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American History X

Drama

American History X

Some legacies must end.

8.3(12,696) 7/1/1998 1h 59m
Drama

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.

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Trailer

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Top Cast

Edward Norton

Edward Norton

Derek

Edward Furlong

Edward Furlong

Danny

Beverly D'Angelo

Beverly D'Angelo

Doris

Jennifer Lien

Jennifer Lien

Davina

Ethan Suplee

Ethan Suplee

Seth

Fairuza Balk

Fairuza Balk

Stacey

Avery Brooks

Avery Brooks

Sweeney

Elliott Gould

Elliott Gould

Murray

Directed by

Tony Kaye

Production

Reviews

tmdb15435519

9/10

4/15/2021

Despite having a somewhat weak cast, this is an incredibly poignant drama of one man's struggle to live a new life. Probably too violent and close-to-home for some.

Andre Gonzales

5/10

4/16/2023

There's really no point to the movie. Just a lot of violence. That's pretty much it.

GenerationofSwine

1/10

12/4/2025

You could use this as a skinhead recruitment film because it failed so miserably in the message it was trying to push, and it failed miserably because they were too concerned about pushing the message that they forgot how they were framing the film. So a bunch of skinheads win a turf war basketball game, to stop the gang violence around the basketball courts, and then one of the Black people on the losing side tries to steal the car of one of the skinheads. And then the skinhead goes to jail for killing him. Then we have a flashback where the skinhead argues that Affirmative Action policies that put race before merit are racist because they put race before merit... to presumably illistrate how evil he is. Then his brother reads "Mein Kampf" for a book report and has to write a history

CinemaSerf

7/10

7/1/2026

"Danny" (Edward Furlong) isn't making much progress at school so his teacher "Sweeney" (Avery Brooks) gives him a project. He is to document the life of his elder brother "Derek" (Edward Norton) whom he adores. "Derek" was a neo-Nazi - and an active one at that who has only recently been released from prison for killing two men who tried to steal his car, but after spending time behind bars he has begun to question his hitherto unshakeable belief in the supremancy of white people and so once free determines to escape the toxic and somewhat hypocritical grip of "Cam" (Stacy Keach). It's "Danny" who narrates this story as his family marry their more contemporaneous timelines with examples of the brutality his brother raged against those of colour - and pretty much any colour - who lived in L

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