American History X ~ Celebrity

American History X is a 1998 American drama film directed by Tony Kaye and starringEdward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo and Avery Brooks. It was distributed by New Line Cinema.

The film tells the story of two brothers, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) and Daniel "Danny" Vinyard (Edward Furlong) of Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California. Both are intelligent and charismatic students. Their father, a firefighter, is murdered by a black drug dealer while trying to extinguish a fire in a South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles, and Derek is drawn into theneo-Nazi movement. Derek brutally kills two black gang members whom he catches in the act of breaking into the truck left to him by his father, and is sentenced to three years in prison forvoluntary manslaughter. The story shows how Danny is influenced by his older brother's actions and ideology and how Derek, now radically changed by his experience in incarceration, tries to prevent his brother from going down the same path as he did. The film is told in the style ofnonlinear narrative.

David McKenna scripted the film and shooting took place in Los Angeles, California. The film was released in the United States on October 30, 1998 and went on to gross over $23 million at the international box office. It was given an "R" rating by the MPAA for "graphic brutal violence including rape, pervasive language, strong sexuality and nudity". Critics mostly praised the film and Edward Norton was given an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. It was also named by Empire magazine in September 2008 as the 311th Greatest Movie of All Time.

Plot

Flashbacks throughout the film show Derek's transformation into a vengeful white supremacist in Venice Beach. Having already been influenced by his firefighter father's latent racism, Derek is driven to action when his father is shot and killed while fighting a fire in a suspected Compton drug den. Eventually Derek becomes second-in-command of a neo-Nazi street gang, The D.O.C., and entices young whites to join. The gang commits acts of intimidation, such as damaging a store owned by a Korean and challenging black players to basketball games to win the court as turf. These incidents go unnoticed by the family until Derek has an argument (involving Rodney King) with his mother's friend Murray who is Jewish. Later that night while Derek is having sex with his girlfriend Stacey (Fairuza Balk), Danny informs Derek that three black men are attempting to steal Derek's dad's truck. Derek runs outside and shoots at the two of the men with a pistol, killing the first one instantly. He shoots and wounds the second man, one of the black basketball players, and vows to "teach him a lesson" for trying to steal the truck his father gave him. He forces him to put his mouth on the curb, then brutally kills him with a curb-stomp. Danny watches in horror as this unfolds. The police arrest Derek as he smiles at a shocked Danny.

After being convicted of voluntary manslaughter, Derek is sentenced to three years at the California Institution for Men in Chino.^[1] There he joins the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. After about a year, he becomes disillusioned with the gang, especially over the group's friendly dealings with a Mexican prison gang member. When he voices these opinions, he is ignored by the other white supremacists. Derek decides to no longer associate with them when he befriends a black prison inmate, Lamont (Guy Torry). His fellow neo-Nazis take notice before they savagely beat and rape him in the shower in retaliation for Derek's leaving the gang.

While still recovering from the attack, Derek is visited by Dr. Sweeney, whom he asks for help to be paroled. Sweeney informs him of Danny's aspiration to become a neo-Nazi like Derek. Sweeney confides in Derek that he used to hate white people as a youth, and he realized that racism is pointless. Sweeney asserts that Derek has spent his life pursuing answers, and then asks: "Has anything you've done made your life better?" This proves a turning point for Derek, who further distances himself from the Aryan Brotherhood and changes his outlook on life. Lamont emerges as Derek's only true friend in prison, and is part of the reason Derek stays alive as he uses what influence he has to stop the black prisoners from hurting Derek. ^[2]

[edit]Three years later

The morning Derek is due to be released from prison, Danny's history teacher Murray reports Danny to the now principal Dr. Sweeney on account of Danny's history paper on Mein Kampf, Hitler's autobiography. Dr. Sweeney convinces Murray to give him another chance. He tells Danny that he will no longer attend Murray's class, and every day Dr. Sweeney will teach Danny history, a class they will call American History X. For their first lesson Dr. Sweeney asks Danny to write a new paper on the events leading up to Derek's incarceration. Danny reluctantly agrees after Sweeney threatens expulsion. In the evening when Derek returns home, he finds that Danny has become a white power skinhead and then tries and fails to convince him to leave the gang. Later that night at a neo-Nazi party which Derek and Danny are both attending (despite the fact that Derek made Danny promise he wouldn't go), Derek confronts and tells the leader, Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach), that he will no longer associate with him and the gang and tells him to "Stay away from him and Danny" at which point Cameron provokes and insults Derek who beats him up and knocks him unconscious before leaving his office. During an ensuing confrontation, Derek's overweight neo-Nazi friend Seth Ryan (Ethan Suplee) runs after Derek and aims a pistol at him, which Derek wrestles from him, and points it at the angry crowd before running away from the party. Danny angrily confronts Derek, who tells him about his experiences in prison of becoming aware of the effects of racism and being raped. The confession seems to prompt a change in Danny.

The following morning Danny finishes his paper, and Derek gets ready for a meeting with his parole officer. Derek walks Danny to school before his meeting, and on their way they stop at a café where they are met by Dr. Sweeney and a police officer. They tell Derek that Cameron and Seth were attacked the previous night and have been hospitalized. Derek claims no knowledge of the incidents, yet they ask him for help. Derek reluctantly agrees.

At school, after Danny uses the urinal in the bathroom, he is confronted by a young black student with whom he had a confrontation the previous day. The student shoots and kills Danny. When Derek arrives, he runs into the bathroom and tearfully cradles his dead brother in his arms. The film ends with Danny narrating part of his paper, in which he quotes the conclusion of Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address: "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

[edit]Cast

Edward Norton as Derek Vinyard
Edward Furlong as Daniel "Danny" Vinyard
Beverly D'Angelo as Doris Vinyard
Avery Brooks as Dr. Robert "Bob" Sweeney
Stacy Keach as Cameron Alexander
Jennifer Lien as Davina Vinyard
Fairuza Balk as Stacey
Elliott Gould as Murray
Ethan Suplee as Seth Ryan
Guy Torry as Lamont
William Russ as Dennis Vinyard
Joseph Cortese as Rasmussen
Keram Malicki-Sánchez as Chris
Giuseppe Andrews as Jason
Christopher Masterson as Daryl Dawson
Paul Le Mat as McMahon

[edit]Production

Tony Kaye, the film's director, with some suggestions from New Line, Kaye manufactured a second heavily shortened cut, which New Line rejected as it bore little resemblance to the first. Film editor Jerry Greenbert was brought in to cut a third version with Edward Norton.

Tony Kaye disowned the third version as the final cut of the film, as he did not approve of its quality.^[3] He tried (and failed) to have his name removed from the credits,^[4]^[5] openly telling some interviewers he tried to invoke the Alan Smithee pseudonym which the Directors Guild of America used to reserve for such cases. When refused he then tried "Humpty Dumpty" as an alternative name. Joaquin Phoenix was offered the role of Derek Vinyard but turned it down^[6]

[edit]Reception

American History X received mostly positive reviews and Norton's performance was critically acclaimed. Based on the reviews of 72 critics collected on Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of critics gave the film a positive review.^[7] It grossed $6,719,864 from 513 theaters in the United States, and a total of $23,875,127 worldwide.^[8]