American Movie (1999)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Chris Smith

Release Date:

13 April 2000 (Australia)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A hapless amateur filmmaker struggles to produce his latest horror film, "Coven."

Plot Keywords:

Filmmaking | Film Premiere | Cemetery | Drive In | Film Making

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Mark Borchardt	...	Filmmaker
Tom Schimmels	...	Actor in 'Coven'
Monica Borchardt	...	Mark's Mom
Alex Borchardt	...	Mark's Brother
Chris Borchardt	...	Mark's Brother
Ken Keen	...	Friend / Associate Producer
Mike Schank	...	Friend / Musician
Matt Weisman	...	Casting director
Bill Borchardt	...	Mark's Uncle / Executive Producer (as Uncle Bill)
Cliff Borchardt	...	Mark's Dad
Tom Beach	...	Production manager
Joan Petrie	...	Mark's Girlfriend / Associate Producer
Robert Richard Jorge	...	Actor
Dean Allen	...	Props / Special effects
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tom Dallace	...	Movie Star
Miriam Frost	...	Actor in 'Coven'
Billy Crystal	...	Academy Awards EmCee (uncredited)

Directed by
Chris Smith

Produced by
Jim McKay	....	co-producer
Sarah Price	....	producer
Chris Smith	....	producer
Michael Stipe	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Mike Schank

Cinematography by
Chris Smith

Film Editing by
Jun Diaz
Barry Poltermann

Production Management
Paul Mezey	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Todd Leach	....	sound
Didier Leplae	....	sound
Alex Markowski	....	sound re-recording mixer
Sarah Price	....	sound
Doug Ruschaupt	....	sound
Jason Tucker	....	sound
Neil Whitacre	....	sound
Peter Zinda	....	sound designer

Camera and Electrical Department
Sarah Price	....	additional photographer

Editorial Department
Ray Chi	....	associate editor (as Raymond Chi)
Mark Ginsberg	....	color timer
Scott Reeder	....	associate editor
Scott Wintheiser	....	associate editor

Music Department
Julie Panebianco	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Todd Bishop	....	titles: 16 mm
Dick Blau	....	creative consultant
Patrick Buckley	....	production assistant
Dane Didier	....	production assistant
Dan Ollman	....	production assistant

Thanks
Bob Fagan	....	special thanks
Wrye Martin	....	special thanks
Tony Morrone	....	special thanks
Dean Silvers	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Bluemark Productions
• C-Hundred Film Corporation
• Civilian Pictures

Distributors

• Columbia TriStar Home Video
• Sony Pictures Classics (USA)

Other Companies

• Noëlle Penraat  negative matching
• Soundelux  sound post-production

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some drug content.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:14A | UK:15 | USA:R | Spain:13 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA

Company:

Bluemark Productions

Trivia:

Mark Borchardt says the word "man" 151 times.

Quotes:

Mark Borchardt: "Coven," man, we gotta get this sucker done, though. Seriously. Last night, man, I was so drunk, I was calling Morocco, man. Calling, trying to get to the Hotel Hilton at Tangiers in Casablanca, man. That's, I mean, that's, that's pathetic, man! Is that what you wanna do with your life? Suck down peppermint schnapps and try to call Morocco at two in the morning? That's senseless! But that's what happens, man.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fubar (2002)

Soundtrack:

Bach Fugue

Just watched it again.

I just watched this again the other night. It's probably the ninth or tenth time I've seen it, and I think it gets better every time. Contrary to what some people are saying, I don't think the makers of this film are laughing at and ridiculing Mark. Sure, some of the humor in the film is of the car-crash can't look away variety, but I feel underneath that they really admire the guy and his dogged tenacity. Another thing is I think Mark does show some skill as a director. Remember he has zero money shooting this stuff, and Coven was conceived as a money-making venture so he could make Northwestern. I think some of the samples they were showing from Northwestern actually looked very good. Now I don't think Mark writes the best dialogue in the world, but looking just at his photographic eye I'd say if the guy had any kind of schooling he might be shooting movies for someone right now. And finally, I think some of the people making negative comments about this movie need to look in the mirror and think about themselves a bit. OK, you don't like the movie, that's fine. But I've seen enough smug, superior, comments on here to make me want to puke. I love how as long as you're a poor, lower middle-class white in America people love to throw around terms like "white trash", "redneck", and other such pleasantries. I believe some scribe from Orange County at the beginning of the reviews even called them "inferior". I'm sure most of the people making the comments consider themselves liberals too; as if they have any concept of what that word means.