Richard Stratton is an award-winning writer and filmmaker. His feature film work includes writing and producing SLAM, which won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance and the Camera d'Or at Cannes. For the 25th anniversary of SLAM, the film was digitally remastered and screened on opening weekend at Sundance 2023. Stratton also wrote and produced the feature film Whiteboyz for Fox Searchlight. His documentary film credits include in 2018 Gotti: Godfather and Son, a four-part series he directed and executive produced for A&E based on his magazine article, Godfather and Son for which he won the New York Press Club award. America's War on Drugs aired on the History channel in 2017. The Execution Machine: Texas Death Row, Thug Life in D.C., which won an Emmy in 1999, and Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder; all produced for the America Undercover series on HBO. He produced the documentary, Crude which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 and has won numerous awards around the world including the Peace Prize at the Berlin Film festival in 2010. Stratton was the creator, executive producer and showrunner of the dramatic TV series Street Time, which aired on Showtime. He wrote and directed The Whole Truth, the Season Two finale of Street Time. His fiction and journalism have appeared in numerous magazines including GQ, Esquire, Details, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Spin, Playboy and Story Magazine. He has written several books including Altered States of America: Outlaws and Icons, Hitmakers and Hitmen. Smuggler's Blues: A True Story of the Hippie Mafia, published in 2016, and Kingpin: Prisoner of The War on Drugs published in 2017. In February, 2020 the third volume of the trilogy, In The World: From The Big House to Hollywood was released. That was followed by DEFENDING ALICE, a novel of love and race in the roaring Twenties, published worldwide by Harper Collins on November 22, 2022. Stratton has appeared as an actor in Wall Street 2:Money Never Sleeps and other films. He lives in New York with his wife Antoinette, and is the father of five children.
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Biography from IMDb.
- Actor, producer, writer and director
- 5 on MovieCove · 7 credits in all
What are Richard Stratton's films like?
Across a limited sample of 4 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 1 · Wry 0 · Earnest 2
A split, not a type: Light 0 · Serious 1 · Dark 2
Grounded 2 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 2 · Intense 1
Steady 0 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 2 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 0
Casual 1 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 0 · Affecting 3 · Heavy 0
Resolved 0 · Open-ended 2 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Richard Stratton's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 3 of their 5 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
- discovery+
Subscription and free streaming for Richard Stratton's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
7 credits, 5 with a MovieCove page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.
Gotti: Godfather and Son(2018)
Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all shows
The Perfect Murder(2014)
Midcredits score: 39th percentile of all shows
River of Fundament (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)
Crude (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2009)
Wendigo(2001)
Midcredits score: 20th percentile of all films
Whiteboyz(1999)
Midcredits score: 33rd percentile of all films
Slam(1998)
Midcredits score: 83rd percentile of all films
Career shape
A full career of 7 titles from 1998 to 2018.
Film career
- 1998Screen debut· Slam
How do Richard Stratton's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 33rd percentile, the median of all 3; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 33rd percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up2
- 25th to 49th2
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
2 of their 5 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser2
- Mixed2
Reviewers score the acting 71/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 82, detractors 45. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Richard Stratton work with?
People who share at least 2 of Richard Stratton's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Mark Benjamin shares the most, 3.
Directors
- Marc LevinShared titles: Whiteboyz (1999), Slam (1998)See all 2 shared titles with Marc Levin
Cinematographers and editors
- Mark BenjaminShared titles: Gotti: Godfather and Son (2018), Whiteboyz (1999), Slam (1998)See all 3 shared titles with Mark Benjamin
- Emir LewisShared titles: Whiteboyz (1999), Slam (1998)See all 2 shared titles with Emir Lewis
Producers
- David PeipersShared titles: Whiteboyz (1999), Slam (1998)See all 2 shared titles with David Peipers
- Henri M. KesslerShared titles: Whiteboyz (1999), Slam (1998)See all 2 shared titles with Henri M. Kessler
