American Heart (1992)

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This film has an excellent cast rising above some lackluster material you have seen before in other "angry ex-con"-driven stories.

Jack (Jeff Bridges) is a recently released criminal who tries to dump his fifteen year old son Nick (Edward Furlong) in the very first scene. Jack heads to Seattle, with Nick following, in order to set up a new life without the bothers of fatherhood. Jack meets with his old partner-in-crime Rainey (Don Harvey), who pays Jack a little money. Jack gets a job washing windows on high rise buildings, and settles into a small apartment. And then there is Nick. He has left Jack's sister's farm to live with him. He skips out on registering for school, and hangs around some homeless street kids downtown. Jack is boozing his way through Seattle, meeting up with Charlotte (Lucinda Jenney), who used to write him by way of a personals magazine called "American Heart." Nick gets a job delivering newspapers, and Nick and Jack share their little apartment, upstairs from a topless dancer and her troubled teen daughter Molly (Tracey Kapisky). The film then meanders through scenes of Jack and Nick arguing, grudgingly making up, and trying to develop some sort of normal relationship. Eventually, things begin spiraling downward.

Martin Bell was responsible for "Streetwise," the gritty documentary about homeless street kids that is among the greatest documentaries ever produced. He used this experience with this fictional film, but I found this screenplay often resorted to Hollywood convention. The ex-con trying to make it on the outside has been done, but maybe not this well-acted before. Jeff Bridges is wonderful. He is flawed, and his behavior is innate. He does not want a relationship with Nick, and makes that all too obvious without resorting to stereotypical gruff behavior. Bridges even has a light moment, when Jack's parole officer Normandy (Melvyn Hayward) is banging on the apartment door, and a hungover Jack finds underage Molly fast asleep at the foot of his bed. Furlong, who I had never liked in anything, gives his best performance here, too. I noticed his scenes where he plays opposite adults are more effective than when he is dealing with his teenage contemporaries. He is sympathetic without being saintly or cutesy. Jack and Nick's argument in the apartment, where Nick smashes a treasured ukulele, is strong stuff. Lucinda Jenney as Charlotte is also good, although Bell unwisely drops her character from the last part of the film after we have become so involved with her. While Don Harvey as Rainey is okay, there is a mentor relationship with Jack that is never fully explored. He looks Furlong's age, someone with a harder edge may have made more of an impact.

"American Heart" is a decent film that should be sought out for the acting.

Stats:
(1992) 113 min. (* * * *) out of five stars
-Directed by Martin Bell
-Screenplay by Peter Silverman, Story by Peter Silverman & Martin Bell & Mary Ellen Mark
-Cast: Jeff Bridges, Edward Furlong, Don Harvey, Lucinda Jenney, Tracey Kapisky, Jayne Entwistle, Melvyn Hayward, Kit McDonough, Loyd Catlett, Shareen Mitchell, Marcus Chong, Margaret Welsh, Wren Walker
(R)