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The Young Americans

Play trailer Poster for The Young Americans R 1993 1h 44m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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33% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 42% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
New York City drug enforcement officer John Harris (Harvey Keitel) travels to London to help ineffective local policemen battle a powerful drug cartel. Harris needs to put behind bars American ex-pat Carl Frazer (Viggo Mortensen), who recruits rebellious young teens as foot soldiers in his enterprise. With help from British officer Edward Foster (Iain Glen), Harris must navigate London's seedy, drug-fueled underworld in order to take down Frazer's criminal operation.

Critics Reviews

View All (6) Critics Reviews
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews It looks too much like an American gangster film for the Brits to own it. Rated: C+ Jun 12, 2015 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Jul 4, 2005 Full Review Pablo Villaça Cinema em Cena Longo e sem foco, o filme procura conferir maior dimenso aos protagonistas atravs de subtramas dispensveis envolvendo suas parceiras. Rated: 2/5 Feb 23, 2004 Full Review Rebecca Murray About.com Rated: 4/5 Aug 20, 2003 Full Review Tony Toscano Talking Pictures (U.S.) Rated: 2/5 Jan 19, 2003 Full Review Dragan Antulov rec.arts.movies.reviews Rated: 6/10 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (27) audience reviews
Audience Member In order to appreciate the significance of this film you have to understand the British culture and society and how the criminal underground vs. law enforcement works. If you do it will be a masterpiece in comparing how the American way of life differs and yet remains an iconic force to British criminals. Great performances and direction all the way around. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member good gritty crime drama Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Totally underrated and perhaps misunderstood movie. perfectly documented the climate of the crime scene in the UK at the time and along with amazing performances from the entire cast, the Bjork & David Arnold Soundtrack "Play Dead" was - in my opinion - one of the most underrated Soundtracks of all time. For once a director made London look like the international metropolis that it really is and not some cozy little village that previous British movies had portrayed UK Cities to be. Perhaps if anything, it was a movie that could only, really, truly be appreciated by British Citizens and moreover, those of us that had the misfortune to experience their own apportionment of the ugly behavior that was a reality at the time and perhaps still is. One of my all time favorites. 5 Stars Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member great movie and a great soundtrack Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member a hidden gem,great keitel movie Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member I remember going to see this back in 1993 and then forgetting all about it for nearly 20 years until i picked up a copy on DVD . The strange thing is despite the mixed reviews the film got at the time its actually not that bad and it contains two great central performances From Harvey Keitel and Viggo Mortensen. The premise is simple Keitel plays a DEA agent who comes to London in order to help the Met crack a drug ring which uses young Londoners to eliminate the opposistion. What follows is a ruthless game of cat and mouse between the agent and the alwyas excellent Mortensen as a suave but deadly drug dealer. The film works because director Danny Cannon doesnt use the picture postcard view of London that some films use ,Cannons world is dark nightclubs ,dingy dark Sohos streets and decrpid council houses . The film also shows the conflict between old time London Gangsters and the new blood who are more than happy to kill before asking any questions,the films almost pre empts those ghastly gangster films that followed Lock Stock, but its much better than those as its not full of crap mockney actors. A film then with plenty going on its just a shame its young director blew all his promise making the terrible Sly Stallone version of Judge Dredd. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Young Americans

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Movie Info

Synopsis New York City drug enforcement officer John Harris (Harvey Keitel) travels to London to help ineffective local policemen battle a powerful drug cartel. Harris needs to put behind bars American ex-pat Carl Frazer (Viggo Mortensen), who recruits rebellious young teens as foot soldiers in his enterprise. With help from British officer Edward Foster (Iain Glen), Harris must navigate London's seedy, drug-fueled underworld in order to take down Frazer's criminal operation.
Director
Danny Cannon
Producer
Paul Trijbits, Alison Owen
Screenwriter
Danny Cannon, David Hilton
Production Co
Working Title Films, Live Entertainment, StudioCanal, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Rating
R
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 1, 2012
Runtime
1h 44m
Sound Mix
Stereo