He walked away from a lucrative career with The Dramatics to live a quiet life in Detroit, where he leads a church choir to this day. After surviving the brutality and murders that took place that night, Cleveland Larry Reed found God. Nearby are Larry Cleveland Reed (Algee Smith) and Fred Temple (Jacob Latimore), a wannabe Motown singer and his best friend respectively. Verdict: “Detroit” tells the true story of the riots that occurred in Detroit in 1967 and that of the tragic event that occurred at the Algiers … Ironically, one of the number one songs of 1967 was Aretha Franklin’s “ R.E.S.P.E.C.T!.” The movie does give a backstory about the music group, “The Dramatics.” The lead singer Larry Cleveland Reed played by Algee Smith left the group after he endured hours of brutality and terrorism by the Detroit police officers. I was hoping for all the prejudice I could get. Jacob Latimore – Fred. Algee Smith – Larry Cleveland Reed. The one person who viewers get the closest profile of is Cleveland Larry Reed of the pre-fame Dramatics singing group. Saginaw’s Algee Smith, who portrayed real-life Detroiter Larry Cleveland Reed, said he doesn’t see much difference between he and his character, a … Larry Cleveland Reed ‘Detroit’ offends Detroit September 5, 2017. Boal also referred to contemporaneous newspaper accounts and his own present-day interviews with people like ... started with a man named Cleveland — Cleveland Larry Reed. Jack Reynor – Officer Demens. By the end, the emotional core of the film is Larry "Cleveland" Reed," a man with an incredible singing voice who was so traumatized by his night at the Algiers that it altered the course of his life. In Detroit, Algee Smith plays Larry Cleveland Reed, the lead singer in a popular up-and-coming singing group called The Dramatics, who had booked a room for the night at the Algiers Motel for himself and his close friend, Fred Temple (Jacob Latimore), in order to get them off the streets during curfew. When Larry’s big debut at the Fox Theatre is scuttled because of the riot outside the theatre’s doors he Fred head to the Algiers, a nearby hotel, “until all this slows down.” It's providential for the filmmakers that Reed was at the Algiers Motel. Reed's life changed forever in 1967 during the Detroit riots when he and others were detained by police at the Algiers Motel. Cleveland Larry Reed was in the Algiers Motel during the night portrayed in Detroit, having escaped the riots to seek what he imagined would be refuge. [14] Security guard Melvin Dismukes was guarding a store across the street from the Algiers. Anthony Mackie – Greene. The promising career of Larry Cleveland Reed, the lead teenaged singer for the Dramatics, was completely derailed as he is caught up in the night of torture at the Algiers and witnesses his best friend Fred murdered.