American Heart is a 1993 film by Martin Bell, starring Edward Furlong

Edward Furlong

Edward Walter Furlong is an American actor whose best known film roles are John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Daniel Vinyard in American History X. He is a two-time Saturn Award nominee, winning the 1992 Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for his performance in...

 and Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges

Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....

. It was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award in a number of categories, and won in the Best Male Lead category.

Synopsis

American Heart tells the story of a recently released convict (Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges

Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....

) pursued by his 12-year-old son (Edward Furlong

Edward Furlong

Edward Walter Furlong is an American actor whose best known film roles are John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Daniel Vinyard in American History X. He is a two-time Saturn Award nominee, winning the 1992 Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for his performance in...

), who hungers for a father and insists on joining him on Seattle's skid row.

Production

The film's non-Hollywood realism can be explained by its origins. First came "Streetwise," a series of documentary photographs of Seattle street kids, for Life magazine, by Mary Ellen Mark. Next Mark and her husband, Martin Bell, produced a documentary film called "Streetwise." The screenplay for "American Heart," the fictionalized dramatization, was based on this material.

External links

• http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_heart/
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103670/