to a brief argument between the two gangs.
After they leave, Tre talks about leaving Los Angeles, He and Ricky are pulled over by the police. The lead officer (who was the same one that was disrespectful to Furious seven years earlier) deliberately intimidates and threatens Tre with his gun, knowing that he can't do anything.
Distraught, Tre goes to Brandi's house where he finally breaks down. After she consoles him, they have sex for the first time.
The next afternoon, Ricky has a fight with Doughboy with Brenda quickly taking Ricky's side and berating Doughboy.
While Ricky and Tre walk to a nearby store, they see Ferris and the Bloods driving around the neighborhood and cut through back alleys and separate to avoid them. The Bloods find Ricky and murder him, leaving Tre and Doughboy to carry his corpse back home.
Brenda and Shanice hysterically blame Doughboy (who unsuccessfully tries to comfort them) for Ricky's death. That night, Brenda sobs over Ricky's SAT test results, discovering he earned a 710, just enough to qualify for the USC scholarship that he wanted.
The remaining boys vow vengeance on the Bloods.
Furious finds Tre preparing to take his revolver, but he eventually convinces him to abandon his plans for revenge. However, Brandi and Furious catch Tre sneaking out of his bedroom window to join Doughboy.
That night, as the gang drives around the city, Tre asks to be let out of the car and returns home, realizing that his father was right to keep him from falling into the cycle of violence.
Doughboy finds the Bloods at a local fast-food restaurant and Monster opens fire on them in a drive-by shooting. Doughboy gets out and personally executes Ferris and the other wounded gang member, avenging Ricky's death.
Doughboy visits Tre, now understanding Tre's reasons for abandoning the gang. He knows that he will soon face retaliation for Ferris' death and accepts the consequences of his crime-ridden life.
Doughboy plaintively questions why America "don't know, don't show, or don't care about what's going on in the hood." He sorrowfully says that he has no brothers left now after Ricky's death, but is embraced by Tre, who says Doughboy "still got one brother left."
The epilogue reveals that Doughboy was murdered two weeks later. Tre and Brandi resume their relationship and go on to attend Morehouse and Spellman College in Atlanta, respectively.
| Spoiler Warning: All spoilers have been stated and have ended here. |
Cast
- Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Desi Arnez Hines II, young) as Trey "Tre" Styles
- Ice Cube (Baha Jackson, young) as Darrin "Doughboy" Baker
- Morris Chestnut (Donovan McCrary, young) as Ricky Baker
- Larry Fishburne as Jason "Furious" Styles
- Nia Long as Brandi
- Angela Bassett as Reva Devereaux
- Tyra Ferrell as Brenda Baker
- Redge Green (Kenneth A. Brown, young) as Chris
- Dedrick D. Gobert as Dookie
- Baldwin C. Sykes as Monster
- Tracey Lewis-Sinclair as Shaniqua
- Alysia Rogers as Shanice
- Regina King as Shalika
- Lexie Bigham as Mad Dog
- Raymond Turner as Ferris
- Tammy Hansen Grady as Rosa
- Lloyd Avery II as Knucklehead #2
Reception
Box Office
"Boyz in the Hood" debuted at #3 at the box office, grossing $10,023,462 during its opening weekend, ranking behind films Terminator 2: Judgment Day and the re-release of 101 Dalmatians.
Critical Reception
"Boyz n the Hood" received universal acclaim.
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 96% based on 49 reviews, with an average score of 8.3/10, making the film a "Certified Fresh" on the website's rating system.
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 73%, based on 18 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews."
Roger Ebert gave the film four stars, calling it "one of the best American films of recent years."
Accolades
1992 Academy Awards
- John Singleton: Best Director (nominated); Best Original Screenplay (nominated)
Young Artist Awards
- Desi Arnez Hines II, Baha Jackson & Donovan McCrary: Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture (won)
1992 BMI Film Music Award
- Stanley Clarke (won)
1993 Image Awards
- Outstanding Motion Picture (won)
1992 MTV Movie Awards
- Best New Movie (nominated)
- John Singleton: Best New Filmmaker (won)
National Film Preservation Board, USA: 2002
- National Film Registry: Boyz n the Hood
1991 New York Film Critics Circle Award
- John Singleton: Best New Director (won)
Political Film Society, USA: 1992
- PFS Award for Peace (won)
- PFS Award for Exposé (nominated)
- PFS Award for Human Rights (nominated)
Writers Guild of America, USA
- John Singleton: Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (nominated)
Theatrical Trailer
Boyz In the Hood (1991) Trailer