American History X

K

kirstyyy :)

New member
I just watched this on BBC 2 for the first time and thought it was fantastic and i think i'll buy it on DVD.

Anybody else see it?

(BTW, when did Edward Norton get that body? I think i'll be buying the DVD, pausing it and zooming in on certain scenes.)
 
Saw it a while back on dvd and thought it was a fantastic flick. Edward Furlong was really good in it too but the scene with Norton making the guy bite the curb and...........you know what still makes me feel uneasy.
 
American History X is awesome. Ed Furlong has pure talent and so does norton. its a real hard hitting film especially the curb bit.
 
Excellent film - one I wouldn't normally choose to watch because of the subject matter - a subject that upsets me greatly. However, glad I chose to watch this, I thought it was very a brave & hard hitting film.
 
I heard somewhere that the director washed his hanRAB off the film because he didn't get final cut, so it's not "his vision". If true I wonder how different it would be, because the film is already excellent with great performances from all the cast. I especially liked Jennifer Lien in it, completely different from her charcter on Star Trek : Voyager.
 
I was pretty annoyed with myself, 2 days before it was on BBC2 my friend told me I should really watch that movie, but when it was on I was far too tired to watch a movie like that! i really wished I had watched it!
 
The director - Tony Kaye - was very unhappy that the studio - New Line - saw fit to a) re-edit Kaye's submitted cut of the film without his consultation or approval, and b) allowed Ed Norton into the editing studio to offer his input. Kaye alledged that the released version was substantially different to the one he had submitted, and that Norton's role was now bigger than it originally was, and that he (Kaye) wanted his name remove from the film. As his name still appears he obviously failed to persuade New Line to do this. He then went on to sue New Line, for failing to protect his rights as the director when they allowed Norton into the editing suite, and his 'union' the DGA for refusing to even hear his case for having his name removed. One of the cavets of both lawsuits was that they were conducted in absolute secrecy, so I've know idea how they turned out.
 
Ive had this film on DVD for years and its one of my favourites. The acting is second to none, especially from Norton who I believe should have got an Oscar for this role. Yeah the subject matter is hard and the curb scene is horrible but its all done very well without being too gratuitious. The thing that shocked me though when I first watched it was how far I agreed with the arguments that Derrick was putting forward, especially prior to the attack on the store and round the table during the meal. Obviously the action his group takes in support of these arguments is vile and should never be allowed to happen, but it makes you think...
 
There's more about this from the director himself in this short interview (http://www.kamera.co.uk/interviews/kaye.html) - interestingly, I do agree with him that Ed Norton never really played the evil villain role quite to par (although he did do a bloody good job trying).
I still think that the real star of the film is Furlong, who does the 'could go either way' role perfectly.
 
It's one of my favourties. If you liked that examinus I highly recommend an Australian film, with a similar theme, called Romper Stomper. One of Russell Crowe's Aussie movies before he hit the big time. :)
 
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