Boyz n the Hood features ‘90s crime in Inglewood, California, where gang culture was the fall of the community. The opening scenes show Tre and his friends in their adolescent years. They come across murders, are involved in murders, and fear murders as growing black men. While mothers care for their children and protect them with all their might, the hood can have its way with its people. Fathers are distant or dead, and the streets are full of guns and drugs. Influences are strong, but somehow Tre and most of his friends keep their heads on as straight as they can. Lucky for Tre, his father was around for his childhood, while his friend Doughboy was left to raise himself in the eyes of no man. Doughboy sees crime face to face in his life, first attending a juvenile detention center at age 11. Tre grows up without much trouble, but he stays loyal to his friends with whom he grew up.
The film was released in 1991 and stars rapper IceCube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, and Morris Chestnut. It was awarded multiple nominations at the 64th Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. In 2002, Boyz n the Hood was inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, as the film was deemed culturally significant. With a critically acclaimed reception, the film becomes even more popular as time goes on. Let’s look at some interesting facts that make Boyz n the Hood so widely accepted as a work of art.
Every Gunshot was Kept a Secret From the Cast
The beginning scene of Boyz n the Hood is a 187, which is a possible homicide by gunfire. The call gets heard over the police radio, and young witnesses cry in fear of having just lost their family member. In order to keep every gun fight seem more real in the film, the director John Singleton decides not to tell the actors when shots would be fired. This caused each gun scene to feel as convincing as it possibly could, as the actors’ reactions were like that of someone who was really living that lifestyle.
How Ice Cube Landed the Role of Doughboy
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Director John Singleton knew he wanted to cast Ice Cube as Doughboy from the very beginning of production. He wanted him to play the part so much so that he would visit Ice Cube on multiple occasions at rap concerts to recruit him. Though Ice Cube was hesitant to join the cast of the film, he eventually changed his mind about the screen test audition that Singleton had set up for him. However, what really convinced Ice Cube to take the role of Doughboy was when Singleton agreed to allow him to write screenplays in accordance with his rap background to make the scenes feel more realistic.
Possible Cast Mates
As part of the iconic rap group NWA, Ice Cube had plenty of people he knew that could play the part of Doughboy’s entourage. Though the director John Singleton wanted to cast NWA members Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, MC Ren, and Arabian Prince, Ice Cube had separated from the group in December 1989 due to a financial dispute. This then resulted in Singleton including a scene where a male in the film wearing an Eazy-E tee-shirt was beaten. Needless to say, none of the group’s members were included in the film.
John Singleton’s Directorial Debut
Debuting as a director, John Singleton absolutely dominated his first film. He was not only nominated for Best Director, but he was also the youngest nominee to ever be elected at the age of twenty-four. The film becomes even more intriguing as it was based on factual information from Singleton’s life. He also became inspired to make Boyz n the Hood when an executive from Orion Pictures visited USC.
It is noted that Singleton gave his opinion on movies like Colors and New Jack City to the executive, leading him closer to what he thought would be the right way to represent gang culture in South Central Los Angeles, where the movie is based. Singleton also appears in a cameo where he is the mailman in the film, making him both a director and actor for Boyz n the Hood.
Actor Redge Green is Paralyzed in the Film and Off-Screen
Tre rolled around with the same crew of friends from age ten to his adult years. There was Doughboy, a guy who always had his foot in some sort of trouble, Ricky, who was tragically killed before he could accept a scholarship for college, Brandi, who was Tre’s girlfriend, and Chris, who stayed loyal to the group since they had all met each other. Though Chris is a paraplegic in the film, having a storyline of getting shot and paralyzed, the actor who played him, Redge Green, is actually paralyzed from the waist down due to a gunshot he experienced years before the film was released.
An Accident On Set
Morris Chestnut, who plays Ricky in his older years, almost had a near-fatal accident on set. When Ferris, played by Raymond Turner, shot his Mac-11 in the air, Chestnut, who was never warned about the shooting scene, flees to Tre’s car and falls, almost getting run over by Doughboy’s Chevy Impala. This scene was never supposed to be in the film, but the authenticity of the moment was too good not for director John Singleton to use.
Gang Rivals’ Reaction to the Film
Unfortunately, the representation of gang culture wasn’t received well by actual gang members. Those of the Crenshaw Mafia Bloods were allegedly angered by the cowardice portrayal of who they truly are. They thought that the roles that depicted them were unauthentic and could have been more realistic. Not only that but rival gang members who saw each other in movie theaters around the U.S. where the film was playing are said to have broken out into gun violence.
How the Rodney King Riots Tie Into the Film
Carrying anything around in the hood could be problematic for anyone, let alone a young vulnerable boy who is likely not going to have a gun to protect himself. So when Ricky, as a ten-year-old, took his football out to play with his friends like Tre and Doughboy, he immediately gets it stolen by older boys before Ricky and his friends could begin passing it around.
Doughboy may have warned him, but who would have thought that a fun activity could lead to theft? What’s interesting about this scene in the movie is that it was filmed only one mile from Florence and Normandie, where the iconic and unfortunate Rodney King riots broke out just nine months after the release of Boyz n the Hood.
Actor Lloyd Avery II Turned to Gang Violence After the Film
When Ricky was shot, even more trouble was to follow. Not only does Doughboy, his brother, avenge his murder, but he also brings with him two of his childhood friends. There would have been three, but Tre decided to get out of the car before he could be involved in a murder, as his father had raised him better than that.
What’s more, actor Lloyd Avery II who shot and murdered Ricky on screen, turned to real gang violence after the release of the film. Avery chose to join the Bloods and was indicted for a double homicide. Though he was sentenced to life in prison, his time was cut short when he was murdered in 2005 by his cellmate.
Boyz n the Hood is the Most Financially Successful Film of 1991
Boyz n the Hood received an exceptional reception from viewers of the film. It was not only nominated for multiple Academy Awards and given other accolades throughout the years, but it was also the most successful film that came out in 1991. The budget was a mere $6.5 million, so when it earned $57.5 million at the box office, although the gross isn’t too large, it made more than other films did after looking at the difference between the films’ budget and earnings.
Boyz n the Hood was meticulously thought out by director John Singleton. From tracking down Ice Cube for the role of Doughboy to explaining his ideas to production companies at a young age, Singleton more than deserved his Oscar nomination for Best Director in his directorial and acting debut. After all these years, it still stands as one of the defining movies of the 1990s.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
