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Blow
The story of how George Jung, together with the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar, established the billion-dollar cocaine empire in the United States in the 1970s.
2001 · Directed by Ted Demme · 124 min · Crime · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 19 frames
Tagline
based on a true story
Plot
George Jung and his parents Fred and Ermine live in Weymouth, Massachusetts. When George is 10 years old, Fred files for bankruptcy but tries to make George realize that money is not important.
In the late 1960s, an adult George moves to Los Angeles with his friend "Tuna"; they meet Barbara, a flight attendant, who introduces them to Derek Foreal, a marijuana dealer. With Derek's help, George and Tuna make a lot of money. Kevin Dulli, a visiting college student from Boston, tells them of the demand for marijuana back home. They start selling marijuana there, buying marijuana directly from Mexico with the help of Santiago Sanchez, a Mexican drug lord. Two years later, George is caught in Chicago trying to import 660 pounds (300 kg) of marijuana and is sentenced to two years' imprisonment. After unsuccessfully trying to plead his innocence, George skips bail to take care of Barbara, who dies from cancer. Her death marks the disbanding of the group of friends.
While hiding from the authorities, George visits his parents. George's mother calls the police, who arrest him. He is sentenced to 26 months in a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. His cellmate Diego Delgado has contacts in the Medellin cartel and convinces George to help him go into the cocaine business. Upon his release from prison, George violates his parole conditions and heads down to Cartagena, Colombia to meet with Diego. They meet with cartel officer Cesar Rosa to negotiate the terms for smuggling 15 kilograms (33 lb) to establish "good faith".
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: David McKenna, Nick Cassavetes
- Cinematography: Ellen Kuras
- Edited by: Kevin Tent
- Music: Graeme Revell
- Production design: Michael Z. Hanan
- Produced by: Joel Stillerman, Denis Leary, Ted Demme, Tomáš Krejčí
Cast
- Johnny Depp as George Jung
- Penélope Cruz as Mirtha Jung
- Franka Potente as Barbara Buckley
- Rachel Griffiths as Ermine Jung
- Ray Liotta as Fred Jung
- Jordi Mollà as Diego Delgado
- Cliff Curtis as Pablo Escobar
- Paul Reubens as Derek Foreal
- Miguel Sandoval as Augusto Oliveras
- Max Perlich as Kevin Dulli
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: New Line Cinema, Spanky Pictures, Apostle
- Budget: $53,000,000
- Box office: $83,300,000
- Themes: drug smuggling, war on drugs, drug trafficking, 1970s, drug addiction, biography, based on true story, rise and fall, docudrama, cautionary
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