Crash (2004)

Los Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption.

Director:

Paul Haggis

Writers:

Paul Haggis (story), Paul Haggis (screenplay)

Stars:

Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Thandie Newton

Won 3 Oscars. Another 64 wins & 111 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Karina Arroyave	...	Elizabeth
Dato Bakhtadze	...	Lucien
Sandra Bullock	...	Jean
Don Cheadle	...	Graham
Art Chudabala	...	Ken Ho
Sean Cory Cooper	...	Motorcycle Cop (as Sean Cory)
Tony Danza	...	Fred
Keith David	...	Lt. Dixon
Loretta Devine	...	Shaniqua
Matt Dillon	...	Officer Ryan
Jennifer Esposito	...	Ria
Ime Etuk	...	Georgie (as Ime N. Etuk)
Eddie J. Fernandez	...	Officer Gomez (as Eddie Fernandez)
William Fichtner	...	Flanagan
Howard Fong	...	Store Owner

Storyline

Over a thirty-six hour period in Los Angeles, a handful of disparate people's lives intertwine as they deal with the tense race relations that belie life in the city. Among the players are: the Caucasian district attorney, who uses race as a political card; his Caucasian wife, who, having recently been carjacked by two black men, believes that her stereotypical views of non-whites is justified and cannot be considered racism; the two black carjackers who use their race both to their advantage and as an excuse; partnered Caucasian police constables, one who is a racist and uses his authority to harass non-whites, and the other who hates his partner because of those racist views, but who may have the same underlying values in his subconscious; a black film director and his black wife, who believes her husband doesn't support their black background enough, especially in light of an incident with the racist white cop; partnered police detectives and sometimes lovers, one Hispanic female ...

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Plot Keywords:

racist | racism | race relations | stereotype | social problem | 

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Taglines:

It's not like things are black and white.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, sexual content and some violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

Germany USA

Language:

English Persian Spanish Mandarin Korean

Release Date:

6 May 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alto impacto

Filming Locations:

3500 S. Gaffey Street, San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$9,107,071 (USA) (6 May 2005)

Gross:

$54,557,348 (USA) (31 March 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bob Yari Productions, DEJ Productions, Blackfriars Bridge Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min 115 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lions Gate bought the distribution right to the film for $4 million at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival.

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Goofs

When Graham is investigating the Conklin shooting, the blood stain pattern and bullet hole position on the Mercedes window is different between the pan out view of the dead driver and when Graham approaches the vehicle and picks up the gun.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Graham: It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.

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Crazy Credits

The film's title isn't shown until all of the opening credits are completed.

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Connections

Referenced in Joey: Joey and the Critic (2006)

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Soundtracks

We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Traditional
Arrangement by Ronald A. Mendelsohn and John Carlo Dwyer
Published by JRM Music (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Megatrax Production Music, Inc.

User Reviews

Good Picture? Yes. Best Picture? No way.

I like this movie. It gives the viewer something to think about. It has a few outstanding performances (Matt Dillon, Ludicrous) and some weak performances (Ryan Phillipe). All that aside, this movie never departs from feeling didactic and --well--like you are being subjected to a moral tale.

Other movies have done this: If These Walls Could Talk, American History X, those safe driving videos I watched in drivers education years ago. It's not wrong for movies to solicit a morality. It's just difficult to escape that and find an artistic harbor, too. (I feel that American History X did a much better job getting cinema legs under it then Crash did, for that matter.)

Overall, this movie was good but never reached the free-wheeling levels of cinema brilliance that movies like Brokeback and Capote did this year. The "Academy" giving the nod to this movie is laughable and misguided. The academy's vote makes it painfully obvious that 3000 of the 4000 Academy members live in Los Angeles and don't think for themselves.