Menace II Society



""Went into the store just to get a beer. Came out an accessory to murder and armed robbery. It's funny like that in the hood sometimes. You never knew what was gonna happen, or when. After that I knew it was gonna be a long summer.""

Menace II Society is a 1993 urban drama directed by the Hughes Brothers (in their debut). Along with Boyz N the Hood, it is one of the defining films of the early '90s and helped popularize the urban crime drama.

The story centers around a street life thug named Caine and his friend O-Dog living in the streets of Crenshaw. Caine is a thug with a heart, and the opportunity to succeed, if the streets will let him. With a father that dealt heroin and a mother who was addicted to it, he had no chance as a child, and went to live with his grandparents. After graduating high school, a feat that none of his friends pulled off, he had choices to make, and although his heart was in the right place, he was stuck in the wrong time. Watch as he struggles with car jackings, murdered friends, taking care of a single mother and her son, and a question that burns in the back of his mind, asked by his grandfather. 'Do you want to live or die?' is the simple choice his grandfather put out to him...but the answer doesn't come until it's too late. A few critics consider this a cynical antithesis to Boyz N the Hood.

"Stacy: Let me guess: You was up in there knocking it out, huh? Caine: Stay out of my business, Stace. Stacy: How?"
 * Anyone Can Die
 * Arc Words: "Do you care whether you live or die?"
 * Asian Store Owner: The opening scene features Caine and O-Dog stopping by a convenience store to get some beer. The Asian store owner and his wife treat them with such suspicion and rudeness that O-Dog snaps and murders them both.
 * Did You Just Have Sex?: Happens in this scene during a domino game in which Stacy asks about what happened between Caine and Ronnie:

- In the Bowdlerised TV version it's "Playing House."


 * Dying Dream: At the end of the film, Caine is thinking about his life as, and it's at this point that we realize (if you consider this interpretation of the film) that
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: "What the hell did you say about my mama?!"
 * Famous Last Words:
 * Hair-Trigger Temper: O-Dog, who could accurately be described as a black, slightly more trigger-happy version of Tommy DeVito. After killing the said Asian Store Owner couple mentioned above, he steals the surveillance tape and proudly plays it for his friends on numerous occasions, much to Caine's chagrin.
 * Hollywood California: Specifically, Watts.
 * Letters 2 Numbers: Obvious.
 * Malcolm Xerox: Sharif, though he's not depicted badly - he's just disregarded by his troubled criminal friends. Although there's a lot of cynicism that can be picked up from the way he is written, especially how other characters treat him (even his dad!).
 * The Nineties
 * Scary Black Man: The quietly terrifying detective played by Bill Duke.
 * The Seventies: Only taking place in Caine's flashback in the beginning of the movie.
 * Sociopathic Hero: O-Dog, though it's pretty hard to define him as "heroic".
 * Scary Black Man: The quietly terrifying detective played by Bill Duke.
 * The Seventies: Only taking place in Caine's flashback in the beginning of the movie.
 * Sociopathic Hero: O-Dog, though it's pretty hard to define him as "heroic".