Product Description

Edward Norton's Academy Award nominated role as a White Supremist who sees the error of his ways while jailed for murder. Unfortunately, he leaves prison to find his brother (Edward Furlong) heading down the same path.

DVD Features:
Biographies
Deleted Scenes
Filmographies
Interactive Menus
Production Notes
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1222 in DVD
• Brand: McDonald Publishing
• Released on: 1999-04-06
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 119 minutes

Features

• Edward Norton's Academy Award nominated role as a White Supremist who sees the error of his ways while jailed for murder. Unfortunately, he leaves prison to find his brother (Edward Furlong) heading down the same path.Running Time: 119 min. System Requirements: Directed by Tony Kaye Writing credits David McKenna Cast overview, first billed only: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D Angelo,

Amazon.com
Perhaps the highest compliment you can pay to Edward Norton is that his Oscar-nominated performance in American History X nearly convinces you that there is a shred of logic in the tenets of white supremacy. If that statement doesn't horrify you, it should; Norton is so fully immersed in his role as a neo-Nazi skinhead that his character's eloquent defense of racism is disturbingly persuasive--at least on the surface. Looking lean and mean with a swastika tattoo and a mind full of hate, Derek Vinyard (Norton) has inherited racism from his father, and that learning has been intensified through his service to Cameron (Stacy Keach), a grown-up thug playing tyrant and teacher to a growing band of disenfranchised teens from Venice Beach, California, all hungry for an ideology that fuels their brooding alienation.

The film's basic message--that hate is learned and can be unlearned--is expressed through Derek's kid brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), whose sibling hero-worship increases after Derek is imprisoned (or, in Danny's mind, martyred) for the killing of two black men. Lacking Derek's gift of rebel rhetoric, Danny is easily swayed into the violent, hateful lifestyle that Derek disowns during his thoughtful time in prison. Once released, Derek struggles to save his brother from a violent fate, and American History X partially suffers from a mix of intense emotions, awkward sentiment, and predictably inevitable plotting. And yet British director Tony Kaye (who would later protest against Norton's creative intervention during post-production) manages to juggle these qualities--and a compelling clash of visual styles--to considerable effect. No matter how strained their collaboration may have been, both Kaye and Norton can be proud to have created a film that addresses the issue of racism with dramatically forceful impact. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
Young Edward Norton, who seemed to have no body at all in the recent "Rounders"-he faded away from the camera, like a ghost-is here muscled up and swaggering, with a swastika the size of a giant tarantula emblazoned on his chest. He plays a skinhead neo-Nazi in Venice Beach, California, and screenwriter David McKenna has composed some shrewd tirades for him that push only slightly past standard white working-class resentment. Norton gives the young thug an ambiguous erotic allure; he's almost appealing. Everything else in this melodrama, directed and photographed by the British commercial director Tony Kaye, is to be regretted-the alternation between color (the present) and black-and-white (the past); the mopey performance by Edward Furlong as Norton's kid brother, who is haplessly turning into a skinhead himself; and the confused political implications of the story, especially the violent ending, which entirely reverses the direction in which the material has been going. Kaye's work is self-important and garish. The movie was taken away from him during the editing phase. It should have been. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

American History X
How terrifying is it while listening to some of Edward Norton's rants in this movie....that you actually begin to understand his point of view on things? That's a very important aspect of this film. The hatred spewing from his mouth along with statistical evidence and insightful rhetoric places the viewer amist what seems to be an actual white supremicist rally. It becomes easy to see how so many fall into crowds like this with characters like the fictional Derrick Vinyard preaching to the masses. Many people don't like the way the world around them is. They're looking for a change. People like Vinyard offer a path to that change.

But this story is mainly about redemption. The redemption of the character in question, Derrick Vinyard. Only after he loses everything can he begin to see the horrible path that he has beaten for his younger brother who is speedily chasing after him. The unlikely friendship with a black prison inmate and the tutalage of his former principle are what helps him return to his humanity. The simple yet distanced solution to all the hatred and anger that he's felt most of his life comes like an epiphany: "It's just not worth it." A point that he vehemently drives into those around him.

Be forwarned, this is not a happy story. The ending is tragic yet depressingly real. Hatred becomes a vicious circle.

One of the best movies I have ever seen.
This is one of the movies that touched me more than any others have in quite a long time. It puts a human face on skinheads, not glorifying them yet showing how a young person can be warped by a racist father and what racism can do to a family. Derek Vinyard had to learn the truth about racism the hard way by being betrayed in prison and he began to question his beliefs after a black man is the only person who befriends him. He begins to understand how futile and destructive hatred is only to pay for his mistakes in the end. At times this movies is difficult to watch but I think it is important for everyone to see. Ed Norton definitely deserved the oscar for this film and was cheated. Anyone who watches this will see how racism only destroys families, hurts others and destroys one's self in the end. It is brutal yet honest and it is what good filmmaking is all about it. I would give it ten stars if I could. Simply brilliant.

...From the better angels of our nature...
Stunningly powerful movie which left me and my friends in a state of quiet and thoughtful contemplation even as the titles were concluding. A cautionary tale I guess set in Venice Beach,California about hate and prejudice.Two common human traits of which none of us are innocent.

A talented cast led by those two Edwardians,Norton and Furlong of a story about a young neo nazi who is jailed for three years after the cold blooded killing of a black man attempting to steal his car.This flashback scene is not for the faint-hearted.He is unremorseful at first but eventually finds his epiphany within the stark reality of the prison walls.Enough said.

Despite the controversial nature of the film it does cut to the core hard and fast.I especially liked the flashbacks in black&white.An often used device which works well here,as does the quote by Abraham Lincoln towards the end,"...we must not be enemies but friends..." Many critics have been scathing of the one dimensional supporting characters and they may be right in that respect,Nortons exceptional performance not withstanding but this still does not devalue it from being one of the most critical and memorable films to come out of hollywood for a long time.One of my top ten for this last decade of the millenium and well deserved.