Juice

Juice is a 1992 American crime thriller film directed by Ernest R. Dickerson and written by Dickerson and Gerard Brown. It stars Omar Epps, Tupac Shakur, Jermaine Hopkins and Khalil Kain. The film touches on the lives of four black youths growing up in Harlem, following their day-to-day activities, their struggles with police harassment, rival neighborhood gangs and their families. The film is the writing and directing debut of Dickerson and features Shakur in his acting debut. The film was shot in New York City, mainly in the Harlem area, in 1991. Plot Roland Bishop, Quincy "Q" Powell, Raheem Porter, and Eric "Steel" Thurman are four teenage African-American friends growing up together in Harlem. They regularly skip school, instead spending their days hanging out at Steel's apartment, at a neighborhood arcade, and also a record store where they steal LPs for Q's DJ interests. They are also harassed daily by the police and a Puerto Rican gang led by Radames. Fed up with the harassment he and his friends have endured, Bishop decides that the group must go on to do bigger things in order to win respect. However, Q is unsure if he wants to become involved in a life of crime. One night, under Bishop's persistence, the friends decide to rob a local convenience store owned by Fernando Quiles.