Boyz n the Hood

For the Southern rap quartet, see Boyz n da Hood.

Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 film directed by John Singleton. Starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, and Morris Chestnut, the film depicts life in crime-ridden South Central (now South) Los Angeles, California, and was filmed and released shortly before the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. It was nominated for both Best Director and Original Screenplay during the 1991 Academy Awards. This made John Singleton the youngest person ever nominated for Best Director and the first (and only) African-American to be nominated for the award. The film is also credited with jumpstarting the careers of Laurence Fishburne and Cuba Gooding, Jr., as well as Ice Cube's acting career.

In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant". and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. This film ranked number eight on Entertainment Weekly's list of the Fifty Best High School Movies.

The film's title is taken from the name of a song, "Boyz-n-the-Hood", performed by Eazy-E as a member of the group N.W.A..

Cast

• Laurence Fishburne — Jason "Furious" Styles
• Cuba Gooding Jr. — Tré Styles
• Ice Cube — Darin "Doughboy" Baker
• Morris Chestnut — Ricky Baker
• Nia Long — Brandi
• Angela Bassett — Reva Devereaux
• Tyra Ferrell — Brenda Baker
• Dedrick D. Gobert — Dooky
• Baldwin C. Sykes — Monster
• Regina King — Shalika
• Lexie Bigham — Mad Dog

Plot summary

Before the opening scene of Boys n the Hood, two important messages flash across the screen. The first is a statistic: one in twenty-one African American males will die of murder. The second expounds upon this point: "Most will be killed by other African American males". It also opens with a close shot of a "Stop" sign, the message obvious.

The story then begins in 1984 with ten-year-old Tre Styles and three other youths heading to school. The four children stop to inspect a crime scene filed with police tape, gunshot holes in the walls, and puddles of blood on the ground. At school, Tre misbehaves in front of the teacher; he is obviously bored with the curriculum about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims (and not just bored; this scene also highlights the potential for cultural irrelevance with an educational curriculum presumably designed by far-away academic whites but being taught to inner-city blacks) and receives a three-day suspension after fighting with a classmate. We learn during a phone conversation that Tre's mother, Reva (Angela Bassett), is completing a master's degree; she seems angry at the white schoolteacher on the telephone (who reacts with surprise when Reva states her level of education and the existence of Tre's father) and is also tired of Tre's disobedience. She decides to send him to the Crenshaw neighborhood of his father, Jason "Furious" Styles (Lawrence Fishburne). On Tre’s first day at his new home he is ordered to rake the entire front lawn; later, Furious instructs him on his household responsibilities, which include cleaning and taking care of the house. Although these tasks seem unfair and harsh (the other boys do whatever they want), Furious explains that learning responsibility will make Tre a man and keep him from ending up dead or in jail. During his first night in his new home, Tre hears a pistol shot — Furious has woken up and fired at a burglar. The police arrive more than an hour later and decide the crime is unimportant because nothing was taken and the burglar escaped unharmed.

The next day Tre meets up with three old friends, brothers Ricky and Darin (nicknamed Doughboy — the moniker that stays as he enters the world of crime) from across the street and a mousey boy named Chris. Doughboy and Ricky are half brothers from two different fathers; they live with their unmarried mother in a small house. Ricky is naïve and trusting, Doughboy aggressive and street smart. The boys walk along train tracks to the site of a dead body, they are then harassed by a gang of teenagers who steal Ricky's football. Doughboy picks a fight with an older, stronger boy (Vonte Sweet); he ends up getting kicked in the stomach. The ball is returned to Ricky through the philanthropic actions of another older boy, a rare act of kindness between strangers in the film.

Furious, who appears to be the only father present in the neighborhood, takes Tre on a fishing trip, where he warns him about unprotected sex and instructs him to use condoms. The pair then returns to Crenshaw, where a handcuffed Doughboy and Chris are being led by police officers into a squad car — they’ve been caught stealing, and are ostensibly headed to juvenile hall.

The story jumps ahead seven years. A party is in full swing at the Baker home, Doughboy (now played by Ice Cube) has just been released from prison/juvenile hall, he sits at a table playing dominos with his friends, Chris, Dookie, and Monster. Ricky (Morris Chestnut) mans the grill and holds his newborn baby son — Ricky's girlfriend and son live at home with him and his mother Brenda (Tyra Ferrell). Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) arrives at the party and is greeted by Brenda, who asks him to try to pass some of his responsible behavior to Doughboy. We learn that Tre holds a steady job and has stayed away from pushing drugs. Tre tries to talk to his girlfriend Brandi (Nia Long) but he becomes nervous and she leaves in a huff.

Furious and Tre then have another conversation about sex; this time Tre boasts he had unprotected sex with a girl while her mother was at church. The story is pure fantasy, Tre is still a virgin, but Furious does not know this; far from being impressed he berates his son for not using protection. A montage of scenes follows where we learn more about each of the main characters. Ricky is a star running back for Crenshaw High and hopes to earn a full ride to college; Doughboy, a highschool dropout, spends most of his time hanging around the neighborhood drinking and dealing drugs; Tre hopes to attend college on academics as does Brandi, whose sexual abstinence is part of her Catholic faith.

A college recruiter from USC visits Ricky one night for an interview; Brenda kicks Doughboy and his friends out onto the porch where they discuss first college, then girls. Meanwhile, the recruiter promises Ricky a berth at USC if he earns a minimum SAT score of 700.

Ricky struggles during the test, looking often at Tre for help, and seems unsure of passing. Later that day, Furious tells the boys that the English section of the test is culturally biased and only the math is fair (later on in the film we see Ricky’s test results — he scores 110 points higher on the math to highlight this point.) Furious drives the boys to Compton and lectures them and a group of Compton citizens on gentrification, explaining how violence and drug use divide the black community by decreasing property values, allowing real estate companies to buy the land cheaply from black residents and sell it at a profit to developers. The influx of white investment money raises property values and taxes, pushing out the remaining old residents in the process. Furious tells the crowd that the rest of the nation will not help the urban poor because they are not personally affected by the violence -- the blacks must themselves end the cycle of murder and violence plaguing the neighborhoods.

That night when Ricky is provoked by Ferris, a local gang leader, Doughboy pulls out his pistol to defend his brother and the scene degenerates into gunfire, though nobody is hurt. While speeding away from the scene, Tre and Ricky are pulled over by the LAPD. One officer is the same officer who had responded to Furious's emergency burglary call seven years earlier. He is a self-hating African-American cop who, fully enjoying the power his badge allows him, shoves a gun in Tre's face and asks him what he will do about it. On the verge of tears Tre arrives late to Brandi's house; later that night they have sex for the first time.

The next day, Ricky, annoyed when his girlfriend tells him to go get a box of cornmeal, provokes a fight with Doughboy. Brenda rushes to Ricky's aid while neglecting Doughboy, even slapping him, further amplifying that she values Ricky and his impending scholarship more than Doughboy. Most viewers see Doughboy more sympathetically by this point in the film; he seems well read from his stay in prison (although he voices his ideas using curse words and street tongue) and only acts the way he does both because he has been neglected and to stand up for his brother and himself against the harsh realities of urban life. Ricky and Tre head to the grocery store, but on the way back are attacked by Ferris and his gang — a man rolls down the window and shoots at them both, this time Ricky is killed, shot in the leg and abdomen. He dies in Tre's arms and his body is taken home by Doughboy. Brenda immediately blames Doughboy, who tries to comfort her but is rebuffed (he also tries to remove Ricky's son from the room where his father lies dead). Later on that night Brenda sobs over Ricky's test results, he earned a 710, just enough to qualify for the scholarship.

Doughboy, Dooky, Monster, and Tre vow revenge on the enemy gang; Furious finds Tre holding his .357 Magnum pistol, seemingly ready to go shoot someone. He convinces Tre to put the weapon down but Tre escapes out his bedroom window to join Doughboy and the gang as they search for the killers in Doughboy's low-rider. That night Tre decides to part ways with the gang, he gets out of the car. Doughboy accepts Tre's decision quietly, as if he expects it. Later that night the gang finds Ricky's murderers and guns them down drive-by style with an AK-47 in an empty parking lot. Doughboy shoots one of the injured gang members in the back, killing him. As wounded Ferris begs for his life and screams that he wasn't personally responsible for Ricky's murder, Doughboy pauses for a moment before shooting his adversary in the head.

The next day Doughboy explains to Tre that he has no hard feelings about Tre's decision to leave the car before the shooting; and that he knows he might be killed soon. Doughboy seems to have changed, realizing that his drug dealing and crime played a part in the ongoing violence in the ghetto; nevertheless, he recognizes that Ricky's death was senseless even in the context of their world. He also seems resigned to his fate and despondent about the overall situation in the neighborhood and his perception of societal indifference, stating "they don't know, don't show, or just don't care about what's goin on in the hood." Before the credits roll it is mentioned that Doughboy is murdered two weeks after Ricky's funeral, but that both Tre and Brandi go on to college, "across the way" from one another at predominantly black colleges in Atlanta.

Themes

The most important theme is the benefit of a strong father figure on young black males. As Furious tells Tre: "Any fool with a dick can make a baby, but it takes a real man to be a father to his children". Of Tre, Ricky, and Doughboy, only Tre's father is present in his everyday life (Ricky and Doughboy, though brothers, have different fathers). He leads a very different life than his two friends because of his father's guidance. His decisions, especially not to partake in the revenge of Ricky's death, happen because of the morals instilled in him.

The film also deals largely with the seemingly unstoppable violence that plagues urban life. It is set in South Central Los Angeles, where Tre's father owns a house. The neighborhood is a violent one; the sounds of shootings and patrolling helicopters are heard often and even something as common as a passing car can mean death. The police that patrol the neighborhood seem indifferent to the notion of preventing crime. Early in the film Furious frightens off a would-be thief with the pistol he keeps under his bed. The police, arriving an hour after Furious' call, do not seem concerned about the effect of the crime on the people they are supposed to protect. Additionally, the African American officer possesses a combative personality and has a tense exchange with Furious about the proper execution of his job. (As a teenager, Tre is pulled over by the same policeman while fleeing gunfire on Crenshaw Avenue and the officer threatens him with his pistol, an act of police misconduct. This officer was based on a self-loathing black officer encountered by John Singleton while growing up in South Central Los Angeles.) The officer's remarks to Tre's father at the beginning of the film (the officer wishes Furious's shot would've killed the man) show a belief that law enforcement is lazy and corrupt. Perhaps the lack of police justice is one reason for the climactic scene at the end of the film with Doughboy and Ferris. Doughboy hesitates before killing the gang leader, however he knows that justice will not be served unless he takes matters into his own hands.

Tre also grapples with the moral implications of teenage sexuality. As a young man, and due no doubt to peer pressure, it is important to lose one's virginity. Tre's girlfriend, Brandi, has strongly resisted Tre's demands to have sex with him, mostly due to her own beliefs as a Catholic. It is clear that Tre has no wish to follow the path of Ricky, who fathered a son with his own girlfriend. Additionally, Tre's father gives him a tough lecture on the responsibilities and perils of becoming sexually active after Tre tells him a fabricated story about his first instance of sexual intercourse. The conversation arose from an off-handed remark by Tre about his future children, which causes some anxiety in his father who does not want to become a grandfather in his mid-30s.

Other themes present but not covered as extensively include gentrification of poor neighborhoods, drug abuse, assault weapons, sexual promiscuity, equality in college admission, and cultural bias in standardized testing.

Awards

Academy Awards 1992

• Nominee, Best Director, John Singleton
• Nominee, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, John Singleton

BMI Film Music Award 1992

• Winner, Stanley Clarke

Image Award 1993

• Winner, Outstanding Motion Picture, Boyz n the Hood

MTV Movie Award 1992

• Nominee, Best Movie, Boyz n the Hood
• Winner, Best New Filmmaker, John Singleton

National Film Preservation Board, USA 2002

• National Film Registry, Boyz n the Hood

New York Film Critics Circle Award 1991

• Winner, Best New Director, John Singleton

Political Film Society, USA 1992

• Winner, PFS Award, Peace
• Nominee, PFS Award, Exposé
• Nominee, PFS Award, Human Rights

Writers Guild of America, USA 1992

• Nominee, WGA Award (Screen), Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, John Singleton]

Young Artist Awards 1992

• Winner, Young Artist Award, Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture

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