American History X (1998) on Netflix
Derek Vinyard comes home to Venice Beach on parole after serving three years for killing two men. His younger brother Danny has joined the white supremacist gang Derek once led.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb8.5/101,286,862 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes84%
Trailer
Plot summary
Danny Vinyard, seventeen, writes an essay on Mein Kampf for his history class and is given a choice by Dr. Bob Sweeney, his school's principal: study current events under him in a course called American History X, or be expelled. The assignment is a paper about his older brother, Derek, who was once Sweeney's student. Derek led the Disciples of Christ, a skinhead gang in Venice Beach, and spent three years in prison for killing two men. Years before, their firefighter father was shot dead by a drug dealer. Danny has joined the gang since. Derek comes home on parole and tries to persuade his brother to leave it behind.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about American History X (1998)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Kaye spent $100,000 on cryptic advertisements in the Hollywood press that quoted John Lennon and Abraham Lincoln and condemned the behavior of Norton and the studio, and brought a priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk to a meeting with producers while videotaping the whole encounter.
- Kaye tried to replace his name in the credits with pseudonyms including “Humpty Dumpty”, a request the Directors Guild of America refused; he then filed a $200 million lawsuit against the DGA and New Line Cinema, which was dismissed in 2000.
- Edward Norton agreed to a pay cut of more than $500,000 from his usual $1 million fee to be cast in the lead, with executive producer Steve Tisch saying that Norton's passion for the project was contagious.
- Kaye would arrive for work in a Lincoln Town Car with a chauffeur and a license plate that read “JEWISH”. He carried four cell phones and a fax machine, and during the Passover holidays he had boxes of matzo delivered to the set.
- The “white power” tattoos on the actors' arms were painted on, and Suplee forgot to remove his one day after filming and was confronted by a man in a convenience store.
- In 1999 Amnesty International USA used American History X for an educational campaign, screening it in colleges and at nationwide events to raise awareness of human rights, and Zara Toussaint of Amnesty International in France organized screenings followed by debates.
- Edward Norton was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Derek Vinyard but lost to Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful; the loss was later included on Empire's list of “22 Incredibly Shocking Oscars Injustices”.
