Sucker Free City
Sucker Free City is a 2004 television film directed by Spike Lee.[1] The film examines white, black, and Chinese characters in San Francisco and the conflicts they encounter with each other. The film was intended to be the pilot for a Showtime television series, but Showtime declined to pick up the series. The film was first screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and was subsequently broadcast on television on the Showtime Network. The title of the movie derives from "Sucka Free", a slang term in reference to the city often used by natives of Hunters Point and The Fillmore made popular by rappers San Quinn, JT the Bigga Figga (who has a cameo in the movie) and most notably the song "Sucka Free" from Rappin' 4-Tay's 1994 album Don't Fight the Feelin'.
| Sucker Free City | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Spike Lee |
| Produced by | Preston Holmes |
| Written by | Alex Tse |
| Starring | Ben Crowley Ken Leung Anthony Mackie |
| Music by | Terence Blanchard |
| Cinematography | César Charlone |
| Edited by | Barry Alexander Brown |
| Distributed by | Showtime Network |
Release date | September 16, 2004 |
Running time | 113 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Synopsis
The film follows three young men as they are drawn into lives of crime. Nick (Crowley) uses his entry-level corporate job to commit credit card fraud and deals drugs on the side. K-Luv (Mackie) is a member of the "V-Dubs" ("Visitacion Valley Mafia"), an African-American street gang. Lincoln (Leung) is a rising figure in the Chinese mafia.
Gentrification forces Nick's family to move out of their home in the Mission District into Hunter's Point, where they are harassed by the V-Dubs. K-Luv's side business of selling bootleg compact discs leads him to enlist Nick's help to bootleg CDs and to negotiate a truce with Lincoln. Lincoln conducts an affair with his boss's daughter Angela (Carpio), a Stanford student engaged to a medical student classmate (Chung).
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Ben Crowley | Nick Wade |
| Anthony Mackie | K-Luv (Keith) |
| Ken Leung | Lincoln Ma |
| Darris Love | Sleepy |
| Laura Allen | Samantha Wade |
| T.V. Carpio | Angela Tsing |
| Kathy Baker | Cleo Wade |
| James Hong | Kwok |
| Lamont Bentley | Ahmir |
| Ewan Chung | Edwin Leong |
| Omari Hardwick | Dante Ponce |
| Marguerite Moreau | Jessica Epstein |
| Judy Pace | Mama June |
| Emilio Rivera | Detective Zepada |
| John Savage | Anderson Wade |
| Eddie Shin | Michael |
| Malieek Straughter | Leon |
| Jim Brown | Don Strickland |
| George Cheung | Mr. Tsing |
| Chi Moui Lo | Tuk |
| Milo Stokes | Lil' O |
| Andrew Andersen | Fernando |
| J.T. The Bigga Figga | Killa Ski |
References
- Hartlaub, Peter (July 8, 2003). "A young scriptwriter raised in San Francisco hooks up with Spike Lee to give Showtime a new show -- 'Sucker Free City.' Cable-car free, too". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on August 24, 2010.