Curiosities & Time Capsules: “An American Tragedy” 1960’s style.

An American Dream (1966, Robert Gist) * 

“An American Dream' ... is a private nightmare of lust, violence and murder! ... Where a bed is a battlefield and love is armed combat...!” (tagline)

Stagy and overacted (not to mention self-involved), An American Dream is interesting only as a time capsule of the mid-60’s and reflective of Norman Mailer’s larger than life vision of himself.  The story involves a talk show host (Stuart Whitman) who kills his wife (or at least was slow in stopping her from jumping off their balcony 30 stories to the street).

The plot is eerily like a scene from the biography of Mailer; an exercise in life imitates art, and art imitates life. In 1960, Mailer stabbed his second wife Adele with a penknife after a party, nearly killing her. He was involuntarily committed to Bellevue Hospital for 17 days; his wife would not press charges, and he later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault, and was given a suspended sentence.

Over the entire movie is a messy adaptation of Norman Mailer's novel, with Stuart Whitman as the ruthless TV commentator who implies that the cops are in the pay of the Mob, only to find himself winding up on his wife’s murder charge. It would like to be nightmarish and Kafkaesque, instead it's just tediously violent.

Eleanor Parker as Whitman's embittered and alcoholic ex-wife, brings the thing to life in her scenes, but otherwise it's a long haul. The film, with a strong beginning intensified by Parker's powerful portrayal of the wife, deteriorates into a cynical look at 1960s society. Janet Leigh is totally wasted as the “whore” who sells him out to the mob. The song "A Time for Love" was nominated for an Oscar. On the upside there are several scenes shot on location shots in and around downtown Los Angels in 1966.

In many ways the look (especially the set design and art direction), feel and attitude (and violence) is reworked the following year in John Boorman’s thriller Point Black with Lee Marvin from the same year; with much better effect.