American Gun (2005)

Seemingly disparate portraits of people -- among them a single mother, a high school principal, and an ace student -- Distinctly American -- all affected by the proliferation of guns in American society.

Director:

Aric Avelino

Writers:

Steven Bagatourian, Aric Avelino

Stars:

Marcia Gay Harden, Forest Whitaker, Donald Sutherland

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Janet Huttenson
Forest Whitaker	...	Carter
Donald Sutherland	...	Carl Wilk
Lisa Long	...	Sandra Cohen
Chris Warren Jr.	...	Marcus
David Heymann	...	Producer
Chris Marquette	...	David Huttenson
Amanda Seyfried	...	Mouse
Nikki Reed	...	Tally
Joseph Kell	...	Security Guard
Tony Goldwyn	...	Frank
Rex Linn	...	Earl
Kevin Phillips	...	Reggie
Davenia McFadden	...	Felicia
Linda Cardellini	...	Mary Ann Wilk

Storyline

A series of interwoven story lines brings to light how the proliferation of guns in America dramatically influence and shape every day lives. A gun shop owner, an ace student, a single mother, and a school principal are among those profoundly affected.

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Plot Keywords:

gun | single mother | student | school | school principal | 

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Taglines:

One nation under fire.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violent content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 March 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pesadelo Americano

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$9,355 (USA) (24 March 2006)

Gross:

$24,030 (USA) (26 May 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

IFC Films, Participant Productions, Spirit Dance Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While shooting scenes with Forest Whitaker and 'Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon' in an LA neighborhood, the arrival of Britney Spears halted production. She was visiting a friend in the house next door, trailed by several shouting paparazzi photographers.

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Goofs

Jay buys a toy gun and a can of spray paint from the store. In actuality, spray paint is not sold in the city of Chicago.

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Connections

References Dragon Ball Z (1989)

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Soundtracks

"The Good Stuff"
Written by Schuyler Fisk and Dave Bassett
Performed by Schuyler Fisk
Courtesy of Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

one of the few

I watched Crash. I thought it was decent. Oscar worthy? Absolutely not. I watched Babel. I thought it was absolutely terrible. If you go to the comments on that movie, you will find what I wrote about it. I watched Magnolia. Another decent type of these, but nothing I would watch over again. All of these movies got quite a bit of notice. Whether they deserved it or not, I don't really know.

But what I do know is that American Gun deserved some serious attention. This movie, which clearly had a lower budget than all of those other movies, was the greatest film of the multiple stories genre.

Maybe it's just because I don't consider "racism bad" a good enough message in a movie for the past two decades (except American History X); I think gun violence, especially in high schools, is one of the most important issues in our country. This movie just managed to get under my skin and rip out emotion from me a lot better than most movies I have seen. This movie should have received the Oscar that Crash won. It was completed before Crash. Forrest Whitaker alone is better than every actor and actress in Crash combined.

Few films pull off the loosely connected people style very well. It annoys me when a movie filled with A-list celebrities gets noticed because of it. American Gun is one of the few that didn't get that notice and deserved it.