The Young Americans (1993)

Director:

Danny Cannon

Writers:

Danny Cannon (writer) &
David Hilton (writer)

Release Date:

8 October 1993 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

London Is Not Only Losing Her Soul To The Americans, She's Selling It.

Plot:

The London police is having trouble with organized crime commited by juvenile delinquents. Their leader...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Gangster | Rave Culture | Police Motorcycle | Club Life

Cast

Harvey Keitel	...	John Harris
Iain Glen	...	Edward Foster
John Wood	...	Richard Donnelly
Terence Rigby	...	Sidney Callow
Keith Allen	...	Jack Doyle
Craig Kelly	...	Christian O'Neill
Thandie Newton	...	Rachael Stevens
Viggo Mortensen	...	Carl Frazer
Dave Duffy	...	Louis Carnegie
Geoffrey McGivern	...	Brian Carver
Nigel Clauzel	...	Lionel Stevens
Huggy Leaver	...	Mark Byrne
Dig Wayne	...	Gary Washington
Christopher Adamson	...	Billy Cohen (as Chris Adamson)
James Duggan	...	Dermot O'Neill
Anna Keaveney	...	Katie Arnold
John Forgeham	...	Detective Gray
Clifford Predgen	...	Detective Clark
David Doyle	...	Robert Dean
Norman Roberts	...	Dwayne Henry
Femi Akinyeni	...	Young American
John Brobbey	...	Young American
Miles Petit	...	Young American
Karina Cryer	...	Party Prostitute
Nick Burnell	...	Frank Pierce
Phil Lonagan	...	Pierce's Bodyguard
Toni Palmer	...	Pierce's Widow
Joan Hooley	...	Lionel's Mother
Adrian Lucas	...	Doctor
Rachel Teasdale	...	Nurse #1
Samantha Lambley	...	Nurse #2
Steve Aston	...	Inspector
Fleur Taylor	...	Junkie
Daniel Kruyer	...	Pat
Jean Elton	...	Market Prostitute
Zoe Anastasis	...	Rachael's Friend
Diana Lee Barra	...	Rachael's Friend
Jo Hildon	...	Rachael's Friend
George Arnold	...	Wedding Band
Leslie Arnold	...	Wedding Band
David Arnold	...	Wedding Band
Paul Cullen	...	Wedding Band
Kieran Skinner	...	Wedding Band
Ferrelyn Wilson-Apperson	...	Mayfair Party
Julie Lewis	...	Mayfair Party
Joanna Green	...	Mayfair Party
Eva Bjertnes	...	Mayfair Party
John Sandford	...	Mayfair Party
Matthew Marsden	...	Mayfair Party
Darren Kandler	...	Mayfair Party
Michael Cullen	...	Mayfair Party
Damian Busby	...	Mayfair Party
Andrew Martin	...	Mayfair Party
Linda Hassani	...	Sam Harris

Directed by
Danny Cannon

Writing credits
Danny Cannon		(writer) &
David Hilton		(writer)

Produced by
Andrea M. Franden	....	associate producer
Richard N. Gladstein	....	executive producer
Philippe Maigret	....	executive producer
Alison Owen	....	producer
Paul Trijbits	....	producer
Ronna B. Wallace	....	executive producer

Original Music by
David Arnold
Björk

Cinematography by
Vernon Layton

Film Editing by
Alex Mackie

Casting by
Sheila Trezise

Production Design by
Laurence Dorman

Art Direction by
Neil Lamont

Costume Design by
Howard Burden

Makeup Department
Harriet Barnett	....	assistant hair stylist
Harriet Barnett	....	assistant makeup artist
Fae Hammond	....	hair & make-up designer
Fae Hammond	....	makeup artist
Belinda Parish	....	chief hair stylist (as Bindy Parrish)
Belinda Parish	....	chief makeup artist (as Bindy Parrish)

Production Management
Nicky Kentish Barnes	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Marcus Catlin	....	second assistant director
Waldo Roeg	....	first assistant director
Matthew Sharp	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Mark Allett	....	stand-by props
Michael Biesty	....	carpenter
Steve Bohan	....	painter
Hugo Brackenbury	....	dressing props
Bill Brown	....	painter
Ron Burkett	....	chargehand
Roy Cannon	....	set dresser
Penny Crawford	....	props buyer
Frank Delaney	....	stand-by stagehand
Andy Evans	....	construction manager
Ian Green	....	chargehand
Michael Gunner	....	painter
Robin Heinson	....	painter
Jonathan Hurst	....	props
Jon Jones	....	assistant art director
Thomas Martin	....	carpenter
Thomas McCarthy	....	carpenter (as Tom McCarthy)
Wesley Peppiatt	....	stand-by props
David Pierce	....	stand-by carpenter
Alfred Pulis	....	painter
Natalie Spencer	....	art department assistant
Ty Teiger	....	property master
Stuart Williams	....	carpenter

Sound Department
Jack Armstrong	....	boom operator
Michael Feinberg	....	foley editor
Victor Garrick	....	sound trainee
Victor Garrick	....	sound
Diane Greaves	....	foley artist (as Dianne Greaves)
Leonard Green	....	assistant sound editor
Paul Hamblin	....	dubbing mixer
Danny Hambrook	....	sound editor
Eddy Joseph	....	supervising sound editor
Clive Pendry	....	assistant dubbing mixer
Trevor Rutherford	....	sound mixer: second unit
Jack Stew	....	foley artist
Budge Tremlett	....	adr editor
Clive Winter	....	sound recordist
Steve Hancock	....	sound camera operator (uncredited)

Special Effects by
John Fontana	....	special effects crew
Tom Harris	....	special effects supervisor
Paul Kelly	....	special effects crew
Will Kinder	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Janek Sirrs	....	digital artist
Pete Hanson	....	studio manager: CFC (uncredited)

Stunts
Terry Forrestal	....	stunt coordinator
Terry Forrestal	....	stunts
Phil Lonergan	....	stunts
Wayne Michaels	....	stunts
Tip Tipping	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Ken Ashley-Johnson	....	grip
David Budd	....	focus puller
Danny Cannon	....	second assistant camera
Adrian Dann	....	assistant camera
Kevin Edland	....	electrician
Gavin Finney	....	camera operator
Stephane Gripari	....	still photographer
Finn Hardaker	....	trainee electrician
Jerry Higgins	....	rigger
Ossie Jung	....	gaffer
Jonathan Lambert	....	focus puller
Gary Owen	....	electrician
Chris Polden	....	generator operator
Tony Rubini	....	stand-by rigger
Andy Shuttleworth	....	Steadicam operator

Casting Department
Louis DiGiaimo	....	casting: US (as Lou Di Giamo)
Katy Whiteley	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Melinda Eshelman	....	wardrobe supervisor: US (as Mindy Eshelman)
Verity Hawkes	....	wardrobe mistress
Jo Richard	....	wardrobe assistant
Jill Shaw	....	wardrobe assistant

Editorial Department
Victoria Boydell	....	second assistant editor
Richard Broome	....	trainee assistant editor
Martyn Robinson	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Sharon Boyle	....	music supervisor
Nicholas Dodd	....	orchestrator
Mike Ross-Trevor	....	music mixer

Transportation Department
Roy A. Grace	....	driver
Chris Streeter	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Muriel Abehsera	....	assistant to producer
Erica Bensly	....	production coordinator
Terry Blyther	....	location manager
John Clements	....	stand-in
Justin Davies	....	production runner
Marilla Elliott	....	location manager (as Marilla Elliot)
Paul Fennelly	....	assistant accountant
Andrea M. Franden	....	publicist
Jane Frazer	....	head of production: Working Title
Michael Garland	....	production accountant
Tony Robinson	....	armorer
Scott Rowlatt	....	assistant location manager
William J. Turner	....	assistant to director
Sheila Wilson	....	script supervisor
Ante Novakovic	....	assistant: Harvey Keitel (uncredited)

Production Companies

• PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
• StudioCanal (with the participation of)
• Working Title Films

Distributors

• REP Distribution (1994) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Rank Film Distributors (1993) (UK) (theatrical)
• Cannes (1994) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1994) (UK) (video)
• First Release Home Entertainment (1995) (Australia) (video)
• Magna Pacific (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• TV2 Norge (2009) (Norway) (TV)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2008) (Australia) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Any Effects
• Computer Film Company, The (CFC) (slow down effect)

Other Companies

• AFM Lighting  lighting equipment
• De Lane Lea Sound Centre  sound re-recorded at
• Good Eating Company  catering
• Grip House  grip equipment
• Morris Angel  costumes
• Salon Productions  editing equipment
• Sammy's  camera equipment
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services
• Sylvia Wheeler Film Services  negative cutting
• The Optical Partnership  titles and opticals

Also Known As:

Runtime:

Brazil:104 min | UK:103 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:M | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Finland:K-16 | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Hungary:18 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Jacob Street Studios, Jacob Street, Bermondsey, London, England, UK

Company:

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

Trivia:

During one of the club scenes, a remix of Nine Inch Nails' "Gave Up" is playing. This version has never been released officially or unofficially and the only know fragment can be heard in this movie. It appears to be an alteration of the remix found on NIN's EP "Fixed."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kicking and Screaming (1995)

Soundtrack:

Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury

A fine debut for Danny Cannon - but what happened . . . ?

There's a couple of stories (possibly apocryphal) about how Cannon's career was launched, one story is that respected film Director Alan Parker, saw a short film he made on a BBC amateur film-making programme and, impressed with what he saw, immediately phoned the BBC so he could get in touch with Cannon - which he apparently did, Parker then supposedly recommended him to a prestigious film school...

The other story is that Danny Cannon's father is a top studio executive and that nepotism was the way he started.

Either way, Cannon's debut film was an interesting little movie with big aspirations - at the time British films tended to be almost always socio-political, so-called worthy films, usually about the social underclass - remember this was 1993 and just before Richard Curtis invented the Britsh Rom-Com...

What the film lacks in terms of story (Cannon was Co-Writer) it makes up for in sheer film-making skill - The Young Americans is a beautiful-looking movie.

It's a film that belies it's VERY low-budget, and looks like a much more expensive piece.

Danny Cannon displays an almost Ridley Scott like style in the care he takes with the look of the film, and the careful, unhurried pacing, he is aided in his efforts by excellent Anamorphic 2.35:1 photography from D.P. Vernon Layton - giving The Young Americans a rich, almost sumptuous look, for what, on the surface, is a gritty urban crime thriller.

A special mention should be made for Composer David Arnold and his beautiful, almost tragic Music Score - of course he went on to bigger things: Stargate, Independence Day, the Bond movies - Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, plus Zoolander, Changing Lanes, The Stepford Wives and the upcoming Ghost Rider, and another Bond - Casino Royale.

Personally, I thought Danny Cannon's career might have amounted to something more substantial that just 3 feature films.

These films include the badly mis-judged(!) Stallone vehicle Judge Dredd and the horror sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer - not sure how the latter film fared at the box-office (though I suspect not good!)

I DO know that Judge Dredd was a BIG financial and critical failure - Cannon got the film right after The Young Americans, tiny budget to mega budget - could this be a case of Cannon running before he could walk?

Of course Danny Cannon has found considerable success as an Executive/Supervising Producer, occasional Writer and sometimes Director on the 3 hit CSI TV series from Jerry Bruckhiemer - this in itself is no mean feat, but I do feel Cannon's potential as a Director of Feature Films has gone largely untapped and that he could have made a more substantial career if he'd stayed in Movies.

Hear he's got a Soccer movie in the works, let's hopes that this is a return to features for an underrated and talented Director.

Lata.