A dangerously disturbed Vietnam veteran struggles with life 15 years after his return home, and slowly falls into insanity from his gritty urban lifestyle.A dangerously disturbed Vietnam veteran struggles with life 15 years after his return home, and slowly falls into insanity from his gritty urban lifestyle.A dangerously disturbed Vietnam veteran struggles with life 15 years after his return home, and slowly falls into insanity from his gritty urban lifestyle.
- Frankie Dunlan
- (as Ricky Giovinazzo)
- Terry - Strung-Out Junkie
- (as Ed Pepitone)
- Social Worker
- (as Carmine Giovinazzo)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAll the Vietnam flashback scenes were shot in the swamps of Staten Island.
- GoofsWhen Frankie inspects the revolver drum magazine after loading it, some of the cartridges have a dent in the primer made by a firing pin, meaning that they've already been fired.
- Quotes
Cathy Dunlan: I can't take much more of this!
Frankie Dunlan: Much more of what?
Cathy Dunlan: This! Living like rats! I'm starving! The baby's starving!
Frankie Dunlan: So? I'm hungry too.
Cathy Dunlan: Then do something about it!
Frankie Dunlan: What do you want me to do?
Cathy Dunlan: Get a job!
Frankie Dunlan: There are no jobs!
Cathy Dunlan: Then look for one!
Frankie Dunlan: I am! It's not just us, it's the whole country! There's a recession on!
Cathy Dunlan: The whole country manages to eat! You're out on the streets every day like a zombie! You're not looking for a job! You're waiting for the world to end!
Frankie Dunlan: Hey, good! That should be any day now!
Cathy Dunlan: Go ahead and make jokes, but it's true! You don't care about us! You're off on another planet somewhere! It's not fair! It's just not fair!
- Alternate versionsThe R-rated version is HEAVILY CUT.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Secret Lives of Dentists (2002)
Definitely not a film for everyone, this picture paints a bleak portrait of a veteran GI and former POW, Frankie Dunlan (played by Rick Giovinazzo, brother of the Director), whose memories of his experiences in Viet-Nam have left him functionally deficient upon his return to civilian life. Incapable of holding a job, but saddled with the responsibilities of supporting a wife and deformed child ( a side effect of his Agent-Orange exposure), Frankie awakens each day to a dead-end future, with no perceivable way out. He eventually comes to grips with his hopeless situation in a stark and shocking climax.
This film will never win any acting awards, but the overall milieu is realistically captured and the final effect is powerful, albeit depressing in the extreme.
Worth viewing (particularly via the Troma DVD, released in '98), despite the production drawbacks. And kudos to Troma for being the (only) apparent distribution firm willing to release this film. Troma also recently rescued Dario Argento's "The Stendahl Syndrome" from distribution limbo, so despite Lloyd Kaufman's (Troma topliner and tacit "official" spokesman)outright pandering to the video market's lowest (and I mean lowest) common denominator, he proves that, at least once in a while, he has some genuine "Taste".
- sanzar
- Mar 29, 2001
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- American Nightmare
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $40,000 (estimated)