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Made in U.S.A. (film)
Encyclopedia
Made in U.S.A is a 1966 French film
directed by Jean-Luc Godard
. Greatly inspired by the Howard Hawks
film The Big Sleep
and unofficially based on the novel The Jugger, by Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald E. Westlake
), it stars Anna Karina
, Jean-Pierre Léaud
, László Szabó
and Yves Afonso
. Because neither Godard nor the producer paid the book's adaptation rights and following legal action by Westlake, the film was long unavailable in the United States
. The film had its U.S. premiere on April 1, 2009 (three months after Westlake's death) at the Castro Theatre
in San Francisco in a newly-restored print distributed by Rialto Pictures
. Criterion
released the film on DVD in July 2009.
), a female version of Humphrey Bogart
's hard boiled detectives, goes to Atlantic City to meet her lover, Richard Politzer, at an unknown point in the future (maybe 1969). Once there, she learns that Richard is dead and decides to investigate his death. In her hotel room, she meets Typhus, whom she ends up knocking out. His corpse is later found in the apartment of David Goodis (Yves Afonso
), a writer. Paula is arrested and interrogated. From then on, she encounters many gangster
s.
Afonso's character is reportedly named after David Goodis
.
. Godard did it to help his friend and producer, Georges de Beauregard
, in difficulties after the censure of La Religieuse, a movie by Jacques Rivette
, that he produced.
This is the last full-length movie where Anna Karina
and Jean-Luc Godard
collaborated. He again directed her in a segment (called "Anticipation, ou: l'amour en l'an 2000" (Anticipation: or Love in the Year 2000)) of the movie Le plus vieux métier du monde (1967).
Marianne Faithfull
has a cameo in a cafe scene where she sings "As Tears Go By
".
Characters in the film are named for such real-life personages as Don Siegel
, Kenji Mizoguchi
, Richard Widmark
, Robert McNamara
, David Goodis
and Richard Nixon
. Paula Nelson is probably named for Baby Face Nelson
, about whom Siegel had made a film
starring Mickey Rooney
The film is dedicated to "Nick and Sam," referring to Nicholas Ray
and Samuel Fuller
, "Hollywood mavericks who were objects of filial awe and Oedipal aggression" for Godard.
, promptingThe New York Times to call it an "often bewildering potpourri
of film narration, imagery and message" and point out that "Anna Karina, as the questing girl friend, supplies not only a luminous beauty but also a unifying thread of humanity." Over forty years later, A.O. Scott saw it at Film Forum
and said while it is "far from a lost masterpiece, it is nonetheless a bright and jagged piece of the jigsaw puzzle of Mr. Godard’s career"; he suggested a number of "reasons for non-Godardians" to see the film:
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
. Greatly inspired by the Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
film The Big Sleep
The Big Sleep (1946 film)
The Big Sleep is a 1946 film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The movie stars Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as the female lead in a film about the "process of a criminal investigation, not its...
and unofficially based on the novel The Jugger, by Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald E. Westlake
Donald E. Westlake
Donald Edwin Westlake was an American writer, with over a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction or other genres...
), it stars Anna Karina
Anna Karina
Anna Karina is a Danish film actress, director, and screenwriter who has spent most of her working life in France. Karina is known as a muse of the director, Jean-Luc Godard, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave...
, Jean-Pierre Léaud
Jean-Pierre Léaud
-Early years:Born in Paris, Léaud made his major debut as an actor at the age of 14 as Antoine Doinel, a semi-autobiographical character based on the life events of French film director François Truffaut, in The 400 Blows....
, László Szabó
László Szabó (actor)
László Szabó is a Hungarian actor, film director and screenwriter. He has appeared in over 120 films since 1952, including seven films that have been screened at the Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:* La poupée...
and Yves Afonso
Yves Afonso
Yves Afonso is a French actor. He was born in Saulieu in the Côte-d'Or département. Since his uncredited debut in the movie Masculin, féminin in 1966, he has had many roles, both in movies and on television...
. Because neither Godard nor the producer paid the book's adaptation rights and following legal action by Westlake, the film was long unavailable in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The film had its U.S. premiere on April 1, 2009 (three months after Westlake's death) at the Castro Theatre
Castro Theatre
The Castro Theatre is a popular San Francisco movie palace which became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, in the Castro district, it was built in 1922 with a Spanish Colonial Baroque façade that pays homage—in its great arched central window...
in San Francisco in a newly-restored print distributed by Rialto Pictures
Rialto Pictures
Rialto Pictures is a film distributor founded in 1997 by Bruce Goldstein. A year later, Adrienne Halpern joined him as partner. In 2002, Eric Di Bernardo became the company’s National Sales Director. It was described as “the gold standard of reissue distributors” by Los Angeles Times/NPR film...
. Criterion
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection is a video-distribution company selling "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. The Criterion series is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for home video, bonus features, and special editions...
released the film on DVD in July 2009.
Plot
Paula Nelson (Anna KarinaAnna Karina
Anna Karina is a Danish film actress, director, and screenwriter who has spent most of her working life in France. Karina is known as a muse of the director, Jean-Luc Godard, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave...
), a female version of Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
's hard boiled detectives, goes to Atlantic City to meet her lover, Richard Politzer, at an unknown point in the future (maybe 1969). Once there, she learns that Richard is dead and decides to investigate his death. In her hotel room, she meets Typhus, whom she ends up knocking out. His corpse is later found in the apartment of David Goodis (Yves Afonso
Yves Afonso
Yves Afonso is a French actor. He was born in Saulieu in the Côte-d'Or département. Since his uncredited debut in the movie Masculin, féminin in 1966, he has had many roles, both in movies and on television...
), a writer. Paula is arrested and interrogated. From then on, she encounters many gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
s.
Cast
- Anna KarinaAnna KarinaAnna Karina is a Danish film actress, director, and screenwriter who has spent most of her working life in France. Karina is known as a muse of the director, Jean-Luc Godard, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave...
as Paula Nelson - Jean-Pierre LéaudJean-Pierre Léaud-Early years:Born in Paris, Léaud made his major debut as an actor at the age of 14 as Antoine Doinel, a semi-autobiographical character based on the life events of French film director François Truffaut, in The 400 Blows....
as Donald Siegel - László SzabóLászló Szabó (actor)László Szabó is a Hungarian actor, film director and screenwriter. He has appeared in over 120 films since 1952, including seven films that have been screened at the Cannes Film Festival.-Selected filmography:* La poupée...
as Richard Widmark - Marianne FaithfullMarianne FaithfullMarianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
as Herself - Ernest Menzer as Edgar Typhus
- Kyôko Kosaka as Doris Mizoguchi
- Yves AfonsoYves AfonsoYves Afonso is a French actor. He was born in Saulieu in the Côte-d'Or département. Since his uncredited debut in the movie Masculin, féminin in 1966, he has had many roles, both in movies and on television...
as David Goodis - Marc Dudicourt as Barman
- Rémo Forlani as Workman in bar
- Jean-Luc GodardJean-Luc GodardJean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
as Richard Politzer (voice) - Sylvain Godet as Robert MacNamara
- Claude Bouillon as Inspector Aldrich
- Claude Bakka as Man with Marianne Faithfull
- Philippe LabroPhilippe LabroPhilippe Labro, is a French author, journalist and film director, born in Montauban on 27 August 1936. He has worked for RTL, Paris Match, TF1 and Antenne 2...
as Himself - Jean-Pierre Biesse as Richard Nixon
Afonso's character is reportedly named after David Goodis
David Goodis
David Loeb Goodis was an American noir fiction writer.Born to a respectable Jewish family in Philadelphia, Goodis had two younger brothers, but one died of meningitis at the age of three...
.
Production
The movie was shot at the same time as Two or Three Things I Know About HerTwo or Three Things I Know About Her
Two or Three Things I Know About Her is a French film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, one of three features he completed that year. Like the other two , it is considered both socially and stylistically radical. Many American critics, including Village Voice critics Amy Taubin and J...
. Godard did it to help his friend and producer, Georges de Beauregard
Georges de Beauregard
Georges de Beauregard was a French film producer who produced works from many of the French New Wave directors. In 1968, he was a member of the jury at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival....
, in difficulties after the censure of La Religieuse, a movie by Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette is a French film director. His most well known films include Celine and Julie Go Boating, La Belle Noiseuse and the cult film Out 1....
, that he produced.
This is the last full-length movie where Anna Karina
Anna Karina
Anna Karina is a Danish film actress, director, and screenwriter who has spent most of her working life in France. Karina is known as a muse of the director, Jean-Luc Godard, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave...
and Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
collaborated. He again directed her in a segment (called "Anticipation, ou: l'amour en l'an 2000" (Anticipation: or Love in the Year 2000)) of the movie Le plus vieux métier du monde (1967).
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
has a cameo in a cafe scene where she sings "As Tears Go By
As Tears Go By (song)
"As Tears Go By" is a song written by The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, and their manager Andrew Loog Oldham, and was a popular hit for both British singer Marianne Faithfull in 1964 and The Rolling Stones in 1965.-History:...
".
Characters in the film are named for such real-life personages as Don Siegel
Don Siegel
Donald Siegel was an influential American film director and producer. His name variously appeared in the credits of his films as both Don Siegel and Donald Siegel.-Early life:...
, Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène...
, Richard Widmark
Richard Widmark
Richard Weedt Widmark was an American film, stage and television actor.He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, Kiss of Death...
, Robert McNamara
Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War...
, David Goodis
David Goodis
David Loeb Goodis was an American noir fiction writer.Born to a respectable Jewish family in Philadelphia, Goodis had two younger brothers, but one died of meningitis at the age of three...
and Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
. Paula Nelson is probably named for Baby Face Nelson
Baby Face Nelson
Lester Joseph Gillis , known under the pseudonym George Nelson, was a bank robber and murderer in the 1930s. Gillis was known as Baby Face Nelson, a name given to him due to his youthful appearance and small stature...
, about whom Siegel had made a film
Baby Face Nelson (film)
Baby Face Nelson is a 1957 film directed by Don Siegel, starring Mickey Rooney as Baby Face Nelson, and featuring Leo Gordon as John Dillinger.-Cast:Mickey Rooney ... Lester M. 'Baby Face Nelson' Gillis Carolyn Jones ... Sue...
starring Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
The film is dedicated to "Nick and Sam," referring to Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....
and Samuel Fuller
Samuel Fuller
Samuel Michael Fuller was an American screenwriter, novelist, and film director known for low-budget genre movies with controversial themes.-Personal life:...
, "Hollywood mavericks who were objects of filial awe and Oedipal aggression" for Godard.
Reception
Made in U.S.A "has rarely been seen in the U.S.A."; it was shown at the 1967 New York Film FestivalNew York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
, promptingThe New York Times to call it an "often bewildering potpourri
Potpourri
Potpourri is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant material, used to provide a gentle natural scent in houses. It is usually placed in a decorative wooden bowl, or tied in small sachet made from sheer fabric....
of film narration, imagery and message" and point out that "Anna Karina, as the questing girl friend, supplies not only a luminous beauty but also a unifying thread of humanity." Over forty years later, A.O. Scott saw it at Film Forum
Film Forum
Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater located at 209 West Houston Street in New York City. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a US$19,000 annual budget. Karen Cooper became director in 1972 and under her leadership,...
and said while it is "far from a lost masterpiece, it is nonetheless a bright and jagged piece of the jigsaw puzzle of Mr. Godard’s career"; he suggested a number of "reasons for non-Godardians" to see the film:
- "There is, for one thing, a pouting and lovely Marianne FaithfullMarianne FaithfullMarianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
singing an a capella version of 'As Tears Go ByAs Tears Go By (song)"As Tears Go By" is a song written by The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, and their manager Andrew Loog Oldham, and was a popular hit for both British singer Marianne Faithfull in 1964 and The Rolling Stones in 1965.-History:...
.' There are skinny young men smoking and arguing. There are the bright Pop colors of modernityPop artPop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
juxtaposed with the weathered, handsome ordinariness of Old France, all of it beautifully photographed by Raoul Coutard. There are political speeches delivered via squawk boxSquawk BoxSquawk Box is a business news television program which airs at breakfast time on the CNBC network. The program is currently co-hosted by Joe Kernen, Rebecca Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Since debuting in 1995, the show has spawned a number of versions across CNBC's international channels, many of...
. And of course there is a maddening, liberating indifference to conventions of narrative coherence, psychological verisimilitude or emotional accessibility."
External links
- Made in U.S.A. from Rialto PicturesRialto PicturesRialto Pictures is a film distributor founded in 1997 by Bruce Goldstein. A year later, Adrienne Halpern joined him as partner. In 2002, Eric Di Bernardo became the company’s National Sales Director. It was described as “the gold standard of reissue distributors” by Los Angeles Times/NPR film...
- Made in U.S.A. from Film ForumFilm ForumFilm Forum is a nonprofit movie theater located at 209 West Houston Street in New York City. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a US$19,000 annual budget. Karen Cooper became director in 1972 and under her leadership,...
, including a January 2008 Q & A with co-star László Szabó