Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1986
Down and Out in America
Buy Down and Out in America now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Down and Out in America' is a 1986 American Oscar-winning documentary film directed by Academy Award winner Lee Grant.[https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7643-the-criterion-channel-s-january-2022-lineup The Criterion Channel's January 2022 Lineup|Current|The Criterion Collection]
Summary
It is a biting critique of Reaganomics[https://mubi.com/specials/lee-grant MUBI Special: Down and Out in America: Lee Grant's America] and exploration of poverty in the United States. It won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, tying with 'Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got'.
Production
Produced by Grant's husband Joseph Feury and Milton Justice, this was the first Academy Award for HBO.
'Down and Out in America' was produced under Grant and husband/producer Joseph Feury's production deal with HBO. The film was greenlit while Grant was still on location in Yugoslavia on another project. She reportedly told Feury that the subject was too important and that if she could not return in time he should let another director make the film. He refused and convinced her to wrap her current project as early as possible and make the documentary.
Reception and legacy
The film received largely positive reviews. 'The New York Times' felt that "'DOWN AND OUT IN AMERICA' is clear about its message: The system has failed, and the American dream has died.". The film went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Documentary feature, the first Oscar for any cable network.
The film's negative has been preserved in the Academy Film Archive.[https://bampfa.org/event/down-and-out-america BAMPFA] It is regularly taught in university film and journalism classes. A new print premiered at New York's Film Forum in late 2019 as part of a 13-film retrospective of Grant's work as both actor and director, and the kick off of the film's digital and repertory re-release. Grant and Barbara Kopple introduced the Film Forum screening. It remains one of the most influential portraits of Reaganomics. In April 2020, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the re-release of Grant's documentaries was re-imagined as one of the first examples of virtual cinema and became "the first virtual repertory series."
References
Buy Down and Out in America now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1986