American History X
Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Avery Brooks, Stacy Keach
Directed By: Tony Kaye

The story of two brothers brought together by racism is both gripping and frightning. Edward Norton plays with chilling conviction the character of Derek Vinyard, the racist in Venice Beach. He is sent to prison for the vicious and cringe-worthy murder of a black man who tries to break into his father's car. The movie hits a chord in all the possible ways in can. With the defiant Derek leading the way he truly takes on the role of a Skinhead and is so believable that you are scared that there are people out there like this. When Derek gets out of jail he finds his younger brother, Danny, played by Edward Furlong, heading on the same path that he was. Headed towards jail or worse.


The true tale of how this haunting feature came to screen is quite a story. Originally New Line Cinema wanted major cuts to be done to it for length and other reasons. The director, Tony Kaye, refused and in came Norton to help do the editing. Kaye then tried viguorously to get his name removed from the film. He went as far as to give the film bad word-of-mouth so that it would negatively impact the audience and critics. When the film was released to accolades and critical darlings, Kaye suddenly was interested again. The director, who also did primary photography for the film, pushed himself for a Cinematography Academy Award nomination (which he failed at getting). The only major nomination it received was for Best Actor for Edward Norton, which Roberto Benigni unjustly won. When watching American History X you can't help but wonder what the movie would have been like had Tony Kaye gotten his way. The movie though is amazingly profound with the deep performance from Norton and the brilliant cinematography by Kaye with the flash-back scenes shot in beautiful black and white giving the movie a all to resounding influence on the viewer.

OTHER FILM CLASSICS
Bram Stoker's Dracula
The Shawshank Redemption
The Exorcist
Seven


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