''Strapped'' is a 1993 American
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
produced by
HBO Showcase. The film was directed by
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
After making his f ...
and is the cinematic debut of
Bokeem Woodbine
Bokeem Woodbine (born April 13, 1973) is an American actor. In 1994 he portrayed Joshua, Jason's troubled brother, in ''Jason's Lyric''. He won a Black Reel Award, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Awa ...
. It features several rappers including
Fredro Starr
Fred Lee Scruggs Jr. (born April 18, 1971), better known by his stage name Fredro Starr, is an American rapper and actor best known as a member of the hardcore rap group Onyx. Fredro Starr was discovered by the late hip hop star Jam Master Jay of ...
,
Sticky Fingaz,
Busta Rhymes,
Yo-Yo
A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...
and
Kool Moe Dee
Mohandas Dewese (born August 8, 1962), better known by his stage name Kool Moe Dee, is an American rapper, writer and actor. Considered one of the forerunners of the new jack swing sound in hip hop, he gained fame in the 1980s as a member of one ...
.
Plot
Diquan Mitchell, a 19-year old ex-con, attempts to turn his life around and start legitimate work. At the beginning of the film, Mitchell witnesses an argument between two youths Chucky and Pharaoh in the stairwell of his apartment building upon arriving home. Deciding not to expose the youth who did the shooting to law enforcement, Mitchell takes the handgun used in the killing from him and tells him to run. Mitchell lives in a
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
public housing project
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...
apartment with his mother, grandmother, and two sisters, and has a girlfriend named Latisha Jordan, who is 8 months pregnant.
Mitchell's girlfriend who is also an ex-felon gets caught selling
crack cocaine to an undercover New York officer. After a hearing, a judge sets bail at $2500 for Jordan. Due to not having the funds to bail her out, Mitchell join forces with the police in a complicated undercover operation that involves selling guns on the street while selling information to the police. In addition to becoming an informant, Mitchell is also promised a deal by the cops that the lengthy imprisonment (of either 18 months or 8 years) and the case for Jordan would be dismissed if they successfully take down a gun salesman named Ben, who has been selling guns to neighborhood youths.
Mitchell teams up with his long-time friend Bamboo to help out with the case while pocketing cash from gun sales on the side. Shortly after bailing his girlfriend out of jail, Mitchell and Bamboo speaks with Ann, who puts them in contact with her brother in Georgia to buy guns to make their own profits. The cops later stake-out the location where Ben set-up to make sales, having arrested him earlier for possession of 150 firearms at his suburban-area home.
The cops are later informed by the
ATF
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and preven ...
that they can't charge him due to lack of evidence that he is selling the weapons to youths. They later tell Mitchell that they need more evidence on Ben. After his run-in with the cops, Ben later returns to the neighborhood to locate Bamboo and runs into other youths who give him Bamboo's
beeper number in return for multiple firearms.
Ben then reaches Bamboo on the phone and tells him that he is aware that Bamboo has been speaking with the cops about his gun selling business and threatens his life. Thereafter, Mitchell and Bamboo visits a local convenience store where Bamboo starts trouble by robbing an Asian cashier and making racist remarks. Bamboo then accidentally shoots a little girl. After being interrogated by the cops for the shooting, Mitchell and Bamboo are released from jail. Upon returning to the neighborhood, Mitchell is told by Lay-Lay that everybody has been saying he has been working with the cops.
Bamboo later shows up at Mitchell's apartment to confront him about the news which leads to a fight and shootout between the two. The film ends with Mitchell accepting responsibility for the youth killed at the beginning of the film, having used the gun during the shootout. In return for his guilty plea, the case against his girlfriend is dismissed. In court, Mitchell is sentenced to prison.
Cast
*
Bokeem Woodbine
Bokeem Woodbine (born April 13, 1973) is an American actor. In 1994 he portrayed Joshua, Jason's troubled brother, in ''Jason's Lyric''. He won a Black Reel Award, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Awa ...
as Diquan Mitchell
*
Kia Goodwin as Latisha Jordan
* Willie James Stiggers, Jr. as Chucky
*
Chi Ali
Chi-Ali Griffith (born May 27, 1976), better known by his stage name Chi-Ali, is an American rapper from The Bronx, New York City, best known for his debut album, '' The Fabulous Chi-Ali'', released in 1992, and as a member of hip-hop collectiv ...
as Pharaoh
*
Michael Biehn
Michael Connell Biehn ( ; born July 31, 1956) is an American actor, primarily known for his roles in science fiction films directed by James Cameron; as Sgt. Kyle Reese in '' The Terminator'' (1984), Cpl. Dwayne Hicks in ''Aliens'' (1986), and ...
as Matthew McRae
*
Yul Vazquez
Yul Vazquez (born March 18, 1965) is a Cuban-American actor and musician. He has appeared in '' Runaway Bride'' (1999), ''Bad Boys II'' (2003), ''War of the Worlds'' (2005), '' American Gangster'' (2007), ''The A-Team'' (2010), '' Captain Philli ...
as Latisha's Attorney
*
Jermaine Hopkins
Jermaine R. “Huggy” Hopkins (born August 23, 1973) is an American television and film actor. Hopkins is best known for his roles as Dupree on The WB sitcom ''The Wayans Bros''. from 1996 to 1998, and as Thomas Sams in the 1989 film, '' Lean on ...
as "Lay-Lay"
*
Isaiah Washington
Isaiah Washington IV is an American actor and media personality. Following a series of film appearances, he came to prominence for portraying Dr. Preston Burke in the first three seasons of the series ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2007.
Wash ...
as Willie
*
Kool Moe Dee
Mohandas Dewese (born August 8, 1962), better known by his stage name Kool Moe Dee, is an American rapper, writer and actor. Considered one of the forerunners of the new jack swing sound in hip hop, he gained fame in the 1980s as a member of one ...
as Chaz
*
Paul McCrane
Paul David McCrane (born January 19, 1961) is an American film, television and theatre actor, as well as a television director and singer. He is known for his portrayal of Montgomery MacNeil in the 1980 film '' Fame'', Frank Berry in the 1984 fil ...
as Mitch Corman
*
Samuel E. Wright as Dave
* Starletta DuPois as Mrs. Mitchell
*
Monie Love
Simone Johnson or Simone Gooden (born 2 July 1970), better known by her stage name Monie Love, is a British rapper, actress and radio personality from London. Best known for her singles during the late–1980s through the 1990s, Monie Love curr ...
as Yvonne Mitchell
*
Yo-Yo
A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...
as Ann
*
Craig Wasson
Craig Wasson (born March 15, 1954) is an American actor. He made his film debut in ''Rollercoaster'' (1977). He is best known for his roles as Jake Scully in Brian DePalma's ''Body Double'' (1984), and Neil Gordon in Chuck Russell's '' A Nightm ...
as Ben
*
Busta Rhymes as Buster
*
Fredro Starr
Fred Lee Scruggs Jr. (born April 18, 1971), better known by his stage name Fredro Starr, is an American rapper and actor best known as a member of the hardcore rap group Onyx. Fredro Starr was discovered by the late hip hop star Jam Master Jay of ...
(credited simply as Fredro) as Mark "Bamboo" Rivers
See also
*
List of hood films
This is a list of hood films – films focusing on the culture and life of African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, and/or in some cases, Asian Americans living in segregated, low-income urban communities, as well as comparably deprived and crime-ri ...
References
External links
*
*
*
Strapped' at
HBO Films
HBO Films (formerly called HBO Premiere Films and HBO Pictures) is an American production and distribution company, a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. The division produces fiction and non- ...
{{Forest Whitaker
1993 television films
1993 films
Films directed by Forest Whitaker
Films set in New York City
HBO Films films
1993 crime drama films
Films about drugs
American gang films
Hood films
American crime drama films
African-American drama films
1990s American films