Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more

 

The American Way (1986)

Director: Maurice Phillips

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Above America in a re-equipped bomber that serves as an anarchic pirate TV station, a motley crew of renegade Viet vets await amnesty from the authorities; but their captain (Hopper) cherishes his outlaw status, and jumps at the chance to wage a sabotage-and-smear campaign against a right-wing, female, war-mongering Presidential candidate. The lame suspense centres around whether S&M TV can expose her before the Pentagon blasts their hi-tech home out of the skies. There are a few endearingly naive swipes at Establishment hypocrisy, but the caricatures are too broad to constitute biting satire, political or otherwise. The celebration of rebellious rock mores is dated and embarrassing; the haywire narrative reflects Maurice Phillips' pop-promo background. Only the dependable Hopper, giving with the crazed visionary hippy once again, offers real wit or conviction, and even he is indulged. Little more than a well-intentioned oddity.

Author: GA 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Maurice Phillips

Producer: Laurie Keller, Paul Cowan

Cast: Dennis Hopper, Michael J Pollard, Eugene Lipinski, James Aubrey, Nigel Pegram full cast

Genre(s): Comedy

Duration: 105 mins




Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.