New Jersey Drive

"New Jersey Drive" is set in Newark, NJ, the unofficial "car theft capital of the world", where two young black friends, Jason and "Midget" remain unambitious and don't think of much in life other than stealing vehicles and going on joyrides. This, of course, sets them against the cops, who launch a VERY aggressive offensive; one particular white cop, Roscoe, is a thuggish racist who proves especially troublesome. "New Jersey Drive" is a potent crime drama and slice of urban life, as directed by Nick Gomez, who does a fine job of following up his breakthrough film, "Laws of Gravity". It benefits from the natural performances of the stars; Shar-Ron Corley ("The Substitute"), who plays Jason, and Gabriel Casseus ("Black Hawk Dawn"), who plays Midget, have a good chemistry. Tensions arise between the main characters when Jason is showing signs of wanting to grow up and leave this life behind, and Midget just won't let it go. Saul Stein ("Open Water"), who plays Roscoe, is a worthy adversary, and Gwen McGee ("Coach Carter") is effective playing Jasons' concerned mother. Executive produced by Spike Lee, and distributed by his "40 Acres and a Mule" company, this independent production feels a lot more authentic than what you would likely get from a typical Hollywood picture. It's well-paced, convincing, and easy to watch throughout, with great moments both comedic and serious. Obviously it's not as well known as other films of this kind, so see it whenever you can. Eight out of 10.

***SPOILER*** Life on the mean streets of Newark New Jersey is brutally depicted in "New Jersey Drive" that at the time, and even now, was among other things what Newark's Mayor Sharpe James wanted to keep out of the film in it being the car theft capital of the world. In fact Mayor James refused to have any footage of the movie shot within Newark city limits taking away a good part of the movies authenticity! The movie starts with a carjacking gone bad that ends up putting one of the carjackers Ronnie Lambs, Koran C. Thomas,in the hospital on life support. Lambs and his fellow carjackers unknowingly carjacked tough take no BS Newark cop Emil Rosco's, Saul Stein, car. It was Officer Rosco who just happened to be on the scene when Ronnie and his friends were ambushed in a police string. Shot four times by Rosco Ronnie now in the hospital and no gun found on him has Rosco in deep trouble with the only witness to the shooting fellow carjacker Jason Petty, Shannon Corley, slated to testify against him before the grand jury! This all sets the stage for Rosco hounding Jason all throughout the movie to get him to change his testimony. As for Jason he gives Rosco and the Newark Police all the rope they need to hang him by continuously going out with his friends carjacking cars thus putting his and their lives as well as freedom in jeopardy. Jason's mom Rene Petty, Gwen McGee, knows that her son is out stealing cars instead of going to school but try as she does Rene can't convince him that he'll end up either dead or behind bars as a result of his actions. It's later when his straight as an arrow sister Jackie, Samantha Brown, starts to hang out with the same crowd that Jason does that he throws a fit that almost has him gunned down by her new found "Gangsta" boyfriend Ritchie, Andre Moore. Ritchie feels that Jason "dists" him by trying to keep Jackie from ending up like him: Out of luck out of work out of school and nothing in life to look forward too! Stealing cars together with his friend Midget, Gabe Casseus, Jason tries to make a few bucks for his troubles by selling them to this chop-chop junk yard operator, Arthur J. Nascarella, in what looks like the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn for pennies on the dollar. Despite all the business they give him the junk yard man almost throws Midget out of his place when he comes unannounced with his latest steal not wanting the cops to connect him, by buying stolen merchandise, to Midgets & Jason's criminal activities! it's later when the law finally catches up with Jason that ends with one of his many carjacking friends being gunned down that he finally realizes that this life is not for him. ****SPOILERS**** Spending 90 days behind bars in a juvenile dentition center Jason finally saw the light and decided to go back to school and put his life of crime behind him. The fact that Officer Rosco was indited in the Ronnie Lambs shooting helps also in Jason now not having to worry about Rosco framing or working him over, which he did a number of time in the movie, to keep him from talking. It was in fact Midget's fiery death is a stolen car chased by police that finally convinced Jason that he was right in his decision to go straight! It was Jasons refusal to join Midget and his friends in this latest carjacking caper that ended up saving his life!

In this 1995 film, writer/director Nick Gomez brings to the screen a wonderful film that captures the essence of inner city life and crime in Newark, New Jersey. Car theft and joyriding is a thrilling experience for many teens as they courageously face the mean streets while trying to survive and overcome many obstacles. The story begins by introducing us to Jason Petty, a tough yet decent teen who, like many of his friends, gets his kicks out of stealing cars and having fun. As he tells the story from his point of view, Jason exposes us to how he and most of his friends deal with the unfortunate, every day occurrences in their neighborhood. From gun violence to police corruption to juvenile detention and the death of close friends, there is nothing positive for these kids to look forward to. The acting is incredibly believable if not downright brilliant. Since the film is set in the New Jersey ghetto, the urban vernacular and the overall dialogue is truly fantastic. The cast includes Sharron Corley, Gabriel Casseus, Donald Faison of "Scrubs" and a cameo appearance of the late hip hop artist Heavy D.333

Jason and Midget are two young, black teenagers living in Newark,New Jersey, the unofficial car theft capital of the world. Their favorite pastime is that of everybody in their neighborhood: stealing cars and joyriding. The trouble starts when they steal a police car and the cops launch a violent offensive that involves beating and even shooting suspects. Mayor Sharpe James refused to allow filming of New Jersey Drive within the city limits; therefore, the filming locations were in the surrounding locations of Newark rather than the city itself. I am surprised they would turn down the shooting... but, hey, I guess if you're known for being a car theft city, you don't want to support that claim. Some have called this the best "hood" movie. I don't know. I liked it, and thought it seemed fairly accurate to how I imagine life in the streets to be. But it lacked a solid plot or story arc, and I think it suffers from that. I do like how it has no real hero -- both the thieves and the police come off as less than perfect.

This is a very realistic movie. It's the most realistic I've seen on urban youth. The actors were great. I will look out for more films by Gomez. I had never heard of the film until someone mentioned it recently. I bought it on DVD. I was impressed. I haven't seen anything come close to life as I know it in Philadelphia. This comes real close - in fact, one scene where there is an accident (I won't spoil and give details), reminded me of a nearly identical situation in Philadelphia. At first I thought Gomez took the scene from that real-life event, but then I realized that he made the film a few years before that situation. I also agree with the point that this film didn't try to broaden its appeal by putting in Hollywood crap. Gomez also directed "Laws of Gravity" - I am eager to see it.

(1995) New Jersey Drive CRIME DRAMA During the 80's, car theft was a major problem in New Jersey with the film focusing on radical decisions made by a spontaneous 16 or 17 year old youth, Jason, who steals cars for the purpose of joy riding and perhaps to make money, like his friend Midget. When at the same time his mother's trying to set him off straight! After the recognition of John Singleton's 1991 "Boyz In The Hood", a film that was even nominated for an Oscar, more African American coming-of-age themes started to come out, that have similar plots but slightly different, these newer versions often contain more swearing, cursing, and slang, older viewers are incapable to understand, but an imitation of what used to happened in real life. In this film, we get a lot of "n" this and "n" that, and the expression "you know what I'm sayin'" after a typical discussion among young African American youths. But despite being quite raw, and a mirror reflection about what used to happen and how they dealt with it, the characters can become unrelatable, mocking the expression, ' If you break the crime, you do the time'. To get my point, the central people are arrested several times for a lot of petty crimes, the criminal activities are long and extensive, and the film doesn't elaborate too much on it, for they are underage, showing their spontaneous, rather radical responses, mostly towards the police, meaning that a lot of the stuff that this community used to do back then, would not unlikely to get away with it as of right now, such as smart aleck responses to the police and police taunting, just because the teenagers are somewhat underage can still be punished, making the overall experience of the film very outdated! The social commentary is absent, but quite obvious which says that if parents don't like the way kids talk and act like they're portrayed in this film, then why isn't the government doing anything about it, put more money to the schools that need it than the schools that can earn it! Anyways, from my standpoint, the first half of the film is like a 'Grand Theft Auto' game, whereas if the car thieves are going to get caught, they would run and hide away from the police and the police would eventually give up chase! The second half is like another "Boyz in the Hood", whereas, it would have to cost a friend's life to open his eyes, and the acting is exceptional, which is not that hard to do if you're a young tough African American street thug who can speak natural slang! This kind of lifestyle, this movie portray African Americans in New Jersey, USA may be labelled as stereotypical- you be the judge.

I swear I rarely hear this movie being talked about when mentioning some of the greatest hood movies of all time. I really enjoyed this movie. It talks about young kids being car thief's. It catches up to them as Jason Petty (Sharron Corley) and his friends all find themselves on the wrong side of the law and starts to get on dangerous path in their neighborhood. I'm not going to spoil the whole the movie for those who haven't seen it but this will be a fun movie for you to watch if you love hood movies.

WOW I Love this movie. This is definitely added to my list of Ghetto Movies. Juice - Starring Tupac 'I don't giva F***' Menace II Society - O-Dawg 'I'll smoke Anybody, I just don't giva F****' New Jersey Drive - Hey they steal cars in broad daylight they obviously don't giva f*** New Jersey Drive is the best hood movie ever. It is at the top of the list, menace II society is second, and juice is third, Clockers is really stupid. The soundtrack for New Jersey Drive is Pwnage too Mac Mall & Young Lay - All about my fetti is heard through out the movie. Lords of the underground - Burn rubber, another good song, and so is Ill & Al Scratch - don't shut down on a player If your a fan of GTA-SA you'll freaking love this movie, AND The amazing soundtrack. The soundtrack is basically Rap about stealing cars ^_^ SWEETTTT Movie!

This movie is a good over cap of what happened in Newark. I'm young so around the time that this may have happened I was a baby. This movie gives of a realistic Vibe like your watching a documentary of the main characters life. What people don't know is some of the things in the movie is true other then Newark being the highest place of car theft. In the end when the news dispatch about the van with midget in being shot n two people being killed was true. Well the pregnant teen being shot and killed what's crazy is things like showing true action makes this movie one that keeps your eyes glued on the screen and not want to miss any part. This movie is great and is a must see.

I lived in that area (Hoboken and Jersey City)for about ten years. This film certainly captures the feel of that time and place. The dialogue is very good, the music is right and scenarios realistic. As another poster said, it looks almost like a documentary. I like the way it humanizes these kids, who probably would have rather have been born in Westchester, but fall into what kids fall into. It just so happens that area is pretty rough. They over-demonize the cops quite a bit, but that's to be expected. I'd say the acting is good all-around, too. It gives the viewer some sense of how this idiocy is caused and gets blown out-of-proportion. Hopefully, the new mayor of Newark is making progress.