Sucker Free City

Sucker Free City is a 2004 crime drama television film directed by Spike Lee. 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.

Sucker Free City
DVD cover
Written by	Alex Tse
Directed by	Spike Lee
Starring	Ben Crowley Ken Leung Anthony Mackie
Music by	Terence Blanchard
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Preston Holmes
Cinematography	César Charlone
Editor	Barry Alexander Brown
Running time	113 minutes
Original release
Network	Showtime
Release	September 16, 2004 (2004-09-16)

The title of the film derives from "Sucka Free", a slang term in reference to the city often used by natives of Hunters Point and The Fillmore. The term was popularized by the rappers San Quinn, JT the Bigga Figga (who has a cameo in the film) and most notably the song "Sucka Free" from Rappin' 4-Tay's 1994 album Don't Fight the Feelin'.

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 medical student classmate Edwin (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
J.T. The Bigga Figga	Killa Ski

External links

• Sucker Free City at IMDb
• San Francisco Chronicle article on the making of the film (Part 1)
• San Francisco Chronicle article on the making of the film (Part 2)