American History X

Name: American History X

Directed by: Tony Kaye

Written by: David McKenna

Produced by: John Morrissey

Executive Producers: Bill Carraro Kearie Peak Steve Tisch Lawrence Turman Michael De Luca and Brian Witten (co-executive producers)

Cinematography by: Tony Kaye

Production Design by: Jon Gary Steele

Film Editing by: Jerry Greenberg Alan Heim

Music by: Anne Dudley

Studio: Pixar Animation Studios

Production Company: A Turner/Morrissey Production

Producer/Release: 20th Century Fox

Airdate: October 30, 1998

Length: 2 hours, 30 seconds

Budget: $20 million

Box Office: $23.9 million

Pixar Movie Number: 204

American History X is a 1998 American crime drama film directed by Tony Kaye, written by David McKenna, and stars Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Fairuza Balk, Stacy Keach, Elliott Gould, Avery Brooks, Ethan Suplee and Beverly D'Angelo. The film was released in the United States on October 30, 1998 and was the 204th film by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

The film tells the story of two Venice, Los Angeles brothers who become involved in the neo-Nazi movement. The older brother serves three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, changes his beliefs and tries to prevent his brother from going down the same path. The film is told in the style of nonlinear narrative. Made on a budget of $20 million, it grossed $24 million at the worldwide box office.

Critics mostly praised the film and Norton's performance, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In September 2008, Empire magazine named it the 311th Greatest Movie of All Time.

Plot
Danny Vinyard (Edward Furlong), a high school student and budding neo-Nazi in Venice Beach, California, receives an assignment from Mr. Murray (Elliott Gould), his history teacher, to write a paper on "any book which relates to the struggle for human rights." Knowing Murray is Jewish, Danny writes his paper on Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. Murray attempts to get Danny expelled for doing this, but Principal Dr. Bob Sweeney (Avery Brooks) — who is black — refuses, instead informing Danny that he will study history and current events under Sweeney, and that the class will be called "American History X". Danny's first assignment is to prepare a paper on his brother Derek (Edward Norton), a former neo-Nazi leader who has just been released from prison after serving three years for voluntary manslaughter. Danny is warned that failing to submit the paper the next morning will result in his expulsion. The rest of the film alternates between a series of vignettes from Danny and Derek's shared past (distinguished by being shown in black and white), and present day events (shown in color).

Derek and Danny's father is Dennis Vinyard (William Russ), a firefighter who exposes his own racism in reaction to the news that Derek's English teacher, Dr. Sweeney, had assigned Richard Wright's novel Native Son. Sent on a call to fight a fire in a drug den, Dennis is murdered by black drug dealers. In a television interview conducted after Dennis's death, Derek erupts in a long racist tirade. Shortly thereafter, Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach) and Derek form a white supremacist gang called the D.O.C. (Disciples of Christ).

A skilled basketball player, Derek is reluctantly dragged into a 3-on-3 game against several members of the Crips in which the prize is control of the recreation center basketball courts. Derek and his friends win the game. Later that evening, Derek leads a large gang of skinheads to attack a supermarket owned by a Korean. They wreck the store, robbing it, and Derek tortures a Hispanic woman after the robbery before escaping. The next day, his mother Doris (Beverly D'Angelo) invites Mr Murray, whom she is dating, home for dinner. A dinnertime discussion about Rodney King and police brutality turns into a full-blown argument between Derek and Murray. When Derek reveals his swastika tattoo, calls Murray a "hook-nosed kike" and threatens Murray with violence for "invading his family," Murray leaves and Doris orders Derek out of her home. That night, as Derek and his girlfriend Stacey (Fairuza Balk) have sex, Danny hears people (the three gang members whom Derek beat at basketball) attempting to steal Derek's truck. Derek shoots and kills one of the thieves with a pistol and curb stomps another, before being arrested by the police and being sentenced to three years in prison.

Derek is given a job in the prison laundry and is assigned to be the partner of Lamont (Guy Torry), a black man who is serving six years for assault. Lamont stole a television set from a store and broke the arresting officer's foot when he was ordered to drop the television and put his hands up. The pair develop a rapport from their shared love of basketball.

In prison, Derek joins the Aryan Brotherhood but, after about a year, he becomes disillusioned with the Aryan Brotherhood, particularly over the group's hypocritical friendly relations with a Hispanic gang member, and their trafficking of narcotics. In response to Derek's criticisms, Aryan Brotherhood members savagely beat and rape him in the shower. While recovering from the attack, Derek is visited by Sweeney, whom he asks for help to be paroled. Sweeney informs him of Danny's involvement with neo-Nazis, and warns that he is on the same path as his older brother. Sweeney confesses that he hated white people as a youth, but eventually realized that hatred is pointless.

Derek further distances himself from the Aryan Brotherhood and changes his outlook on life. He spends the remainder of his time in prison alone, reading books that Sweeney sends him. He fears that the prison's black inmates will attack him, but they leave him alone, thanks to Lamont's persuasion. Finally realizing the error of his ways, Derek leaves prison a changed man.

In the evening that Derek returns home from prison, he finds that Danny has a D.O.C. tattoo. Derek tries to persuade Danny to leave the gang. Later that night, they both go to a neo-Nazi party, where Derek tells the leader, Cameron, that he and Danny will no longer associate with the neo-Nazi movement. Cameron provokes Derek, who beats him up. In response, Danny's neo-Nazi friend Seth Ryan (Ethan Suplee) runs after Derek and aims a pistol at him, which Derek wrestles from him and points at the angry crowd before running away. Danny angrily confronts Derek, who tells him about his experience in prison, which seems to prompt a change in Danny. Back at their home, they remove all the white power posters from their bedroom walls.

The next 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 diner where they are met by Sweeney and a police officer. They tell Derek that Cameron and Seth were attacked the previous night and have been hospitalized. At school, Danny is confronted by a young black student named Little Henry, with whom he had a confrontation the previous day. Little Henry shoots and kills Danny. Derek arrives at the school, runs into the bathroom and sadly mourns for Danny.

The film ends with a voice over of Danny reading the final lines of his paper for Dr. Sweeney. Stating "Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. It's just not worth it." and then quoting the final stanza of Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address.

Voice Cast
•	Edward Norton as Derek Vinyard

•	Edward Furlong as Danny Vinyard

•	Beverly D'Angelo as Doris Vinyard

•	Jennifer Lien as Davina Vinyard

•	Ethan Suplee as Seth Ryan

•	Fairuza Balk as Stacey

•	Avery Brooks as Dr. Bob Sweeney

•	Elliott Gould as Murray

•	Stacy Keach as Cameron Alexander

•	William Russ as Dennis Vinyard

•	Guy Torry as Lamont

•	Joseph Cortese as Rasmussen

•	Keram Malicki-Sánchez as Chris

•	Giuseppe Andrews as Jason

•	Christopher Masterson as Daryl Dawson

Paul Le Mat as McMahon

Media Release

 * American History X is released on video and DVD in April 6, 1999.

Aspect Ratio
1.33:1 (Fullscreen)
 * 1.85:1 (Widescreen)

DVD Main Menu

 * Play Movie
 * Scene Selection
 * Bonus Features, Deleted Scenes and Bloopers
 * Language Selection
 * English
 * French
 * Spanish
 * German
 * Subtitles Selection
 * English
 * French
 * Spanish
 * Dutch
 * German
 * Danish
 * Norwegian
 * Swedish
 * Filmmakers' Commentary

Previews

 * Fight Club Trailer (In Theaters October 15th)
 * Antz Trailer (On Video and DVD)
 * Toy Story 2 Teaser Trailer (In Theaters Thanksgiving)

Quotes

 * Use the quote pages in here: "Quotes".