Amerika

I am one of the many of thousands who viewed the mini series Amerika and loved it. It was one of the most moving and realistic mini series I have ever seen, actually making one "believe" that we could be invaded by one of our enemies and how vunerable we all are. Since the initial viewing, I have been puzzled as to why it was never shown again, why it is not available in video stores and why half the population has never seen it.

Although parts of it are still vivid in my mind, I live to see it again. Many movies have been made but not with the power that this one relayed. Fantastic acting, realistic plot, awesome ending. It should be made available again, each and every year as with other mini series. I think any and all who have seen it would agree. I know my life stopped each night it aired as I lived in the film. My children were moved as any viewer had to be. We all needed to know that our country was as great as we believe it to be and it was. As a novelist, I believe the writers, as well as the actors all deserved to be nominated for an academy award.

When this aired in 1987, I taped it but rapidly lost interest.

After reading the novelization, I re-watched this recently after discovering torrents of it on 3 DVD's at conspiracycentral.net. It was(to me)a very interesting concept. I liked the archetypes of the three main characters, and a few of the supporting cast. Unfortunately, it was undone by a horrible pace and far too many cardboard characters. Really, we didn't need to stop for 60-120 seconds every time someone says something "important", just to play dramatic music over a montage of people looking pensive.

At heart, I found it an interesting exercise in paranoid fantasy, undone by horrible direction.

For those of you folks who have wished for a modern version of this miniseries showing America under Sharia law, pick up "Prayers of the Assassin", a novel by Robert Ferrigno. It's even more unreadable than Amerika was unwatchable, but plays to paranoids just as well as this. I've seen it on a number of clearance tables at bookstores, so you folks shouldn't have much trouble getting a copy.

Certainly, after twelve long years, one tends to forget quite a bit of the content of a long movie. I'm no exception. It was hard to believe just how much I'd actually forgotten.

It remains one of the best pictures I've ever seen, from beginning to end. Theoretically, the events that occur are imaginable, the powerful acting awakens a feeling of patriotism and kinship with fellow Americans.

Although some feel the ending offers little closure, they were captivated by the plot as the rest of us were, feeling like one of the people of Milford with little else to lose but our self respect.

What can I say. . . everyone should see this movie at least once in their lives.

I remember when this stinkburger came out. I was a senior in High School and remember all the hype surrounding this. One thing stands out and that is when T.V. Guide had an article on the miniseries. The director was whining about how it's O.K. for Tom Cruise to shoot down Russians in Top Gun and that it wasn't O.K. for the Russians to occupy the United States. I thought fine, move to the Soviet Union if you don't like it here! Anyways beyond Kristofferson's overacting and downright annoying character, this could have been done much better. For instance, we get just a snippet of how this happened. No detail so I guess this dumb dumb director left it up to our imaginations, a definite sign of someone who belongs in High School theater. At least Red Dawn gave us a basis this was ridiculously vague at best. Cindy Pickett looked like a zombie in this. She had an annoying and whiney character that made me want to throw her into a Gulag A.S.A.P. If some folks liked it, hey you have the right to but this had no reality or credibility whatsoever. The only person that gave it any kind of life was Sam Neil who looked like he would rather do another Omen movie instead of this tripe. Even the Soviets at the time thought the miniseries was unprobable. I whole heartedly agree with the reviewers who say that after spending up to 10 hours watching this that at least we would get a good bang at the end, you know a CONCLUSION! It ended like a balloon running out of air, wilting into the end. I would much rather watch Red Dawn for 10 hours than this snoozefest. Unprobable plot, cheap effects and sets, dry and uninteresting characters, and finally shotty acting. Kristofferson's younger son looked creepy as well and couldn't act to save his life. One more thing, the reason this isn't shown anymore is that it sucked so bad that networks avoid it like the plague and cable stations don't want a riot outside their studios. This will eventually go down as nothing but a low budget boring MST3K caliber joke.

I was too young to have viewed this movie when it originally aired, but my parents taped it and for some reason kept it around for thirteen years. I finally decided to give it a whirl, thinking it would be an adaptation of the Franz Kafka story (I know, I know.....). This was my first mistake.

My second mistake was actually watching the thing at all. At 870 minutes, this makes the 10-hour "The 10th Kingdom" seem like a short subject by comparison, yet the whole thing could have easily been pared down by half without compromising the storyline. Why? Simple: the plot is pathetic. You would think that by 1987 people would have realized the Soviet Union was NEVER going to take over the U.S., but I guess someone forgot to tell writer-director Donald Wrye, since he insists on rehashing the tired old "communist subversion" schtick that went out -- and deservedly so -- in the mid-60s. The dialogue is corny and hackneyed and seems to begin repeating itself at the halfway mark, while the direction is uninspired (although pretty much average by TV movie standards). Sam Neill manages to maintain his dignity in this midst of all this nonsense, but everyone else comes out looking as silly as the film itself.

By itself, "Amerika" is harmless piffle that, if nothing else, would make a good double bill with "Dr. Strangelove," which so effectively manages to ridicule and ultimately destroy the reactionary plot. But the ideology behind the story, and the reactions it has inspired among some of my fellow IMDb reviewers, is completely idiotic, almost frightening. The series' ultimate and highly questionable message is that we should remain ever vigilant against the communist threat, and that it will take any guise need be to bring down our society from within -- latter-day McCarthyism if I ever heard it. Thank goodness this 870-pound turkey is scarcely remembered today.