''Made in U.S.A'' is a 1966 French

crime comedy film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring

Anna Karina Anna Karina (born Hanne Karin Blarke Bayer; September 22, 1940 – December 14, 2019)

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

and

Jean-Pierre Léaud Jean-Pierre Léaud, ComM (; born 28 May 1944) is a French actor, known for playing Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut's series of films about that character, beginning with ''The 400 Blows'' (1959). He also worked several times with Jean-Luc ...

. It was inspired by the Howard Hawks film ''

The Big Sleep ''The Big Sleep'' (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by American-British writer Raymond Chandler, the first to feature the detective Philip Marlowe. It has been adapted for film twice, in 1946 and again in 1978. The story is set in Los Angel ...

''—in turn based on the novel of the same name by Raymond Chandler—and unofficially based on the novel ''The Jugger'', by Richard Stark (an alias of

Donald E. Westlake Donald Edwin Westlake (July 12, 1933 – December 31, 2008) was an American writer, with more than a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into ...

). 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 United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The film had its U.S. premiere on April 1, 2009 (three months after Westlake's death) at the

Castro Theatre The Castro Theatre is a historic movie palace in San Francisco that became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street in the Castro District, it was built in 1922 with a California Churrigueresque fa� ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

in a newly restored print distributed by Rialto Pictures. Criterion released the film on DVD in July 2009.

Premise

Paula Nelson goes to Atlantic-Cité to meet her lover, Richard Politzer, at an unknown point in the future (possibly 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 writer David Goodis. Paula is arrested and interrogated. From then on, she encounters many

gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

Cast

Anna Karina Anna Karina (born Hanne Karin Blarke Bayer; September 22, 1940 – December 14, 2019)

as Paula Nelson *

as Donald Siegel * László Szabó as Richard Widmark * Ernest Menzer as Edgar Typhus * Kyôko Kosaka as Doris Mizoguchi *

Yves Afonso Yves Afonso (13 February 1944 – 21 January 2018) was a French actor. He was born in Saulieu in the Côte-d'Or ''département''. Since his uncredited debut in the movie '' Masculin, féminin'' in 1966, he had many roles, both in movies and on ...

as David Goodis * Marc Dudicourt as barman * Sylvain Godet as Robert MacNamara *

Jean-Claude Bouillon Jean-Claude Bouillon (27 December 1941 – 31 July 2017) was a French actor. He appeared in more than eighty films from 1966 until 2015. Filmography References Footnotes Sources * External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouillon, Jean-Clau ...

as Inspector Aldrich *

Philippe Labro Philippe Labro (born 27 August 1936) is a French author, journalist and film director. He has worked for RTL, ''Paris Match'', TF1 and Antenne 2. He is a laureate of the Prix Interallié, a French literary distinction founded in 1930, whic ...

as himself

Background

The film was shot at the same time as ''

Two or Three Things I Know About Her ''Two or Three Things I Know About Her'' (french: Deux ou trois choses que je sais d'elle) is a 1967 French New Wave film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, one of three features he completed that year. As with the other two ('' La Chinois ...

''. Godard did it to help his friend and producer,

Georges de Beauregard Georges de Beauregard (23 December 1920 Marseille – 10 September 1984 Paris) was a French film producer who produced works by many of the French New Wave directors. In 1968, he was a member of the jury at the 18th Berlin International Film ...

, through difficulties after the censorship of '' The Nun'' (1966), a film by

Jacques Rivette Jacques Rivette (; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine '' Cahiers du Cinéma''. He made twenty-nine films, including '' L'amour f ...

, that he produced. This is the last full-length film on which Karina and Godard collaborated. He again directed her in a segment ("Anticipation, ou: l'amour en l'an 2000" (Anticipation: or Love in the Year 2000)) of the film ''

The Oldest Profession ''The Oldest Profession'' (french: Le Plus Vieux Métier du monde) is a 1967 internationally co-produced comedy film. It features contributions from six different film directors, each one doing a segment on prostitution through the ages. Plot ...

'' (1967).

has a cameo in a cafe scene where she sings " As Tears Go By". Characters in the film are named for such real-life personages as

Don Siegel Donald Siegel ( ; October 26, 1912 – April 20, 1991) was an American film and television director and producer. Siegel was described by ''The New York Times'' as "a director of tough, cynical and forthright action-adventure films whose taut ...

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed about one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include ''The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), '' The Life of Oharu'' (1952), ''Ugets ...

Richard Widmark Richard Weedt Widmark (December 26, 1914March 24, 2008) was an American film, stage, and television actor and producer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, ''Kiss of Death'' (1947) ...

Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the ...

David Goodis David Loeb Goodis (March 2, 1917 – January 7, 1967) was an American writer of crime fiction noted for his output of short stories and novels in the noir fiction genre. Born in Philadelphia, Goodis alternately resided there and in New York Cit ...

, and

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

. Paula Nelson is probably named for

Baby Face Nelson Lester Joseph Gillis (December 6, 1908 – November 27, 1934), also known as George Nelson and Baby Face Nelson, was an American bank robber who became a criminal partner of John Dillinger, when he helped Dillinger escape from prison, in Crown P ...

, about whom Siegel had made a film starring Mickey Rooney. The film is dedicated to "Nick and Sam", referring to

Nicholas Ray Nicholas Ray (born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle Jr., August 7, 1911 – June 16, 1979) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor best known for the 1955 film '' Rebel Without a Cause.'' He is appreciated for many narrative features p ...

and Samuel Fuller, "Hollywood mavericks who were objects of filial awe and Oedipal aggression" for Godard.

Reception

''Made in U.S.A'' "has rarely been seen in the U.S.A."; it was shown at the 1967

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, i ...

, prompting ''The New York Times'' to call it an "often bewildering

potpourri Potpourri ( ) is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant materials used to provide a gentle natural scent, commonly in residential settings. It is often placed in a decorative bowl. The word "potpourri" comes into English from the French ...

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." Over forty years later,

A.O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic. He has been chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' since 2004, a title he shares with Manohla Dargis. Early life Scott was born on July 10, 1966 in ...

saw it at

Film Forum Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget. Kare ...

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:

There is, for one thing, a pouting and lovely
Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...
singing an ''a capella'' version of ' As Tears Go By.' There are skinny young men smoking and arguing. There are the bright Pop colors of modernity juxtaposed with the weathered, handsome ordinariness of Old France, all of it beautifully photographed by
Raoul Coutard Raoul Coutard (16 September 1924 – 8 November 2016) was a French cinematographer. He is best known for his connection with the Nouvelle Vague period and particularly for his work with director Jean-Luc Godard. Coutard also shot films for New Wa ...
. There are political speeches delivered via
squawk box ''Squawk Box'' is an American business news television program that airs from 6 to 9 a.m. Eastern time on CNBC. The program is co-hosted by Joe Kernen, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Since debuting in 1995, the show has spawned a number ...
. And of course there is a maddening, liberating indifference to conventions of narrative coherence, psychological verisimilitude or emotional accessibility.

The film holds a rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.

References

External links

* *
Made in U.S.A.
from Rialto Pictures
Made in U.S.A.
from

, including a January 200
Q & A with co-star László Szabó''Made in U.S.A: The Long Goodbye''
an essay by

J. Hoberman James Lewis Hoberman (born March 14, 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, author and academic. He began working at ''The Village Voice'' in the 1970s, became a full-time staff writer in 1983, and was the newspaper's senior film critic ...

at the Criterion Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Made In Usa (Film) 1966 films 1966 comedy films 1966 crime films 1960s avant-garde and experimental films 1960s comedy mystery films 1960s crime comedy films Films based on American novels Films based on works by Donald E. Westlake Films directed by Jean-Luc Godard Films set in France Films set in the future French avant-garde and experimental films French comedy mystery films French crime comedy films 1960s French-language films Films set in Atlantic City, New Jersey 1960s French films Foreign films set in the United States