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American History X
Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two African-American men. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard's 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.
1998 · Directed by Tony Kaye · 119 min · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 49 frames
Tagline
Some legacies must end.
Plot
In 1997, White student Danny Vinyard, 17, antagonizes his Jewish history teacher, Mr. Murray, by writing an essay on Mein Kampf. Black School principal and outreach worker Dr. Bob Sweeney gives Danny an ultimatum to either study history directly under him through current events, branded as "American History X", or be expelled. Danny must write a paper on his older brother, Derek, Sweeney's former student and neo-Nazi gang leader, about to be released from prison. Later in the school restroom, when a Black youth bullies another White student, Danny confronts the bully by blowing cigarette smoke in his face, and the bully leaves.
Years earlier, Danny and Derek's firefighter father, Dennis Vinyard, is shot and killed by a Black drug dealer while extinguishing a fire at a crack house in Compton, Greater Los Angeles. Immediately afterwards, Derek erupts in a televised, racially motivated tirade. Neo-Nazi Cameron Alexander becomes his mentor, and they form a violent White supremacist gang called the Disciples of Christ (D.O.C.). Derek's charismatic argumentation of White supremacist views quickly expand the D.O.C., and the gang attacks a local supermarket employing illegal immigrants. Later, Derek challenges and defeats Crips in a basketball game for territorial rights to a basketball court in his Venice Beach neighborhood.
In 1994, Derek's mother, Doris, invites Murray, her boyfriend, to dinner, where Derek escalates an argument about Rodney King and the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Derek assaults his sister Davina and insults Murray for being Jewish, causing Doris to banish Derek. That night, the Crips who Derek had antagonized on the basketball court attempt to steal his truck. Alerted by Danny to the theft in progress, Derek fatally shoots one and curb stomps the other in front of Danny. Derek is arrested and sentenced to three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: David McKenna
- Cinematography: Tony Kaye
- Edited by: Alan Heim, Gerald B. Greenberg
- Music: Anne Dudley
- Production design: Jon Gary Steele
- Produced by: John Morrissey
Cast
- Edward Norton as Derek
- Edward Furlong as Danny
- Beverly D'Angelo as Doris
- Jennifer Lien as Davina
- Ethan Suplee as Seth
- Fairuza Balk as Stacey
- Avery Brooks as Sweeney
- Elliott Gould as Murray
- Stacy Keach as Cameron
- William Russ as Dennis
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: New Line Cinema, Savoy Pictures, The Turman-Morrissey Company
- Budget: $20,000,000
- Box office: $23,900,000
- Themes: prison, neo-nazism, rape, skinhead, sibling relationship, swastika, nazi, brother, gangster, fascism
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