Amerika

We (my Dad and I) taped the AMERIKA miniseries on its premiere air dates and I'm so glad we did. I've read a couple reviews here at IMdB that claim this milestone is boring. I believe they are misinterpreting the decided communist slant of this production. The production seems off-kilter because of it is presented through "a weary and wintry Russian eye", which might be compared to the powerless angst of the Russian characters of the Dr. Zhivago film. The characters are all doomed to communism and it's fascinating to view their ways of coping. Kristofferson and Urich are both powerhouses in this vein. My favorite theme is the outlawing of sentimental media, my favorite scene when Mariel Hemingway attends the illegal performance of "The Fantasticks". Shades of George Orwell's "1984", about a communist state where things that are illegal for the masses are allowed (but not admittedly) for the elite party members. So I say "God Bless AMERIKA". I think I'll watch it again next week.

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.

Forgive me, but when this was first shown on TV, the reaction from the public was with a collective yawn. American audiences just weren't ready for a TWELVE HOUR movie, and the Nielsen ratings for the series were embarrassingly low (If I remember correctly, they were the lowest for any mini-series). There was a paperback book tie-in with the mini-series, which was released several days before the TV show began (Can you say "give away the plot"?). What little I saw of AMERIKA when it was originally broadcast was as exciting as watching paint dry, and the series was savaged in the press as being the work of paranoid imaginations.

What I took as being very odd is that the patriotic hero was played by Kris Kristofferson, a man who has championed many liberal-to-left political causes that the most patriotic fans of this mini-series would oppose.

It's been said that a work of genius is never fully appreciated when first released to the public. It's also been said that people will read their own interpretations into the most innocuous of things. Patriotic epic or paranoid raving? Make your own decision about this mini-series.

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.