White Boy Rick (2018) on Netflix
In Detroit, fifteen-year-old Rick Wershe Jr. sells guns alongside his father, Richard Wershe Sr. Federal agents threaten his father and press the teenager to work for them as an informant.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.5/1049,463 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes57%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1980s Detroit, Richard Wershe Sr. deals guns on the side and keeps talking about a video rental store he wants to open, and his son Rick Wershe Jr., fifteen, tags along. Rick sells a pair of silenced AK-47s to Johnny Curry's crew and begins running with the gang at the roller rink and at Curry's wedding. Then FBI agents Alex Snyder and Frank Byrd come to the family with what they know about the illegal silencers. The silenced rifles, they tell Rick, were used in a murder, and the agents want him to make drug buys and gather evidence against the gang. If he refuses, his father goes to prison.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Lawrence Adimoraas Tyler
- Brian Bowmanas Hanserd crew
- James Howardas Chief Homicide Inspector Hill
- Raekwon Haynesas Edwin 'Nugg' Crutcher
- Ishmael Alias 'Freaky Steve' Roussell (as Ishmael 'Ishdarr' Ali)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about White Boy Rick (2018)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- White Boy Rick is loosely based on Richard Wershe Jr., who in the 1980s became the youngest FBI informant in the bureau's history, at the age of 14.
- After test screenings had the film scoring in the 90s with audiences, director Yann Demange was given approval to go back and shoot additional scenes before release.
SPOILER
The real Ricky Wershe Jr. served more than 30 years in prison, the longest sentence ever given to a non-violent offender in Michigan, before being paroled in 2017; his father had died three years earlier, in 2014.
