Gang Related

This special limited edition J-card MediaBook slipcase (designed by El'Cesart) is limited to 3,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.

Note: this release is available to be purchased on its own, or bundled with a special Cinématographe Compact Mirror. This Limited Edition Slipcase + Compact Mirror bundle is limited to 100 units. (mirror size is about 2.75" x 2.75") (Sold Out)

Taking its name from the Lumière Brothers invention of the same name, Cinématographe is a new sub-label from Vinegar Syndrome that seeks to fill gaps in the canon of American cinema. Offering a mix of auteur driven studio films produced during the New Hollywood era of the late 1960s and 70s all the way through the indie boom of the 1980s and 90s, Cinématographe will explore the wide breadth of American moviemaking, spanning numerous genres and scales of production. Curated and produced by Vinegar Syndrome's Justin LaLiberty, each limited edition release will be housed in a specially designed, cloth-bound, media book with embossed foil titles and custom molded disc trays accompanied by a slipcase featuring newly commissioned art and an individually numbered J-card.

Los Angeles vice squad detectives, and partners, Jake Rodriguez (Tupac Shakur, Juice) and Frank Divinci (James Belushi, Red Heat), stage a faux drug deal with a drug trafficker that they end up murdering and robbing, taking his cash and drugs in the process. Upon turning in the stolen cocaine at their precinct, Rodriguez and Divinci are notified that the person they murdered wasn’t a lowly street criminal but, in fact, a DEA agent in deep cover, igniting a citywide search for those responsible for his murder. Now Rodriguez and Divinci have to find someone else to pin the murder on, before it’s too late. 

Written and directed by genre cinema stalwart Jim Kouf (Stakeout, The Hidden), GANG RELATED is an oft-overlooked entry in mid-90s crime cinema, anchored by an outstanding, would-be star-making, performance from hip hop star Tupac Shakur who would die only days after production wrapped, never able to see the final film. Shot on location on the streets of Los Angeles and featuring an eclectic ensemble cast that includes James Earl Jones, Dennis Quad, Lela Rochon, David Paymer, Gary Cole and rapper Kool Moe Dee, GANG RELATED is a vital time capsule of Los Angeles in the mid-90s as well as a potent swan song for Shakur. Cinématographe is proud to present Jim Kouf’s gritty, star-studded, police procedural in a new 4K restoration from its original negative, accompanied by hours of new extras.

directed by: Jim Kouf
starring: Jim Belushi, Tupac Shakur, Lela Rochon, Dennis Quaid, James Earl Jones, Gary Cole, Terrence 'T.C.' Carson, Wendy Crewson, Kool Moe Dee, Reggie Miller, David Paymer
1997 / 111 min / 2.35:1 / English DTS-HD MA 5.1, 2.0

Additional info:

• Region A Blu-ray
• New audio commentary with writer/director Jim Kouf and executive producer Lynn Bigelow-Kouf
• Sounds of a City - a new video interview with Jim Kouf and Lynn Bigelow-Kouf
• Dream Opportunity - a new video interview with producer and co-president of Orion Pictures, Brad Krevoy
• Staying In Business - a new video interview with producer Steven Stabler
• Shelf Life - a new video interview with executive in charge of music at Orion Pictures, Marcus Barone
• Dynamic In His Range - a new video conference with Jonathan Abrams, author of The Come-Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop, on the legacy of Tupac Shakur
• Archival Making Of Featurette
• Theatrical Trailer
• New text essays by film critics Quatoyiah Murry, Brandon Streussnig and Travis Woods
• English SDH subtitles