American History X (1998)

A former neo-nazi skinhead tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did.

Director:

Tony Kaye

Writer:

David McKenna

Stars:

Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo

Top Rated Movies #38 | Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Edward Norton	...	Derek Vinyard
Edward Furlong	...	Danny Vinyard
Beverly D'Angelo	...	Doris Vinyard
Jennifer Lien	...	Davina Vinyard
Ethan Suplee	...	Seth Ryan
Fairuza Balk	...	Stacey
Avery Brooks	...	Dr. Bob Sweeney
Elliott Gould	...	Murray
Stacy Keach	...	Cameron Alexander
William Russ	...	Dennis Vinyard
Guy Torry	...	Lamont
Joe Cortese	...	Rasmussen
Jason Bose Smith	...	Little Henry (as Jason Bose-Smith)
Antonio David Lyons	...	Lawrence
Alex Sol	...	Mitch McCormick

Storyline

Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for brutally killing two black men who tried to break into/steal his truck. Through his brother's, Danny Vineyard, narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L.A. and his actions greatly influenced Danny. Reformed and fresh out of prison, Derek severs contact with the gang and becomes determined to keep Danny from going down the same violent path as he did.

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Plot Keywords:

neo nazi | prison | hatred | racism | jail | 

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Taglines:

Deux frères unis par la haine, dechires par la verite. (Two brothers united by hatred, torn by the truth.) (French DVD)

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for graphic brutal violence including rape, pervasive language, strong sexuality and nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

The work-print is 18 minutes shorter than the theatrical version.

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Goofs

When Derek and Danny are in the dining room, after Derek mades Seth leave the room, Danny's cigarette length changes from long to short, then to long again when Derek makes him put it out.

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Quotes

Danny Vinyard: [arguing about his "Mein Kampf" paper] Look Sweeney, did you bring me here to talk about Derek? Because what happened to him has nothing to do with me.
Bob Sweeney: Everything you do right now has something to do with Derek.

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Alternate Versions

The version released with the certificate 'A' (Certificate #CFL/3/81/1999-MUM) in the city of Mumbai, India, the following was deleted:

• During the sex scene between Derek and Stacey, Stacy's bare breasts were deleted.
• Every instance of the word 'Motherfucker' was deleted.
• The closeup of Derek forcing Lawrence to put his mouth on the curb was cut.
• The nudity was cut and 50% of the rape of Derek was cut.

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Connections

Referenced in WatchMojo: Top 10 Alternate Versions of Movies That May Exist (2020)

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Soundtracks

The White Man Marches On
by Johnny Rebel
[To the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic.]

User Reviews

Beautiful film about how hatred will never resolve the problem

The tragedy of evil is that in trying to stop it, you create it. So if you want to stop doing evil actions, you also have to stop seeing evil because to see evil you must project evil... therefore, you create evil. If you genuinely want to be moral, you got to make a counterintuitive move of giving up all morality. All of your moral rules give them all away. Only then you will truly be moral but if you go around touting your morality, and telling people how moral you are and how immoral they are, that immediately tells that you're not embodying your morality. A genuinely moral person would never do that because true morality is not based on rules, it's not a self-image that you adopt, it's not a list of 10 commandments that you follow. When you think you're so righteous and so moral, you will go and kill people in the name of your morality which is precisely what creates evil.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 November 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

American History X

Filming Locations:

2206 Meade Place, Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$156,076, 1 November 1998

Gross USA:

$6,719,864

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$23,875,127

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Savoy Pictures, The Turman-Morrissey Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min 101 min (workprint)

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1