“Truffaut once said it was impossible to make an anti-war movie, because the war sequences would inevitably be exciting and get the audience involved on one side or the other. It is almost as difficult to make an anti-drug movie, since the lifestyle and money of the drug dealers looks like fun, at least until they're killed. This movie pulls off that tricky achievement.” - Roger Ebert

A tricky achievement indeed, New Jack City is an old-school exploitation film about the war on drugs and Reagan-era capitalism with style for miles. A mesmerizing Wesley Snipes stars as the head of an organized crime family in Harlem who sports a new wave haircut, wears alarming suits, and conducts murderous business meetings while chomping on a banana. It’s hip hop aesthetics by way of Dick Tracy and Dracula, and somehow it all works. Co-starring Ice-T and Judd Nelson as the cops out to take down Snipes’s drug operation from the inside, with a young Chris Rock in a small but meaty role as a recovering crack addict. The feature film directorial debut of Mario van Peebles (who also acts in the film), son of the late great director Melvin van Peebles. Some blink-and-you’ll-miss-them cameos by Flavor Flav and reggae star Eek-A-Mouse. Catch this extraordinary film before they release the remake, because how could it possibly be as good?