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American Pastime

Play trailer Poster for American Pastime 2007 1h 45m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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33% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 68% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
The lives of Japanese-Americans upend during World War II.
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American Pastime

Critics Reviews

View All (9) Critics Reviews
Kevin Thomas Los Angeles Times A moving, heartfelt drama. May 11, 2007 Full Review Ryan Cracknell Movie Views Full of interesting characters and placed in a charged setting, but the preachy and obvious spin it takes is ultimately melodramatic and predictable. Aug 24, 2010 Full Review Don Willmott Filmcritic.com American Pastime asks what it truly means to be an American. What better question to ask these days? Rated: 3/5 Nov 15, 2007 Full Review David Cornelius DVDTalk.com While everything else about Pastime is very good, it's all rooted in a mediocre screenplay. Rated: 2.5/5 Jun 9, 2007 Full Review Donald Munro Fresno Bee While historically sensitive and thought-provoking, the film has serious flaws. The story line is scattered and the direction uneven. Rated: C May 16, 2007 Full Review Bob Strauss Los Angeles Daily News American Pastime's inclusive, forgiving message could hardly be more admirable. It could have been more exciting, though. Rated: 2.5/4 May 11, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (42) audience reviews
Cory S American Pastime is personal favorite of mine on many levels of appreciation. The forced removal of loyal Japanese Americans and their families sent to concentration camps with their Civil Rights denied, has hardly been mentioned in our education system explaining the Executive Order 9066 signed by FDR for placing 120,000 Japanese American into 10 concentration camps throughout the United States during the beginning of WWII. American Pastime tells the how baseball served as a distraction to the incarcerees to help uplift their spirits during this very dark and shameful period of American history. My family was incarcerated from San Jose and sent to Topaz, Utah where this film takes place. My mother and father never talked about their incarceration and it wasn't until I was in college did I learned about this atrocity inflicted upon upstanding and loyal American citizens. American Pastime reveal the strength and dignity of the Japanese Americans and the will to be loyal to a country that so ill-treated them as citizens. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/30/24 Full Review taidoggo Pretty solid movie it does a good job showing how the internment camps were and the acting was great I highly recommend Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/28/23 Full Review Audience Member This is the best movie I’ve ever seen Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/19/22 Full Review Audience Member The only words I can come up with, to discribe this movie is, moving, inspiring, thoughtful, but most of all WATCH IT! Nine 'critics' can only come up with 33%? They better get retrained for some other type of employment! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member A nice little drama gem I found on Netflix. Could it have been better? Sure, but the film does it's job and I think is a good introductory film to a very dark period in American history- when hundreds of thousands of American citizens were denied thier rights, great loss of property and livelihoods. Set against the backdrop of baseball and jazz music, the actors did a really good job and told it's tale. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member I am a complete sucker for these kinds of movies. This movie touches the heart. It is a good reminder that the American-Japanese went through a hard time during WWII, not just the Jews. Though America was not so harsh on Japanese, as Germans were to the Jews, they still deserve recognition for their plight. Add a little baseball rivalry, forbidden romance, and questions of honor to this story, and we have a nicely done little film... Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Read all reviews
American Pastime

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis The lives of Japanese-Americans upend during World War II.
Director
Desmond Nakano
Producer
Tom Gorai, Barry Rosenbush, Terry Spazek
Screenwriter
Desmond Nakano, Tony Kayden
Production Co
ShadowCatcher Entertainment
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 19, 2016
Runtime
1h 45m
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