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Poster for Dead Presidents

Dead Presidents

In this daring heist, the only color that counts is green

1995 · 1h 59m · R Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller, War
Directed by Albert Hughes , Allen Hughes

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Overview

On the streets they call cash dead presidents. And that's just what a Vietnam veteran is after when he returns home from the war only to find himself drawn into a life of crime. With the aid of his fellow vets he plans the ultimate heist -- a daring robbery of an armored car filled with unmarked U.S. currency!

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
47%
Tomatometer
Fresh

Dead Presidents may eventually box itself into a narrative dead end, but its muscular engagement of weighty themes and explosive situations makes it a powerful drama.

Todd McCarthy, Variety
Rotten

Like those overreaching sophomore term papers we can all laugh at now, this disappointing film may free the Hughes brothers to move on to fresher, more inspired work.

Caryn James, New York Times
Rotten

It's an overly ambitious effort that strains to work as a coming-of-age drama, a 1960s period piece and a searing comment on the way African American GIs went largely unappreciated for their war efforts.

Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle
Rotten

What emerges is an uneasy blend of didacticism and juiced-up bloodletting (the brothers don't know when to stop with the exploding squibs) that bury the film's message and its good intentions.

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Fresh

Made with fluid skill and a passion for storytelling, its tale of how the Vietnam War and American society affect a black Marine remains accessible while confounding expectations.

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

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