Dead Presidents

In 1968, Anthony Curtis, a soon-to-be high school graduate in The Bronx, chooses to enlist in the United States Marine Corps instead of going to college. He leaves behind his middle-class family, his girlfriend Juanita, and the guidance of Kirby, a small-time crook who acts as a second father. His decision sets him on a path into the brutal realities of war.

Anthony deploys to Vietnam with his Marine unit, stepping into a landscape shaped by ambushes and constant danger. He and his squad endure the losses of fellow Marines as the fighting intensifies. The moral weight of war begins to press on him and his comrades.

Skip, a close friend, later joins Curtis's Recon squad after dropping out of Hunter College, bringing loyalty and grit to the unit. Meanwhile, Jose is drafted into the U.S. Army, separating him from the rest of the group. Their separations intensify the bonds and tensions among the Marines.

In the heat of battle, Curtis's squad suffers the loss of several fellow Marines. The unit becomes entangled in brutal acts, including the execution of enemy prisoners and the beheading of Viet Cong corpses, revealing the dehumanizing toll of war. The line between survival and morality blurs for them.

After returning to the Bronx in 1973, Anthony finds civilian life nearly unrecognizable and nearly impossible to resume. The war's shadow lingers over him and his friends: Skip is an Agent Orange victim and a heroin addict; Jose wears a prosthetic hand and has become a pyromaniac who works as a postman; Cleon, once a hardened sergeant, has become a devoted minister in Mount Vernon.

Laid off from a butcher shop and tormented by PTSD nightmares, Anthony struggles to support his family. He grapples with anger, guilt, and a sense of dislocation that makes daily life feel hollow. His desperation drives him toward a reckless path that threatens everything he has left.

Anthony meets Delilah, Juanita's sister, who has joined the Nat Turner Cadre, a militant Black Power Marxist group. Their growing connection pulls him toward a risky plan for change. The personal and political pressures of their world push him toward crime as a supposed solution.

Anthony, Delilah, Kirby, Skip, Jose, and Cleon devise a plan to rob an armored car making a stop at the Noble Street Federal Reserve Bank. They position themselves around the street, armed and masked in face paint, intending to ambush the truck. The plan marks a turning point from personal desperation to outright crime.

The day of the robbery begins with tension as Cleon is approached by an NYPD officer who unintentionally alerts the others. Kirby is shot in the arm, Skip kills the officer, and a firefight erupts as Anthony and Jose confront the guards. Chaos ensues as the guards resist and the group struggles to gain the upper hand.

Jose plants an explosive on the escaping truck, but it detonates the vehicle rather than just the door. Delilah desperately saves Anthony but is killed by a guard as the pursuit intensifies. The wreckage and sirens force the group to scatter and flee into the city.

As the dust settles, Cleon is arrested; Skip is found dead from a heroin overdose during a police raid on his apartment; Anthony and Kirby attempt to flee but are cornered and captured. The ensemble's plan collapses, revealing the cost of their choices. The city closes in with the law and consequences echoing through the streets.

In court, Anthony's lawyer pleads for a fair sentence, noting his Marine service and earning a Silver Star. Anthony himself expresses remorse for the deaths caused by desperation and his trauma. The judge, a Marine veteran, sentences him to fifteen years to life, and Anthony throws a chair in fury as bailiffs escort him away. The final image shows him looking out the window of his prison bus.