View source for Made in U.S.A. (1966 film)

{{Infobox film
| name   = Made in U.S.A.
| image   = made_usa.jpg
| caption = Movie Poster
| director       = [[Jean-Luc Godard]]
| writer         = [[Jean-Luc Godard]]<br/>[[Donald E. Westlake]] (novel ''The Jugger'')
| starring       = [[Anna Karina]]<br/>[[Jean-Pierre Léaud]]
| producer       = [[Georges de Beauregard]]
| music          = [[Robert Schumann]]<br/>[[Ludwig van Beethoven]]
| cinematography = [[Raoul Coutard]]
| released = 1966
| runtime  = 85 minutes
| country  = France
| language = French
| budget = $50,000<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060647/business Box Office Information for ''Made in U.S.A.''] [[IMDb]]. Retrieved April 16, 2012.</ref>
| gross =  $95,209<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2009/0MIUS.php|publisher=The Numbers|title=Made in U.S.A, Box Office Information|accessdate=April 16, 2012}}</ref>
}}
'''''Made in U.S.A'''''  is a 1966 [[Cinema of France|French film]] directed by [[Jean-Luc Godard]]. It stars [[Anna Karina]], [[Jean-Pierre Léaud]], [[László Szabó (actor)|László Szabó]] and [[Yves Afonso]]. It was inspired by the [[Howard Hawks]] film ''[[The Big Sleep (1946 film)|The Big Sleep]]'' and unofficially based on the novel ''The Jugger'', by Richard Stark (a.k.a. [[Donald E. Westlake]]). Because neither Godard nor the producer paid the book's adaptation rights and following legal action by Westlake, the film was long unavailable in the [[United States]]. The film had its U.S. premiere on April 1, 2009 (three months after Westlake's death) at the [[Castro Theatre]] in [[San Francisco]] in a newly restored print distributed by [[Rialto Pictures]].<ref>[http://www.rialtopictures.com/made.html Made in U.S.A.] from [[Rialto Pictures]]</ref> [[The Criterion Collection|Criterion]] released the film on DVD in July 2009.<ref>[http://www.criterion.com/films/2109-made-in-u-s-a ''Made in U.S.A''] from [[The Criterion Collection]]</ref>

== Plot ==

Paula Nelson ([[Anna Karina]]) goes to [[Atlantic City]] to meet her lover, Richard Politzer, at an unknown point in the future (maybe 1969). Once there, she learns that Richard is dead and decides to investigate. In her hotel room, she meets Typhus, whom she ends up knocking out. His corpse is later found in the apartment of David Goodis ([[Yves Afonso]]), a writer. Paula is arrested and interrogated. From then on, she encounters many [[gangster]]s.

== Cast ==

* [[Anna Karina]] as Paula Nelson
* [[Jean-Pierre Léaud]] as Donald Siegel
* [[László Szabó (actor)|László Szabó]] as Richard Widmark
* Ernest Menzer as Edgar Typhus
* Kyôko Kosaka as Doris Mizoguchi
* [[Yves Afonso]] as David Goodis
* Marc Dudicourt as Barman
* Sylvain Godet as [[Robert MacNamara]]
* Claude Bouillon as Inspector Aldrich
* [[Philippe Labro]] as Himself

== Background ==
The movie was shot at the same time as ''[[Two or Three Things I Know About Her]]''. Godard did it to help his friend and producer, [[Georges de Beauregard]], in difficulties after the censorship of ''[[The Nun (1966 film)|The Nun]]'', a movie by [[Jacques Rivette]], that he produced.{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}}

This is the last full-length movie where [[Anna Karina]] and [[Jean-Luc Godard]] collaborated. He again directed her in a segment (called "Anticipation, ou: l'amour en l'an 2000" (Anticipation: or Love in the Year 2000)) of the movie ''Le plus vieux métier du monde'' (1967).

[[Marianne Faithfull]] has a cameo in a cafe scene where she sings "[[As Tears Go By (song)|As Tears Go By]]".

Characters in the film are named for such real-life personages as [[Don Siegel]], [[Kenji Mizoguchi]], [[Richard Widmark]], [[Robert McNamara]], [[David Goodis]] and [[Richard Nixon]].  Paula Nelson is probably named for [[Baby Face Nelson]], about whom Siegel had made a [[Baby Face Nelson (film)|film]] starring [[Mickey Rooney]]  

The film is dedicated to "Nick and Sam," referring to [[Nicholas Ray]] and [[Samuel Fuller]], "Hollywood mavericks who were objects of filial awe and [[Oedipus|Oedipal]] aggression" for Godard.<ref name="nyt2009"/>

== Reception ==

''Made in U.S.A'' "has rarely been seen in the U.S.A.";<ref name="nyt2009">{{cite web|first=A. O. |last=Scott |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/movies/09made.html |title= Godard’s ’60s Policier, Set in Atlantic City, France |publisher=The New York Times |date=January 8, 2009 |accessdate=2011-05-23}}</ref> it was shown at the 1967 [[New York Film Festival]], prompting''The New York Times'' to call it an "often bewildering [[potpourri]] of film narration, imagery and message" and point out that "Anna Karina, as the questing girl friend, supplies not only a luminous beauty but also a unifying thread of humanity."<ref name="nyt1967">{{cite web|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D0CEEDB1238E53BBC4051DFBF66838C679EDE |title=Movie Review:''Made in U.S.A.'' |publisher= The New York Times |date= September 28, 1967 |accessdate=2011-05-23}}</ref> Over forty years later, [[A.O. Scott]] saw it at [[Film Forum]] and said while it is "far from a lost masterpiece, it is nonetheless a bright and jagged piece of the jigsaw puzzle of Mr. Godard’s career"; he suggested a number of "reasons for non-Godardians" to see the film:<ref name="nyt2009"/> The film holds a rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.

<blockquote>There is, for one thing, a pouting and lovely [[Marianne Faithfull]] singing an ''a capella'' version of '[[As Tears Go By (song)|As Tears Go By]].' There are skinny young men smoking and arguing. There are the bright [[Pop art|Pop colors of modernity]] juxtaposed with the weathered, handsome ordinariness of Old France, all of it beautifully photographed by [[Raoul Coutard]]. There are political speeches delivered via [[squawk box]].  And of course there is a maddening, liberating indifference to conventions of narrative coherence, psychological verisimilitude or emotional accessibility.</blockquote>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==

* {{IMDb title|id=0060647|title=Made in U.S.A.}}
* {{Amg movie|100870|Made in U.S.A.}}
* [http://www.rialtopictures.com/made.html Made in U.S.A.] from [[Rialto Pictures]]
* [http://www.filmforum.org/films/made.html Made in U.S.A.] from [[Film Forum]], including a January 2008 [http://www.filmforumnewyork.org/mp3/MadeInUSAJan92009.mp3 Q & A with co-star László Szabó]

{{Parkerseries}}
{{Jean-Luc Godard}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Made In Usa (Film)}}
[[Category:1966 films]]
[[Category:1960s avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:1960s crime films]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Donald E. Westlake]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jean-Luc Godard]]
[[Category:Films set in Atlantic City]]
[[Category:Films set in the future]]
[[Category:French avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:French crime films]]
[[Category:French films]]
[[Category:French-language films]]