RATINGS: IMDB ―8.5/10, Rotten Tomatoes ― 93%, ME ― 88%
Cameron: This is stupid. Go cool off, get laid, do something, come back when you're ready to talk.
Derek Vinyard: Yeah, but it really doesn't matter if I do, does it? Because you got a whole crop already lined up, you fuckin' chicken hawk!
Cameron: Excuse me?
Derek Vinyard: You prey on people Cam. I lost three years of my life for your fuckin' phony cause, but I'm onto you now, you fuckin' snake.
Cameron: Hey, watch it Derek, be careful. Remember where you are. This isn't some fuckin' country club where you can waltz in and outta here!
Derek Vinyard: Shut up! Shut the fuck up! I came here for one reason, to tell you that I'm out. Out! And Danny's out, too. And if you come near my family again, I'm gonna fucking kill you.
Cameron: Well excuse me, but fuck you Derek. You can't come in here barking threats at me. Look, you can do whatever you want, but Danny's a good kid. He's not some whiny pussy like you. He needs my help and I'm gonna give it to him.
Derek Vinyard: If you come near Danny again, I will feed you your fucking heart, Cameron.
Cameron: I won't have to. He'll come to me. I'm more important to him now than you'll ever be.
Stacy Keach as Cameron and Edward Norton as Derek Vinyard
Trivia (From IMDB):
Edward Norton turned down Saving Private Ryan (1998) to do this film.
Before filming began, Edward Norton and Edward Furlong shaved their heads for their roles. Edward Norton also gained 30 pounds of muscle.
The character Derek Vinyard is based on real life skinhead Frank Meeink.
Seth wears a shirt during the basketball game featuring the number 88. This is a Nazi skinhead code for HH, or "Heil Hitler," H being the 8th letter of the alphabet. It also refers to a set of 88 precepts written by the neo-nazi leader David Lane. The 88 precepts are rules and concepts that all White Supremacists lived by.
The diner that Danny and Derek go to get breakfast at before Danny goes to school in the morning is the same diner that is used in The Big Lebowski (1998), during the infamous "toe" scene. It's located at Wilshire and Fairfax in Los Angeles and is called Johnie's Coffee Shop and is only open for filming.
During the party scene the swastika on the back of Seth's jacket is counter-clockwise. In the skinhead world the counter-clockwise swastika indicates that the person bearing it leads, not follows.
Edward Furlong and Edward Norton constantly changed around the script and made Tony Kaye's vision of American History X not what he envisioned and made him not want to make the movie anymore. He was so unsatisfied with Norton's performance that he still, to this day feels the movie is unfinished.
Marlon Brando was considered for the role of Cameron Alexander.
This film uses the word "fuck" 214 times.
Joaquin Phoenix was offered the role of Derek Vinyard but found the subject matter of the film distasteful and passed on the project.
The character of Cameron Alexander is based on Tom Metzger, leader of the White Aryan Resistance (WAR), an extremist white supremacy group based in southern California.
The punk band Anti-Heroes sued New Line Cinema over a character's tattoo featuring the band. The band did not want to be associated with Nazis, even fictional ones, in any way. The band went on to record a song called "NLC" that debases the film studio.
Edward Norton was said to have re-edited the film to lengthen his screen time. Director Tony Kaye then attempted to get his own name removed from the credits but violated a Directors' Guild of America rule that states that directors that use pseudonyms (such as "Alan Smithee") must not talk about why they had their name removed - which Tony Kaye had done in ads in Variety. According to Entertainment Weekly, he then wanted his credit to read "Humpty Dumpty". Eventually, Kaye sued the DGA and New Line Cinema for $200 million ($275 according to the book Cinematic Century) stating that the DGA rule violated his first amendment rights.
Filmed early in 1997. The movie's release was delayed due to post-production and editing conflicts.
One of the T-shirts that Seth wears late in the film (when he is at the party at 57:33) has 'Skrewdriver Rising' printed on it. Skrewdriver was a British white power skinhead band which lasted from 1976 through 1979 and again from 1982 through 1993.
In the midst of the dispute about the time he was taking to edit the film, Director Tony Kaye attended a meeting with Michael De Luca (then New Line's senior product president). Kaye arranged for a Jewish Rabbi, a Catholic priest and a Buddhist monk to be present at the meeting to support his argument and "make the meeting a more spiritual one".
According to the book Cinematic Century, Tony Kaye's lawsuit against the studio over the use of his name in the credits was for $275 million.
The work-print is 18 minutes shorter than the theatrical version.
The high school used in the film is Venice High School, located in Venice, California.
There was a documentary called Humpty Dumpty that was created by Tony Kaye that as of 2015 was never released.
All of the Vinyards have the same initials, except for Ally (the little girl).
Both William Russ (154 episodes) and Ethan Suplee (19 episodes) have appeared in Boy Meets World. Russ was a series regular from 1993-2000, while Suplee was a recurring guest star from 1994-1998.
After Derek comes home from prison and the family go in the back room to get away from Seth, Doris starts coughing into a tissue and shares a look with Derek as he looks at the opened tissue, it's never mentioned but it is a foreshadow of Doris having lung cancer, thus creating more issues for the Vinyards after the events of this movie.
Paul Mazursky was considered for the role of Murray.
'Boyd Crowder' from the TV show Justified (2010) has a swastika in the same place (left part of the chest) that Derek has.
The CD soundtrack was released November 3rd 1998 by Angel Records.
American History X aired in the USA on the WGN Superstation on January 26th 2004.
Both Jennifer Lien and Avery Brooks are known Star Trek actors. Star Trek is known for dealing with social issues such as racism.
Both Avery Brooks and Jennifer Lien are part of the Star Trek franchise. Avery played Captain Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) and Lien played Kes on Star Trek: Voyager (1995).
Spoilers ―
The original ending was of Derek standing in front of a mirror, shaving his head after Danny was shot. This was to make sense of the endless cycle of violence and tie the otherwise disjointed plot together but was removed after Edward Norton objected.
The quotation that concludes Danny's paper is from the closing words of Abraham Lincoln's first Inaugural Address in 1861.
Body count: 3
The quotation that concludes Danny's paper is from the closing words of Abraham Lincoln's first Inaugural Address in 1861.
Body count: 3
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