American History X Derek Vinyards Neo Nazi Skinhead Edward Norton Edward Furlong Beverly DAngelo

American History X was released in 1998. The movie is directed by Tony Kaye and written by David McKenna. The film centers around the story of Derek Vinyards release from prison and his life thereafter.


Edward Norton – the lead role player, was nominated for his excellent performance. Ratings as per Internet Movie Database place the movie as the 44th greatest film of all time. Upon release Derek Vinyard finds to his utter dismay that his younger brother Danny has followed his older brothers former life style. Surprisingly, Derek supposedly picked up the deadly trait of the Neo-Nazis after his father is killed by a black drug dealer.

The storyline of the film solidifies when Derek decides to stay away from his infamous past in order to save his brother from sheer disaster. American History X brushes upon several issues of controversy like racism, illegal immigration and use of firearms indiscriminately. It also deals with the existence of Neo-Nazi hate groups and tries to dig up the possible reasons for the formation of such extremist groups and the wrong usage of innocent youths by corrupted gangs. Intra and inter racial violence -another major problem that splits American society in the present day, is portrayed in the film vividly.

Though American History X deals with controversial issues and themes, ironically real life controversy centered on director Tony Kayes deliberate attempt of using pseudonym Alan Smithee. However, when he was refused in his proposal he again chose Humpty Dumpty as his pseudonym in place of Alan Smithee. These were because of Kayes allegation that Norton re-edited the film to give himself more prominence.

Ultimately the Directors Guild of America refused Kaye to use an alternate name and the reason behind that was Kaye had already placed ads in Variety abusing the film. This attitude of Kaye violated the Guild rules relating to the right to use pseudonym. Kaye went further by suing the Directors Guild and claimed that they had stripped away from him the basic Amendment rights.

In American History X, the co-stars of Edward Norton are Edward Furlong, Beverly DAngelo , Jennifer Lien, Ethan Suplee, Fairuza Balk, Avery Brooks, Elliott Gould and Stacy Keach. Most amazing fact was that during the production of the film both Avery Brooks and Jennifer Lien worked on the sets of Star Trek series simultaneously.

Daniel is seen to be quoting a phrase at the end of the film, which is actually an excerpt from Abraham Lincolns Inaugural Address in 1861. Edward Norton is said to have added an extra of 30 pounds of muscle as per the films criteria for the lead role. Last but not the least, the word fuckis uttered almost 205 times in the entire film. American History X