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American Anarchist

  • 2016
  • TV-MA
  • 1h 20m
IMDb RATING
5.9/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
American Anarchist (2016)
Trailer for American Anarchist
Play trailer1:46
1 Video
7 Photos
Documentary

The story of one of the most infamous books ever written, "The Anarchist Cookbook," and the role it's played in the life of its author, now 65, who wrote it at 19 in the midst of the counter... Read allThe story of one of the most infamous books ever written, "The Anarchist Cookbook," and the role it's played in the life of its author, now 65, who wrote it at 19 in the midst of the counterculture upheaval of the late '60s and early '70s.The story of one of the most infamous books ever written, "The Anarchist Cookbook," and the role it's played in the life of its author, now 65, who wrote it at 19 in the midst of the counterculture upheaval of the late '60s and early '70s.

  • Director
    • Charlie Siskel
  • Writer
    • Charlie Siskel
  • Stars
    • William Powell
    • Charlie Siskel
    • Ochan Kusuma-Powell
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.9/10
    1.8K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Charlie Siskel
    • Writer
      • Charlie Siskel
    • Stars
      • William Powell
      • Charlie Siskel
      • Ochan Kusuma-Powell
    • 70User reviews
    • 7Critic reviews
    • 58Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 nominations total

    Videos1

    American Anarchist
    Trailer 1:46
    American Anarchist

    Photos6

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    Top cast7

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    William Powell
    William Powell
    • Self - Author, The Anarchist Cookbook
    Charlie Siskel
    Charlie Siskel
    • Self - Interviewer
    • (voice)
    Ochan Kusuma-Powell
    Ochan Kusuma-Powell
    • Self - Wife of William Powell
    Jeff Nightbyrd
    • Self - Yippie Leader
    • (archive footage)
    • (as Jeff Knightbyrd)
    Gavrilo Princip
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Joan Rivers
    Joan Rivers
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Lyle Stuart
    Lyle Stuart
    • Self - Publisher
    • (archive footage)
    • Director
      • Charlie Siskel
    • Writer
      • Charlie Siskel
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews70

    5.91.8K
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    Featured reviews

    3g_morang

    shame and blame

    All this documentary does is blame this old man over and over again. I own a copy of the book and like hundreds of thousands of other people, that's where the story ends. Very hard to finish due to the fact that it focuses on shaming the author for a full hour instead of delving into the actual book itself and more about why it was written. Terrible
    4Durdenist

    American Anarchist or: How to Blame an Old Man for Everything Wrong with the World

    American Anarchist is exactly the type of "documentary" i hate to watch. Director is totally biased and he spends 80 minutes trying to prove his point. And the point is: William Powell, a 65 year old teacher who lives in France is responsible for almost every mass shooting in the US. Because he wrote a book about how to make explosives and how to use guns when he was 19.

    It's not an easy movie to watch because it's so one sided and judgmental. At some point you feel like you're watching someone being ambushed and coerced into saying things he doesn't want to say.
    3michaelbillingham

    Witch hunt

    I have just watched the film and was sufficiently disturbed by the interviewer attempting to attribute the current state of the world to a book that Bill Powell wrote as a shocked reaction to the world as it was 50+ years ago. The book was written/assembled from information that was freely available in a public library, which makes who responsible for its availability? It is clearly wrong to me to attempt to blame the Columbine killings on the the book as unhappy people bought guns and then killed those that they thought had done them wrong. How is that possible? (American law is the answer).

    The filmmaker was a guy trying to work a premise and fulfill a hypothesis that has no grounds. Bill Power and his wife seemed the nicest people in this film.
    4WilliamFBrown

    An entire movie trying to blame a man for the errs of the world.

    The filmmaker showed absolutely no class or ethics on the making of this film, and worse yet does not even seem to recognize how poorly put together his line of questioning is. He asks leading questions and shows extreme bias. He even includes a point where Mr. Powell questions him on his rhetoric. The film itself seems well made, but the filmmaker needs some serious help in understanding how to conduct an interview.
    6BrookeAWheeler

    Some value in spite of the heavy slant

    Like some other reviewers, I fell most of the value in this was in the opportunity to hear Powell talk about his life, and its value is IN SPITE of Siskel's attempts to place blame on Powell for things that others did. If it weren't for the obvious agenda that Siskel was trying to push here, it would have been 7/8 stars for me.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Goofs
      At approx. 49:10 you briefly see a microphone dip down above Powell's head.
    • Connections
      Features Bowling for Columbine (2002)

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • September 2, 2016 (Italy)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Американский анархист
    • Production companies
      • Bow and Arrow Entertainment
      • Patna Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 20 minutes
    • Color
      • Color

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