Boyz n the Hood

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Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use American English Template:Infobox film Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 American coming-of-age hood crime drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his feature directorial debut.<ref name="Guardian" /> It stars Ice Cube (in his film debut), Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut (in his film debut), and Laurence Fishburne (credited as Larry Fishburne), with Nia Long, Tyra Ferrell, Regina King (in her film debut), and Angela Bassett in supporting roles. Boyz n the Hood follows Tre Styles (Gooding), who is sent to live with his father Furious Styles (Fishburne) in South Central Los Angeles, where he reunites with his childhood friends while surrounded by the neighborhood's booming gang culture. The film's title is a reference to the 1987 Eazy-E rap song of the same name, written by Ice Cube.

Singleton initially developed the film as a requirement for his application to film school in 1986 and sold the script to Columbia Pictures upon graduation in 1990. During writing, he drew inspiration from his own life and from the lives of people he knew and insisted he direct the project. Principal photography began in September 1990 and was filmed on location from October to November 1990. The film features breakout roles for Ice Cube, Gooding Jr., Chestnut, and Long.

Boyz n the Hood was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.<ref name="festival-cannes.com">Template:Cite web</ref> It premiered in Los Angeles on July 2, 1991, and was theatrically released in the United States ten days later. The film became a critical and commercial success, grossing $57.5 million in North America and earning nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the 64th Academy Awards. Singleton became the youngest person and the first African American to be nominated for Best Director. In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Plot

In 1984, 10-year-old Tre Styles lives with his single mother, Reva Devereaux, in South Central Los Angeles. After Tre gets into a fight at school, his teacher informs Reva that although intelligent, he lacks maturity and respect. Reva concernedly sends him to live in the Crenshaw neighborhood with his strict but also caring and attentive father, Furious Styles, hoping their son will learn life lessons from him, as Furious is her ex-husband.

While in Crenshaw, Tre reunites with childhood friends Darrin "Doughboy" Baker, Doughboy's half-brother Ricky, and their friend Chris. One night, Furious notifies the LAPD after shooting at a burglar but missing. Two officers arrive an hour later; the white officer, Graham, is civil and professional, while the black officer, Coffey, hostilely uses a racist epithet to describe the perpetrator. The next day, Chris leads Tre and his friends to a dead body, after which a group of teenagers harasses them. Later on, en route back from a fishing trip, both father and son notice Doughboy and Chris being arrested for shoplifting.

Seven years later, Doughboy, now a Crip and drug dealer, is released from prison. Attending his homecoming party are Chris, now paraplegic due to a gunshot wound, and new friends and fellow Crips Dooky and Monster. Ricky, now a star running back at Crenshaw High School, lives with his mother Brenda, his girlfriend Shanice, and their toddler son. Lewis Crump, a visiting University of Southern California recruiter, instructs Ricky to obtain an SAT score above a 700 to qualify for a football scholarship. Meanwhile, Tre, now mature and responsible, hopes to attend college with his girlfriend Brandi.

During a nighttime street gathering on Crenshaw Boulevard, Ferris, a member of the rival Bloods gang, bumps and provokes Ricky, inciting a confrontation that involves Doughboy flashing a handgun. Ferris fires an automatic MAC-10 into the air, frightening all present into fleeing. Police soon pull Tre and Ricky over, and Coffey threateningly holds his revolver to Tre's throat. Tre later retreats to Brandi's house and breaks down in her arms. After she comforts him and leads him to her bedroom, they partake in sexual intercourse for the first time.

The next afternoon, Doughboy and his gang notice Ferris and two Bloods members driving through their neighborhood seeking retribution for the previous night's confrontation. Tasked by Brenda to run an errand, Ricky encounters and fights Doughboy, with Brenda defending Ricky and smacking Doughboy. Ricky's test results are delivered as he and Tre depart. Later spotted by the Bloods, they cut through back alleys to avoid them before splitting up. However, the Bloods locate and fatally shoot Ricky, and a distraught Doughboy helps Tre carry Ricky's bloodied corpse home. Afterwards, Brenda and Shanice, both devastated by Ricky's death, tearfully blame Doughboy for instigating the shooting.

Vengefully taking and loading his father's gun, Tre almost departs to join Doughboy outside but Furious intercepts him, seemingly convincing him to reject revenge. Moments later, though, Furious and Brandi catch Tre sneaking out to join his friends. Later that night, as they drive around the city, Tre comes to his senses and returns home. Meanwhile, Brenda receives Ricky's SAT results and discovers his score of 710, enough to qualify for his scholarship. After Doughboy, Dooky and Monster unexpectedly encounter Ferris and the Bloods eating outside a fast food restaurant, Monster shoots the fleeing trio in a drive-by shooting. Doughboy then stops and exits his car to approach their bodies; aware Ferris and Ricky's killer are still alive, he emotionlessly executes them. Later that evening, when Tre arrives home, he and Furious stare at each other before entering their bedrooms for the night.

The next morning, Doughboy visits Tre, understanding why he abandoned the gang. Knowing he will face retaliation for killing Ferris, and reflecting on his own lifestyle, Doughboy questions why people like him are ignored, and also laments Ricky's death and his mother's disaffection. Tre embraces him as a surrogate brother. As Doughboy departs and Tre goes back into his house, a postscript reveals that Ricky was buried the next day and Doughboy was murdered two weeks later. Tre and Brandi ultimately depart in the fall to attend college near each other in Atlanta, Georgia.

Cast

Production

Singleton wrote the film based on his own life and that of people he knew.<ref name="Vice">Template:Cite web</ref> When applying for film school, one of the questions on the application form was to describe "three ideas for films". One of the ideas Singleton composed was titled Summer of 84, which later evolved into Boyz n the Hood.<ref name="Vice"/> During writing, Singleton was influenced by the 1986 film Stand by Me, which inspired both an early scene where four young boys take a trip to see a dead body and the closing fade-out of main character Doughboy.<ref name="Vice"/>

Upon completion, Singleton was protective of his script, insisting that he be the one to direct the project, later explaining at a retrospective screening of the film "I wasn't going to have somebody from Idaho or Encino direct this movie."<ref name="Guardian">Template:Cite web</ref> He sold the script to Columbia Pictures in 1990, who greenlit the film immediately out of interest in making a film similar to the comedy-drama film Do the Right Thing (1989).

The role of Doughboy was written specially for Ice Cube, whom Singleton met while working as an intern at The Arsenio Hall Show.<ref name="Vice"/> Singleton also noted the studio was unaware of Ice Cube's standing as a member of rap group N.W.A.<ref name="Vice"/> Singleton claims Gooding and Chestnut were cast because they were the first ones who showed up to auditions,<ref name="Vice"/> while Fishburne was cast after Singleton met him on the set of Pee-wee's Playhouse, where Singleton worked as a production assistant and security guard.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Long grew up in the area the film depicts and has said, "It was important as a young actor to me that this feels real because I knew what it was like go home from school and hear gunshots at night." Bassett referred to Singleton as her "little brother" on set. "I'd been in LA for about three years and I was trying, trying, trying to do films," she said. "We talked, I auditioned and he gave me a shot. I've been waiting to work with him everTemplate:Sic since."<ref name="Guardian"/>

The film was shot in sequence, with Singleton later noting that as the film goes on, the camera work gets better as Singleton was finding his foothold as a director.<ref name="Guardian"/> He has a cameo in the film, appearing as a mailman handing over mail to Brenda as Doughboy and Ricky are having a scuffle in the front yard. Filming began on October 1, 1990, in South Central Los Angeles, with several gang members serving as consultants, on "wardrobe, vocal emphasis and dialogue changes" to ensure authenticity.<ref name="AFI">Template:Cite web</ref>

Reception and legacy

Critical response

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 96% based on 71 reviews and an average score of 8.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted and thematically rich, Boyz n the Hood observes urban America with far more depth and compassion than many of the like-minded films its success inspired."<ref name="RottenTomatoes">Template:Cite web</ref> At Metacritic, the film received an average score of 76 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews.<ref name="Metacritic">Template:Cite web</ref>

Film scholar Timothy Laurie suggests that Boyz n the Hood engages with the wider social and political issues of the early 1990s: "Tre Styles is already being ensnared within a discourse of risk that positions young black boys as potential perpetrators of violence; as Andrés Leal argues, the urban environment in Boyz n the Hood becomes ‘a definitory element in the formation of the "hood individuals" present and future identities’ (2013, 30). Tragedies have been pre-plotted in Tre's life story."<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Cultural impact

Boyz n the Hood launched the acting careers of Gooding, Cube, Chestnut, Long and King, who were given their first major leading roles in the film, as well as the first significant film role for Angela Bassett<ref name="Guardian"/> Along with Colors (1988) and Do the Right Thing (1989), Boyz n the Hood is credited as a notable pioneer of the hood film genre, with its success leading to American hood films such as New Jack City (also 1991), Juice (1992), Menace II Society (1993), Friday (1995), Training Day (2001), 8 Mile (2002), Hustle & Flow, Get Rich or Die Tryin' (both 2005), Dope, Straight Outta Compton (both 2015), Moonlight (2016) and The Hate U Give (2018).

For his work, Singleton earned nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the 64th Academy Awards, making him the youngest person and first African American to be nominated for Best Director. Since then, the only black nominees in the category have been Lee Daniels, Steve McQueen, Barry Jenkins, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee. In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

In 2024 the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures launched an exhibition based on Boyz n the Hood, curated by Esme Douglas.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Located in The Significant Movies and Moviemakers gallery as part of their Stories of Cinema series, the exhibition examines John Singleton's debut film Boyz n the Hood as well as "the movie's groundbreaking depiction of Black life in South Central Los Angeles as well as its lasting impact in popular culture."<ref name=":02">Template:Cite web</ref> The exhibition features location and production photographs by D Stevens and Ithaka Darin Pappas, costumes and props, behind the scenes footage, a mural, and displays discussing the film's impact on pop culture. It opened on February 6, 2024, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California and will run through January 4, 2026.<ref name=":02"/>

Accolades

Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Academy Awards Best Director John Singleton Template:Nom <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen Template:Nom
BMI Film & TV Awards Film Music Award Stanley Clarke Template:Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Film Template:Nom <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Best Director John Singleton Template:Nom
Best Supporting Actor Ice Cube Template:Nom
Laurence Fishburne Template:Nom
Best Screenplay John Singleton Template:Nom
Most Promising Actor Ice Cube Template:Won
Cuba Gooding Jr. Template:Nom
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards Best Film Template:Nom
Best Director John Singleton Template:Nom
Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Movie Template:Nom
Favorite Movie Actor Ice Cube Template:Nom
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards New Generation Award John Singleton Template:Won <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
MTV Movie Awards Best Movie Template:Nom
Best New Filmmaker John Singleton Template:Won
NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Motion Picture Template:Won
National Board of Review Awards Top Ten Films Template:Draw <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
National Film Preservation Board National Film Registry Template:Won
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best New Director John Singleton Template:Won <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Online Film & Television Association Awards Hall of Fame – Motion Picture Template:Won <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Political Film Society Awards Exposé Template:Nom
Human Rights Template:Won
Peace Template:Won
Stockholm International Film Festival Bronze Horse John Singleton Template:Nom
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen Template:Nom <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Young Artist Awards Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture Desi Arnez Hines II, Baha Jackson, and Donovan McCrary Template:Won <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • In 2007, Boyz n the Hood was selected as one of the 50 Films To See in your lifetime by Channel 4.

American Film Institute Lists

Soundtrack

Year Album Peak chart positions Certifications
U.S. U.S. R&B
1991 Boyz n the Hood 12 1

See also

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References

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