Made in U.S.A.

Made in USA i suppose is not for everybody. its simply about these two guys going cross country to of course California. listlessly, they drive through town after town until they bump into Lori Singer. she's a little crazy and i guess one of the better scenes of the the film is when she takes them to her house and they see the town she lives in and her mother...its not really a well deserved shock, but the film later becomes very interesting when their explorations leads to noble foolery.

Made in USA, takes you on a strange ride; although, it has its bumps and scratches, you will probably end up enjoying where you are dropped off.

Tuck & Dar, on the edge of unemployment and poverty in a mining disaster town (Centralia, PA) hit the road, pick up Lori Singer on the way, get scalped in New Mexico, and lament the various environmental catastrophes on the way to the West Coast. The film features a superb soundtrack by Sonic Youth, World Party, and Timbuk 3. The film is replete with a type of post-industrial pessimism found in many relics of its era. Excellent moody cinematography and disturbed characters make it worth a watch.

This film is pretty dismissible because of its inane plotting and its dazed direction. Leads Adrian Pasdar and Chris Penn are pleasing to the eye, but there's not just not much to do with their characters, who lack any motivation for their puzzling criminal behavior. The movie's two draws are its striking locations and Lori Singer. Probably intended to be illustrative of the conservationist theme barely recognizable in the final cut, MADE IN USA treks through a number of shots of human civilization in decay, including a town poisoned by dioxide in Illinios and an old mining city in Pennsylvania. Taken in this respect, the film could possibly be enjoyed as a moody travelogue. Lori Singer brings life to her misfit vixen, an even greater enigma than her two brutish companions. MADE IN USA, complete with its insipid title, is like many a forgotten movie - strangely intriguing, but a complete mess in retrospect.

Chris Penn and Adrian Pasdar leave their dying coal town in Pennsylvania and begin a road trip to California with a spree of petty thievery and car theft. When they pick up Lori Singer, the crimes grow larger.

There was some fighting between director Ken Friedman and the suits at Hemdale over the final cut. What survives is a movie about two dumb drifters who fall in with an equally ignorant but politically radicalized woman. There's contempt in this movie, not just for the principals, but the society which created them. It's beautifully shot by cinematographer Curtis Clark, particularly the landscapes in Arizona and New Mexico. The people, however, are all ugly, either physically or spiritually. The editing is also poor; there's a major subplot in which they steal a truck, the truckers organize an effort to find them, and that's the last heard of them.

Friedman apparently showed his own cut at Cannes, there were lawsuits, and this version trickled out on tape over the next few years. While it is possible his version was a better one, we can't know that. What survives is a movie about three dumb drifters who stick it to the Man to little purpose.

In 1986 the production company for the movie had try outs for extras and stand ins. I had the great privilege to be Frank Beddors stand in for the movie. Who is Frank Beddor you ask? Tuck and Dar drove an older car and for the life of me I can't remember off hand what is is. But they had a couple of run ins with a rich kid(played by Frank Beddor as "Bud") Frank drove a 1987 Red Pontiac Firebird, with the Pennsylvania Registration plate "GOBUDGO" on it. For some reason my friends "Bud" was completely absent from the movie! I was picked as Frank Beddors stand in due to a similar overall skin tone height and appearance etc.. My job was to be positioned where the camera was about to shoot, lighting set up etc... then have Frank Beddor be brought in to do the shot. Franks real life girlfriend at the time was Cindi Dietrich playing as his girlfriend in the movie. First of all Frank Beddor was an overall nice guy and readily said hello and had no problem talking to you. But his girlfriend? That was another story. She couldn't be bothered talking to someone from the area. I recall people saying Hi to her and she just literally snubbed her nose and never said hello back. Both Bud and Tuck and Dar had a race down Main St. Ashland with Tuck and Dar ultimately winning. Penn and Pasdar got out of their car, popped out his T tops of the Firebird and Pasdar said I quote "What'll it be Bud, your pussy or your pink slip?" He hesitated for a few seconds causing Buds girlfriend to leave the Firebird in a huff. Awesome stuff if it would have been in the movie. A little trivia here: The leather jacket worn by Christopher Penn in the beginning of the movie belonged to his friend, according to Chris, died in his arms. It was stolen somewhere in Ashland and I believe when someone sneaked in his trailer. I got to drink a little with Chris and Adrian at one point during a lull in the filming. Nice guys for real. The movie gets a 5 because of the unsteady story line and the removal of Bud.