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An American Dream

  • 1966
  • Approved
  • 1h 43m
IMDb RATING
4.8/10
576
YOUR RATING
An American Dream (1966)
DramaThriller

A TV talk-show host who may have killed his wife finds himself being pursued by both the police and a gang of hoods.A TV talk-show host who may have killed his wife finds himself being pursued by both the police and a gang of hoods.A TV talk-show host who may have killed his wife finds himself being pursued by both the police and a gang of hoods.

  • Director
    • Robert Gist
  • Writers
    • Mann Rubin
    • Norman Mailer
    • Howard Rodman
  • Stars
    • Stuart Whitman
    • Janet Leigh
    • Eleanor Parker
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.8/10
    576
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Robert Gist
    • Writers
      • Mann Rubin
      • Norman Mailer
      • Howard Rodman
    • Stars
      • Stuart Whitman
      • Janet Leigh
      • Eleanor Parker
    • 19User reviews
    • 13Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Photos28

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    Top cast22

    Edit
    Stuart Whitman
    Stuart Whitman
    • Stephen Rojack
    Janet Leigh
    Janet Leigh
    • Cherry McMahon
    Eleanor Parker
    Eleanor Parker
    • Deborah Rojack
    Barry Sullivan
    Barry Sullivan
    • Roberts
    Lloyd Nolan
    Lloyd Nolan
    • Barney Kelly
    Murray Hamilton
    Murray Hamilton
    • Arthur Kabot
    J.D. Cannon
    J.D. Cannon
    • Walt Leznicki
    • (as J. D. Cannon)
    Susan Denberg
    Susan Denberg
    • Ruta
    Les Crane
    Les Crane
    • Nicky
    Warren Stevens
    Warren Stevens
    • Johnny Dell
    Joe De Santis
    Joe De Santis
    • Eddie Ganucci
    Stacy Harris
    Stacy Harris
    • Det. O'Brien
    Paul Mantee
    Paul Mantee
    • Shago Martin
    Harold Gould
    Harold Gould
    • Ganucci's Attorney
    George Takei
    George Takei
    • Ord Long
    Kelly Jean Peters
    Kelly Jean Peters
    • Freya
    Hal K. Dawson
    • Apartment House Guard
    • (uncredited)
    Richard Derr
    Richard Derr
    • Jack Hale
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Robert Gist
    • Writers
      • Mann Rubin
      • Norman Mailer
      • Howard Rodman
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews19

    4.8576
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    10

    Featured reviews

    5movieswithgreg

    So ludicrous and grotesque, I expect Batman to cameo

    This has every appearance of a mid-1960s contemporary television drama, filmed on 1960s television studio sets, using 1960s television lighting, using 1960s television music, with overskilled movie actors for the roles they're given. I expect an epilogue announcing "this is a quinn-martin production." t Janet Leigh's 1940 noir moll dialogue is ludicrous almost to the point of spoof. Eleanor Parker's portrayal is grotesque, indulgent, and minimally watchable. There are some interesting police procedural tidbits, almost lifted from Dragnet. J.D. Cannon is great as a Joe Friday with anger issues.

    The two stars, Whitman and Leigh, seemed to take a mini-vacation from acting. They're both easy to watch, but seem distracted or tired or like they're donating their time for free. I don't know what the norman mailer novel was like, but I hope to god it wasn't like this movie.
    hausrathman

    Absolute Schlock

    Stuart Whitman plays a hard-hitting television journalist intent on taking on the mob with a rich, shrewish wife, Eleanor Parker. After he helps his wife take a nosedive over the balcony of her penthouse suite, she hits the car of the mafioso. Then, this flurry of coincidences continues as he discovers that one of the Mafiosos is dating his long lost love, Janet Leigh. Geez.

    The lurid, over-the-top first act of this film caught my interest, but I only stayed with it as a morbid curiosity. The dialog was horrible. Perhaps they lifted it from Mailer's book, but literary dialog often makes for bad screen dialog. Even worse, now one in this film behaves like a real human being would behave. Stuart knows the police believe he murdered his wife, so what does he do? The night he is released from questioning, he immediately hooks up with his ex-girlfriend and sleeps with her! (This, despite the fact that he knows he is being followed the police!) The mafia don literally threatens Stuart in a room of police officers. Janet Leigh stays with him despite him calling her a whore. His father-in-law doesn't really seem to care whether his beloved daughter was murdered or not as long as her death isn't labeled suicide so that he bury her in a Catholic cemetery. I could go on and on.

    The film is absurd. It deserves the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment. In the end, the most interesting thing was trying to figure out what TV shows from the '60s and '70s the supporting players ended up on.
    5kathytexan-12585

    Music by Johnny Mandel

    The film was ridiculous but that theme song will live forever. A Time for Love, by Johnny Mandel, has an unforgettable melody and Mandel's arrangement, playing over the opening credits, was the best part of the movie. Vidal Sassoon also gets special mention for Janet Leigh's chic hairstyle. The pacing and direction were so weak, I lost interest early on. I was hoping the movie would be good but it wasn't. The five stars go to Johnny Mandel. The rest of the movie deserves a big fat zero.
    3Ed-Shullivan

    Cheap imitation of (1958) A CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

    Eleanor Parker is an embarrassment to acting. Her ugly and obnoxious portrayal of rich and spoiled socialite Deborah Kelly Rojack who goads her war hero husband Stephen Richard Rojack (Stuart Whitman) into a bedroom tussle that lands them both overhanging their penthouse balcony until she falls to her annoying death was pitiful.

    Talk about overacting and a crummy screenplay that includes a jilted lover and dance hall singer to the mob, a girl named Cherry McMahon (Janet Leigh) and the murdered daughter's wealthy father Barney Kelly (Lloyd Nolan) all making our war hero turned TV broadcaster Stephen Richard Rojack a target for everyone including the mob.

    The film tries in vain to build suspense with a penetrating music score and continued non-stop hurried dialogue between Stuart Whitman and EVERYONE and ANYONE else who shares screen time with him. Well it just does not work.

    A most forgettable film worthy of a 3 out of 10 rating and nothing more.
    4fredit-43004

    Enough plot for several much better films

    I watched this film for the first time today, having avoided it since its release. Mailer wrote the book, Janet Leigh is in it, so can it REALLY be as bad as all that? Oh gee . . . Eleanor Parker opens the "action" with a performance that beggars description. She acts demented, if not possessed. In the context of the film, it is impossible to believe she did not manifest bizarre behavior, such that suicide would be deemed unthinkable. Then there's the unexpected involvement of the mob boss as the film veers away from a police procedural into film noir. And then comes the whole religious prohibition against abortion and suicide, but by that point . . . Who cares? This is not one of those films which are so bad they are good. This is just bad.

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Director Robert Gist had a small acting role in the 1958 film adaptation of Norman Mailer's novel, The Naked and the Dead (1958). "An American Dream" and Mailer's own adaptation of Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987) have been the only other Mailer novels filmed to date, though a number of other films have been based on Mailer's nonfiction books.
    • Goofs
      The wall calendar inside Lt. Roberts' office is for January 1959 while the wall calendar just outside his door is for September 1963.
    • Quotes

      Stephen Rojack: I want a divorce.

      Deborah Rojack: From the daughter of the eighth richest man in the whole U.S.? Bitch I am but rich I am.

      Stephen Rojack: Tired I am. The war's over.

    • Connections
      Featured in Norman Mailer: The American (2010)
    • Soundtracks
      A Time for Love
      Music by Johnny Mandel

      Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

      Performed by Janet Leigh (uncredited), dubbed by Jackie Ward (uncredited)

      [Cherry performs the song in her club act]

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 28, 1966 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • See You in Hell, Darling
    • Filming locations
      • 1430 Wright Street, Los Angeles, California, USA(As the Castle Motel, Cherry McMahon's apartment building.)
    • Production company
      • William Conrad Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 43m(103 min)
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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