Young Americans

Moody, Moralistic, Violent and Loud
Harvey Keitel stars as a FBI agent in this dark and death-filled tale of gangs in London. The premise is a simple one, one that we've seen in many other mob movies. The older, established mobsters have a code of honor and try to do things the proper way. The rash, up and coming punks care nothing for honor and just want quick cash and drugs. In this case, it's an American - Carl Frazer (played by Viggo Mortensen) who is causing the trouble. The FBI has sent John Harris (Keitel) to help the London police force to shut him down.

Carl is a truly psychotic drug / arms dealer who loves to gather up lost but innocent young men, tell them that they are special, and then turn them into cold blooded killers. Carl gets his thrills from corrupting the virtuous. There are many comments throughout the movie - both by the cops and the old time mobsters - about how these young, sweet kids are having their lives destroyed by drugs and the lure of cash. In one scene, an old mob guy is...

Super British Film Noir
I thought that I had seen all of Harvey Keitel's films but, due to the inexplicable failure of this film to attain a theatrical distributor in the U.S., I had never even heard of this one. Then I caught it on Bravo a few weeks ago and it knocked me out! It's a gritty, tough British crime film in the tradition of THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY. The cast is very good - of course, Keitel is excellent as a weary American liaison to the English police, but Craig Kelly (currently in the Brit TV series QUEER AS FOLK) is also impressive as Chris, a young man struggling to survive the mean streets of London. This film is truly a pleasant surprise.

Both Mortensen's and Keitel's fill their roles quite well, but that's all,
THE YOUNG AMERICANS, released 1993, is a picture whose script
appears to have been written by a 14 year old, considering the
social circle of the protagonists, the title of the movie itself,
and the simplicity of the story. Unfortunately, those facts didn't
turn out to be trumps for the picture.

The strong point, is Harvey Keitel, who brings natural charisma and
realism to the filming, playing a police detective on loan to
Interpol (international enforcement) tracking down a weapons
trafficker, played amusingly by the sometimes enigmatic star Viggo
Mortensen.

The lesson of this movie, is difficult to surmise, considering the
confused, fatuous plot. Perhaps it is to bring patience to the
segment of the population who is over 21, with regards to those
younger than that age bracket, with a secondary goal bring to have
the juvenile element reflect on the serious consequences of taking
the message...

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