Singleton should have had a bigger career

What’s to be expected from young men who grow up in an environment where a level of violence is an everyday occurrence? John Singleton’s “Boyz N’ The Hood” shows children who have already become desensitized to blood splatters and dead bodies laying on the sidewalk, who have become accustomed to the idea that this is how problems are solved, and who don’t see themselves living very long or having much of a life away from such things.

Singleton’s debut film strikes a bleak chord early, and that’s before he’s also told us that inner city neighborhoods like Crenshaw have also been written off- even the black cop who hassles the youth in this particular suburb treats them as if their bound to be future trash he’ll have to “deal” with later.

It’s not all bad. Tre is particularly lucky to have a father like Furious (Laurence Fishburne), who re-enters his son’s life when mom (Angela Bassett) decides that a boy. particularly in this neighborhood, needs his father. And Furious is just such a man; smart, responsible, and a disciplinarian, he returned from Vietnam with a chip on his shoulder, and many lessons to impart.

He is also the exception to the rule in this LA neighborhood, where the kids are often even told they won’t amount to much and the streets just confirm it. Tre has a leg up but his friends are not as lucky, like brothers Doughboy and Ricky, who are now just pipsqueaks, but they have no guiding hand, are aware of the power of the gun and are quick to anger. It’s only a matter of time.

Singleton crafts a powerful coming of age story out of this- one where Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) grows up as right as possible but feels not only kinship with the man who raised him, but also friends Doughboy (Ice Cube) and Ricky (Morris Chestnut). Trouble consistently finds one, while the other is a tragedy waiting to happen.

In this Furious is so good he may as well be a unicorn, and thanks to Fishburne, this is one of the better fathers ever put to screen. He knows the streets will have a particular lure, he knows that they care nothing for boys like Tre, and he knows he’ll need to instill in him all he can to counteract this and help his son channel his anger and energies.


There are great, pivotal moments between the two characters, played with measured brilliance by both Fishburne and Gooding Jr. This is fatherly love, showing scenes of advice and hard lessons, bonding and care. There’s humor to them which doesn’t feel so out of place because the subject is one of the few that is funny, just like there are others that really sting.

Singleton brings up topics of gentrification, bias in the educational system, street violence, and revenge. Working hard to rise above all this is one thing but then there’s a very real chance even getting out of such a neighborhood alive is another. As a director he shows some impressive style (one keyhole shot in the beginning is terrific) but it’s his unflinching look at the hardships faced here that makes Cube’s “No one cares about the Hood” speech in the end such a valid and remarkable finale.

And speaking of Cube, what a great acting debut for him, making Doughboy neither hero or villain, but rather a disillusioned fighter whose only goal in life is waiting for the next conflict. Chestnut is also very believable as the more “golden child” of the two. And I can’t forget Regina King, who’s not a bitch, and Singleton lets her make that distinction within a world that consistently minimizes women in those terms.

Singleton flourishes here. His best productions (This and the underrated FX show “Snowfall”) understood the war on the inner city better than anyone, held some career-defining performances, and inspired a whole host of copycats. He deserved to be a bigger auteur than he was and the sad thing is how we lost him far too soon. His work was real, eye-opening, and thoughtfully and sincerely-messaged. We needed more of him.

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