Image: tmdb
About This Quiz
Hard to watch, yet deeply moving, this 1998 film took an unflinching look at the roots of white supremacy in America -- and sparked an offscreen drama between its director and its studio. Now, revisit "American History X" with our quiz!
What is the name of Edward Norton's character?
Alex Jones
Mike Adams
Ken Ham
Derek Vinyard
We see a lot of the Vinyard family in "American History X." They are a close-knit clan, despite financial troubles and Derek's incarceration.
Who played Derek's younger brother, Danny?
Michael Cera
Edward Furlong
Furlong was discovered at a Pasadena Boys and Girls Club and was cast as young John Connor in "Terminator 2." A string of well-received movies followed, including "American History X," before early stardom took its toll.
Orlando Bloom
Paul Dano
Which character narrates the movie?
Danny
A history teacher tasks Danny with writing a paper about his brother and their life, and the events of the movie unfold as Danny explains them in that paper. This is a framing device made popular by the novel "The Outsiders."
Derek
Davina
Sweeney
Advertisement
In what part of Los Angeles does the Vinyard family leave?
Lennox
Echo Park
Silver Lake
Venice Beach
Danny says that "this used to be a nice neighborhood" when his father moved them there. Now, it's troubled by racial unrest, with gangs having moved west from places like Inglewood.
What did Derek do to get sentenced to prison?
set fire to a black church
shot a Crip leader
severely beat two Crips
killed two Crips
They were breaking into Derek's car at the time, which partially explains the unusually light sentence Derek got for the two killings. But Danny witnessed the remorseless brutality with which Derek killed them, especially the unarmed second man, and as Danny says, "If I had testified, it would have been life."
Which historical book does Danny choose to write a paper on?
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Being and Nothingness
Mein Kampf
For history class, Danny had to write a paper on a civil rights leader. He chose Adolf Hitler, which lands him in the principal's office.
Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Advertisement
Who plays Danny's (original) history teacher?
Elliot Gould
Elliott Gould is a fairly recognizably Jewish actor. For this reason, the audience immediately understands why it's so inflammatory that Danny wrote his "civil rights leader" paper on "Mein Kampf."
Alan Alda
Nick Nolte
Tony Shalhoub
Who is Sweeney?
the white-power leader Derek follows
the principal of Danny's high school
Dr. Sweeney is played by Avery Brooks. Back in the day, Brooks briefly played the legendary character "Hawk" on "Spenser: For Hire."
a guard at the prison
Derek's friend in the prison laundry
Why does Dr. Sweeney think Mr. Murray has a grudge against Danny Vinyard?
Danny keyed his car
Murray is Jewish and Derek is a well-known skinhead
Murray briefly dated Doris Vinyard, until Derek ran him off
probably both #2 and #3
The reason that Sweeney brings up is Murray's failed relationship with Doris. But it's also impossible to overlook the tension implied by Derek's fame in the white power movement and Murray's religious heritage.
Advertisement
What line of work was Derek and Danny's father in?
airline pilot
firefighter
Derek's father is shot and killed while putting out a fire in a drug den in Compton. This radicalizes Derek, although Danny later tells us he thought Derek started on his road to racist beliefs earlier on.
police officer
bill collector
What is the name of the youngest Vinyard sibling?
Davina
Delia
Dorothy
Ally
Everyone else has a name that starts with D: Doris, Derek, Davina and Daniel. But the little girl -- who is barely walking and talking, and doesn't figure much in the plot -- is named Ally.
What is the prize in the pivotal black-against-white basketball game?
one hundred dollars
a car
losers have their gang tattoos removed
ownership of the basketball court
Initially, Derek's friend Seth makes an unwise wager of $100, which he doesn't have. Derek enters the game, proposing new terms: the losers give up their right to use the courts, permanently.
Advertisement
Who played Derek's girlfriend Stacey?
Fairuza Balk
Fairuza Balk, like Edward Furlong, was an up-and-coming actor in the 1990s. Like him, she never reached the heights of stardom, and has experimented with music and art more recently.
Natasha Lyonne
Clea DuVall
Sheeri Rappaport
How does Derek tell Cameron Alexander that he's through with the white power movement?
via a letter
via a phone call
by visiting Alexander at his home
by going to a party that Alexander throws
Hey, there's alcohol. loud white power rock music, probably drugs, and lots of riled-up skinheads! What could possibly go wrong?
At the party, what does Derek ask Stacey to do?
look out for Danny
leave L.A. with him
When Derek asks if Stacey will do something for him, she says, "Anything." That doesn't last long. When he says he wants to leave L.A. and the movement, she turns on him -- as does Seth and everyone else.
forgive him for his past
break up with him
Advertisement
Who pulls a gun on Derek at the white supremacist party?
Cameron Alexander
Seth
Seth is gung-ho for the white power movement and has been coaching Danny in it. He's also been eager to be reunited with his hero, Derek. But when Derek renounces the white power movement, Seth immediately turns on him.
Stacey
an unidentified skinhead
What real-life figure do the Vinyard family discuss heatedly at the dinner table?
Rodney King
This happens when Doris brings Mr. Murray home for dinner. While liberal Davina defends King, Derek defends the LAPD officers, citing King's criminal record and the speed at which he was driving. These were common talking points at the time.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Malcolm X
Al Sharpton
Where does Derek have a swastika tattoo?
on his ankle
on his chest
The tattoo covers most of his left pectoral muscle (the right, as you're facing him). He shows it off proudly in the prison yard, at least at first.
on his forearm
on his thigh
Advertisement
What kind of business do Derek and his followers trash?
a convenience store
Derek leads the raid because the store used to be white-owned, but was bought by a Korean when it went under. That Korean owner, in turn, hired Mexican help, whom Derek assumes are "border jumpers."
a car dealership
a drug-counseling center
a check-cashing place
Who is Lamont?
a counselor in the prison
one of the Crips that Derek shot
Derek's partner in the prison laundry
At first, Derek doesn't even talk to the cheerful Lamont. But Lamont's sense of humor slowly breaks him down and they become friends.
a boy at Danny's school
Why did Lamont get six years for stealing a TV set?
he had many priors
he pointed a gun at the store clerk
it was really, really expensive
it fell on a police officer's foot during his arrest, which was characterized as "assault"
Lamont's story opens Derek's eyes about sentencing inequities. At first he goads Lamont to tell the truth, saying Lamont must have "chucked" the TV set at the officer. But Lamont says the officer grabbed his arm and the TV set just fell.
Advertisement
Who comes to visit Derek in prison?
Doris
Stacey
Sweeney
both #1 and #3
Doris comes first, to tell him that Danny is following his dangerous path. Then Sweeney comes, also to talk about Danny -- but since Derek has just been the victim of a violent shower rape, they end up talking about how Derek can change his ways.
What does Sweeney bring to the prison when he visits?
books
Though Sweeney came to talk about Danny, it seems he wanted to help Derek as well. Otherwise, it's hard to explain his gift of reading material.
a picture of Derek's father
a paper Danny wrote
a printout of Danny's disciplinary violations
In the breakfast table flashback scene, what novel does Derek say he is reading for school?
Beloved
Invisible Man
Native Son
Derek, impressed with Dr. Sweeney's teaching skills, is eager to talk about the black literature they're reading in class. His firefighter father suggests that "great books" have been replaced with "black books," and goes on to denounce affirmative action. This is why Danny says that the roots of Derek's racism went deeper than his father's shooting.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Advertisement
Near the end, what do Sweeney and Officer Rasmussen want Derek to do?
enroll in the police academy
leave Los Angeles
talk to a high school class about racism
talk to his old skinhead friends
Seth and Cameron Alexander were attacked after the party the previous night. Sweeney and the police officer think that Derek can calm things down, that his skinhead friends will listen to him where they wouldn't listen to anyone else. Derek is not so sure.
Where do Sweeney and Rasmussen talk to Derek about this?
at a diner
This is notable because the scene was filmed at Johnie's in L.A., where a scene from "The Big Lebowski" was also filmed. You can still see Johnie's, on WIlshire next to the LA County Museum of Art, but you can't get a cup of coffee there -- it's only used as a film location.
on a street corner
at the Vinyard home
at Venice Beach High
Who does Danny quote at the close of his history paper?
Abraham Lincoln
The quote begins, "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies." Though it's sometimes mis-attributed as being part of the Gettysburg Address, it is from Lincoln's inaugural address.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Mahatma Gandhi
Kahlil Gibran
Advertisement
Who is shot and killed at the movie's end?
Danny
The movie ends with a bit of skillful misdirection. We're meant to believe that Derek is at risk of being killed for betraying Cameron's movement and his friends, especially since a suspicious car slowly cruises past him on the street. But Danny emerges from a stall in the school bathroom and is abruptly shot and killed by a black student. It's even more senseless because it's the result of a minor confrontation the previous day.
Derek
Mr. Murray
Dr. Sweeney
A version of the script had the movie ending on what image?
neighbors of both races attending Danny's funeral
Stacey returning to Derek's side
Derek being shot outside the school
Derek shaving his head again
It's likely that more than one audience member wondered if Danny's shooting by a black teenager would drive Derek back to his old beliefs. But instead, the film ended on the beach, with Danny quoting Abraham Lincoln in a voiceover.
How many people die in "American History X"?
three
Derek kills two young men in the movie's prologue, then Danny dies at the end. It seems like a low number, given that the movie is saturated with violence and the potential for death.
four
five
six
Advertisement
Within the movie, American History X was what?
an alternative US history in the White Power movement
the name Sweeney gives his one-on-one history class with Danny
Early in the movie, Danny was called into the principal's office for writing the paper on "Mein Kampf." Murray wanted him expelled, but Dr. Sweeney wasn't ready to give up on Danny.
a book Derek reads in prison
this is never explained
Who sued New Line Cinemas and the Director's Guild of America over "American History X"?
the Aryan Nation
director Tony Kaye
Tony Kaye sued over the two parties' refusal to let him take his name off the film, which he was dissatisfied with. Kaye, a British director with a visual-arts background, lost control of the film's editing and didn't like the final product.
Edward Norton
white supremacist Tom Metzger
Which actor was involved in the film's editing?
Avery Brooks
Stacy Keach
Elliott Gould
Edward Norton
This was evidently the source of a lot of director Kaye's unhappiness with the film. It's rumored that Norton's editing served, in part, to increase his screen time.
Advertisement
"American History X" was nominated for which Academy Award?
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor for Edward Norton
If the rumor about Norton's selective work in the editing room is true, well, it paid off. Sort of. Norton lost to Roberto Benigni, who starred in "Life Is Beautiful."
Best Supporting Actor for Edward Furlong
What other major feature film is Tony Kaye known for?
The Namesake
Spotlight
Veronica Guerin
umm ...
The prolonged battle with New Line Cinema over the editing and final cut of "American History X" more or less derailed Kaye's career. Before you leap to assume New Line was all to blame, consider that Kaye took out ads in the trades criticizing New Line, then decided that the script needed to be re-written from scratch by a Caribbean poet -- this after the movie had been shot -- and finally requested the pseudonym "Humpty Dumpty" in the credits.
You Got:
/35
tmdb