American Me poster & wallpaper

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Daniel Villarreal, Danny De La Paz

Actor-turned-director Edward James Olmos set out to spread the word against the destructiveness of gang violence with this 1992 gritty drama. Set in the barrios of East Los Angeles, he attempts to cov...( read more  read more... )er 30 years in the life of a family with strong gang ties. This brutally realistic story may not intentionally glorify violence, but it offers no answers. (Olmos actually shot the prison scenes in Folsom, which explains their harsh reality.) Great performances though, especially by Olmos and William Forsythe. Olmos plays a gang leader released from prison who is finally in touch with himself, only to realize it is too late. The one major problem with this well-intentioned flick is that it is rated R for violence, nudity, and profanity. Therefore, the kids who most need its message are not, in theory, the ones who will see it. --Rochelle O'Gorman

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92% liked it

7,978 ratings

R, 125 min.

Directed by: Edward James Olmos

Release Date: March 13, 1992

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DVD Release Date: January 7, 2003

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Flixster Reviews (575)

  • flixsterman
    March 8, 2009
    flixsterman
    This one could have easily been titled Mexican-American History X. It's a little less polished but every bit as captivating.
  • DrBenway
    November 25, 2008
    DrBenway
    Gut-wrenching, brutal, and powerful, American Me is not enjoyable in the conventional sense, but stands out as one of the most impressive purely dramatic offerings. It's a story of violence and its dehumanizing consequences that, in some ways, is reminiscent of The Godfather, wit...( read more)h characters that echo those from the Puzo/Ford-Coppola epic.

    Director Edward James Olmos fearlessly takes aim at the culture of machismo which has enveloped so many inner city youths. This is an unrelenting condemnation of that lifestyle, a portrait of the sort of brutality that violence begets. In my opinion, one of the very few "gang" films that seemed to get it right and doesn't try to glorify the lifestyle, but instead show consequences.
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  • stopitgoaway
    October 19, 2008
    stopitgoaway
    "American Me" is arguably the most significant film not discussed in the same breath with crime epics such as "The Godfather." It was clearly made, both consciously and perhaps subconsciously to be the Mexican Godfather film and that is hardly a bad thing. Its honesty regarding t...( read more)he emotional costs of violence and murder are on par with that film. I don't know what to say to anyone who critiques Edward James Olmos. First, this actor's capacity to convey a complicated range of emotions without words is absolutely staggering and has been seen to great effect in many great films including "Blade Runner." Additionally, he is inarguably the premiere Latino / Chicano filmmaker and actor of all time. If you look at the films he has been involved with, think about how they have dominated the way Hispanic people, Mexicans in particular, have been seen by others who would, largely, not even know of the experiences of their neighbors. "American Me" is so unflinching that, after seeing it, I had to see it again to believe it was actually made by or released by a major studio. Once upon a time studio films featured honest portraits of life but rarely any more. "American Me" tho hardly the knee-slapping comedy some reviewer wanted or expected, conveys an honest sense of the life lived by many without the hope of education or prosperity but with the same need for respect and something bigger than themselves to believe in that you or anyone else has and lives their life by. If you want to see a life perhaps very different than yours depicted with uncommon honesty, watch this film.
  • FangsFirst
    November 26, 2007
    FangsFirst
    I tend to see Edward James Olmos on a cover or cast list and immediately lose interest.

    Don't get me wrong, this is technically unfair because I actually think Olmos is a very good actor, but I find he tends to show up in lame movies which waste his talent. I later noted positiv...( read more)e reviews--and then that Olmos in fact directed this one. I was more interested now, since it's better not to see someone with talent wasted, and surely he wouldn't waste his OWN talent.

    Inspired by the story of Rodolfo Cadena, one of the founders of La Eme (aka the Mexican Mafia), but fictionalizing elements (surprise, surprise!) of his life and generalizing things a bit, this is essentially just that, the story of a founder of La Eme. Montoya Santana (Olmos as an adult, Panchito Gómez as a youth) is a Chicano kid who grows up in "the Barrio" of East L.A., forming a gang with pals Mundo (Richard Coca, later Pepe Serna) and J.D. (Steve Wilcox, then William Forsythe) called La Primera. They take a shortcut through another gang's territory one night and break into a diner--the owner of which happens to live adjacent and catches them, leading to juvenile detention for the lot, and a prosthetic leg for J.D. (thus building his correlation to the real Joe "Pegleg" Morgan, and explaining why a white kid is talking with a Chicano accent and is such a close buddy with a Chicano from East L.A.). Events there bring them all to prison eventually, where La Eme is really born and they begin to control Folsom Prison from the inside, the drug trade, prostitution, everything.

    Essentially, the film functions as a vehicle for Olmos' own interest in preventing and discouraging gang membership, which is a subject near and dear to him as he grew up in East Los Angeles himself.

    He makes interesting choices throughout, with an actor-mounted camera during a depiction of the 1940s' Zoot Suit Riots as the man is carried out into the street by marauding sailors. The soundtrack is composed of 1950s classics and 60s and 70s pop like a Los Lobos cover of "Shotgun" and Ike and Tina doing Sly Stone's "Higher," as well as a stirring, bombastic sort of score with strong, loud strings. The entire plot is told in flashback from Santana's own narration, occasionally poetic, as he recounts the story of his birth all the way through the incarceration we first see him in when he begins telling us.

    It's not a movie that jumps up and kicks you, dramatically, nor is it one that you cringe through or restrain cringes through. The message certainly kicks you because it's all very authentic. As much as we grow up with Santana and gain some kind of empathy with him, he never becomes a happy, positive role model--not even close. Even when we see him outside the prison, even when we see him with a woman he sort of cares about, even when he finally starts to accept some responsibility for his actions. It is acknowledged that the film is pretty brutal. It's not gory, and it's not quite Scorsese level brutal, but it is pretty dark, bleak and matter-of-fact about its violence and rape, which adds an appropriate air of authenticity to the whole affair, making for an interesting and good viewing experience overall, though not the happiest one in the world.
  • RiderOfTheStorms
    March 16, 2007
    RiderOfTheStorms
    really good movie.
  • dukeakasmudge
    October 24, 2009
    dukeakasmudge
    I was impressed by how good this movie was
  • romeolin05
    October 17, 2009
    romeolin05
    A powerful gangster movie.

    J.D: "Orale Que triagas de huevos i mean de Nuevo'' jajajaja
  • Phonex
    October 4, 2009
    Phonex
    The 1992 film, American Me, alludes to the fact that the lead character, Santana (played by Edward James Olmos), was conceived when his mother was raped by sailors during the Zoot Suit Riots.
  • NuditysShiver
    September 15, 2009
    NuditysShiver
    Edward James Olmos made some mistakes when filming American Me. One of the main ones had to be the part where he got raped in juvenile. Something that did not happen to the original man that he portrayed in this film. Mexican Mafia are known for punishing members having an...( read more)ything to do with homosexuality. Two parts in this movie showcased that and almost cost Edward James Olmos his life. Even though American Me was colorfully shot, most of what was said here was inaccurate. I did love the soundtrack, though.
  • Lencho
    August 25, 2009
    Lencho
    the must see movie if your a gangster

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