After the critical and commercial success of "Menace II Society," the Hughes Brothers brilliant debut film, it is surprising that a took three years. The film generation Spielberg, and Lucas), tired and cranky, is in dire need of successors With "Menace II Society precocious, but blistering portrayal of life in the inner city the Hughes Brothers asserted themselves as an important new talent. Their new film "Dead Presidents," instead of advancing their reputations considered a "Dead the story of Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate) and his high school cronies Skip and Jose growing up in Bronx during the late A but likable group, they spend their high school years debating whether or not to obey the law. As one can imagine, running numbers for the local bookie is a lot more seductive than delivering milk. This first part of the film, utilizing wonderful color tones and an agreeable pace, is certainly the strongest. Here, the Hughes Brothers can allow their young actors to be themselves. As "Menace II Society" proves the more the Hughes' films reflect their own experiences, the more successful the films are. When "Dead Presidents" launches into territory unfamiliar to these young directors, the film is in trouble. Having decided that college is not for him, Anthony decides to enlist in the Army and fight in Vietnam. Once there, he is quickly joined by his friends from The Bronx. Level-headed and a bit native, Anthony is the only one cut out for the madness of that war. Soon his friends are on their way home; either dead or seriously wounded. Anthony, addicted to this to make him a man. Instead, it made it hard for him to sleep through the night. Taking a job at the butcher's, Anthony tries to straighten out his life, but he is soon sucked into a scheme to hijack an armored car. At this point the audience must wonder how many times this film can change gears. Just as one gets comfortable with the pace, the Hughes Brothers slam it into reverse. As can be expected the robbery goes awry, leaving some dead and Anthony on the run. One hopes that the police act quickly and put an end to this film. No one could have made this film well. The plot is completely disjointed and unmanageable. While "Menace II Society" proved that Allen and Albert Hughes have command of their craft, this film demonstrates that this command is not yet complete. While it is difficult to fault their direction, their choice of material is poor. No one in their right mind would take on a task this enormous, a film this epic. As young film-makers they Presidents," she showed flashes of like the wonderful of The Bronx, but was down by a poor script. Let's hope that the Hughes Brothers and other young directors more to work with She is a talent that wasted. Bad films by bad film-makers are to be expected. When a film written to Joe Eszterhas stinks, no eye. He stinks. But bad by talented young film- like the Hughes Brothers are truly disappointing. Perhaps they can regain their confidence and work on finding a script that itself to their style of The enormity of the plot of "Dead Presidents" only served to stifle and restrict their budding
