Young Americans (1967)

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Movie
Original title Young Americans
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1967
length 104 minutes
Rod
Director Alexander Grasshoff
script Alexander Grasshoff
production Alexander Grasshoff,
Robert Cohn
music Billy Byers
camera Richard Moore

Young Americans is an American documentary from the year 1967 .

action

The Young Americans is a song and dance group founded in 1962 by Milton C. Anderson. In California , Anderson selected 36 young talents who had parental consent to participate if selected. Anderson had to choose the participants from hundreds of applicants.

One of the rejected applicants is Judy Thomas. Anderson encourages her to take dance classes. Meanwhile, the participants undergo tough and extensive rehearsals and exercises. During their bus trips and in their accommodations, romances occur between the young people.

In addition to performing in major cities, the young people also perform in a prison in Menard , Illinois . In the Algonquin Hotel in New York they dress up and imitate the greats of the show. Judy Thomas joins the group in Washington. Not only did she take dance lessons, she also wrote a song for the group. She has the song The Road Ahead performed on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial . The group accepts Judy. The next performance is to take place in Europe.

criticism

Vincent Canby of the New York Times wrote that although the film is a documentary made while on tour, most of it is as carefully staged as if it were shot in a studio. However, the film is a must for anyone interested in American fairy tales.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops found that the footage was mixed into a sympathetic story.

Awards

In 1969 the film was nominated for an Oscar in the category of best documentary . It was first presented as a winner, but due to a formal error (the film was shown in a small preview in 1967), producer and director Grasshoff had to return his Oscar statue. The film Journey Into Self was instead chosen as the winner.

background

The film premiered in October 1967.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Critique of the New York Times (Eng.)
  2. criticism of the USCCB (Engl.) ( Memento of 4 July 2011 at the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ Message from the Los Angeles Times