Customer Reviews

Cocaine Cowboys 2 - Hustlin' With The Godmother

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

While Hustlin' with the Godmother is by no means a five-star documentary like Cocaine Cowboys, the reviews of one and two stars are overly critical. They don't market it as a Miami drug war documentary, they promote the DVD for what it is: the relationship between Charles Cosby and Griselda Blanco. In that respect, it's a solid documentary that gives you a more detailed look at the life of the Godmother, and how Cosby made it snow in Oakland.

Hustlin' with the Godmother can't hold a candle to the original Cocaine Cowboys DVD. But then again, most drug documentaries don't either. You'll appreciate CC2 if you approach it as it's own documentary about a guy who goes from being a small-time dealer, to an instant millionaire with the most deadly woman in the game.

There are several things that I really appreciated about the DVD. The first is that stories are re-enacted through incredible animation sequences, which makes for great visuals. The second is that you finally find out how Griselda's enforcer Rivi sank the original trial against the Godmother. And third, the introduction of "The Real Scarface" theme by Bay Area rapper Ncredable, which Rakontur used for the DVD.

I bought the DVD from Amazon; it makes a good watch every now and then, though it isn't the best documentary in my collection. I'd say rent it once before deciding on buying it.

Three and a half stars for this. If "Cocaine Cowboys" was the Vice City of true crime, then this is the San Andreas, as we head to the west coast in the early 1990's. Hard to top the original (probably the best true crime docu ever made), but still good.

This is the CHARLES COSBY story. Cosby was the lover of Blanco during and after her stay in prison, and nearly all of the story is told by him. VERY dubious credibility, and just plain dull. Cop "The Godmother" by Richard Smitten and skip this dreck.

CC2 really has nothing to do with Cocaine Cowboys except that Griselda Blanco is mentioned. CC2 is the glamorization of Charles Cosby's (who?) successful life of crime and his thug cronies. It's hardly a documentary and shouldn't be a sequel to CC1. If your looking for a follow up to the captivating, well written, well edited, and well produced CC1, this is not it. If you want a hour and a half long rap video to go along with your Scarface collection, have at it.

This film is just as compelling and full of information as the first. I'll admit it is less comprehensive. But this film's power comes from its intimacy and its roots in street reality. You may not like Charles Cosby or his crowd, but this is who they were and what they did. They aren't the handsome white pilots, distributors and DEA agents who did all the talking in the original Cocaine Cowboys. If you can accept that, you'll enjoy this film and learn something about the early days of drug dealing in Oakland and towns like it. If you look closely at all the negative reviews here, you'll notice that most are written from a position of ignorance and superiority. These are the kind of people who voted for Reagan and the Bushes every time but won't admit it in public. A few are obvious racists, cop-lovers and Nancy Reagan style moralists. Mr. Cosby is not telling folks what they want to hear. He's keeping it real. He stretches the truth in places, but he was no doubt there, wrapped in the arms of the deadliest female queenpin of all time. Ms. Griselda Blanco killed 250 people, including many of her lovers and husbands. This young man Cosby would visit her in prison to have sex with her. Cosby was a fearless young man who risked death and incarceration at every step. Criticizing him or any of this film's subjects for their ghetto ways and slang talk is like blaming tigers for having stripes and survival instincts. Those who think this film glorifies the drug trade should remember how Charles Cosby has turned his back on it and still lives in terror of Griselda's revenge.

Star wars, Godfather, and Cocaine Cowboy's the only movie's I can think of were the sequel is better than the original.

This movie fails in many ways but here are main ones

1)Its not Cocaine Cowboys. Its tries soooo hard to be like the first movie that it falls flat on its face.

2)Charles Cosby. Charles who? you may ask. the main character is unlikable and quite frankly not believable.

3)The story itself. I am sure there are parts that are real but I would venture to say alot of this junk is made up.

One the whole: unlike the first captivating movie this "sequel" is just a badly made rap video. There alot of segues that are blantant ripoffs of other movies-like the part Charles tells us the "art" of making crack--Cmon that almost right out of Menace to Society.

I like the story. I am from Cali, therefore I could relate to the area and what was going on at that time. They did not hold anything back. I show all my friend the movie when they came to visit.

sequels usually suck and "Hustlin' with the god mother" happens to be a perfect example of a producers desperate attempt to make a few extra dollars.

This feature sadly does not compare with the first part, what I saw is one drug dealer telling his story, how he wrote the God mother while she was in prison , how she fell in love with him because she thought he " was special" lol, how she helped him make a lot more money than he ever dreamed of making and how he got lucky and lived to tell his story , what a boring character.

I wouldn't have watched the entire feature if it wasn't this for Jorge "Rivi" Ayala, he is the only entertaining character here.

On a final note, This is not a documentary , its just a bunch of guys talking...

This is a follow up the first Cocaine Cowboys. Griselda Blanco 'The Godmother' was a very popular figure in the first movie and people wanted to know more about her. The sequel covers Charles Cosby's relationship with the Godmother and goes into her bio a bit. Although the documentary is good, it is not as good as the first Cocaine Cowboys. I was expecting to learn more than I already knew but I didn't. It's still worth watching, especially if you want to know more about Griselda Blanco. As always with Billy Corben movies, make sure you go through all the extras on the DVD and watch again with the commentary on.