American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince
{{short description|1978 film by Martin Scorsese}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince
| image = American boy film poster.jpg
| caption = Promotional poster (with Italianamerican)
| director = Martin Scorsese
| producer = Bert Lovitt
| writer = {{ubl| Julia Cameron (treatment) | Mardik Martin (treatment) }}
| starring = {{ubl| Steven Prince | Martin Scorsese | George Memmoli }}
| cinematography = Michael Chapman
| editing = {{ubl| Amy Jones | Bert Lovitt }}
| distributor = New Empire Films
| released = {{Film date|1978|10|}}
| runtime = 55 min.
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $155,000{{cite web | work=imdb.com | title=American Boy: A Profile of: Steven Prince (1978) | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077157/business| accessdate=2006-12-03}}
}}
American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince is a 1978 documentary directed by Martin Scorsese.{{Cite book |last=Meneghetti |first=Mike |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aSQXEAAAQBAJ&q=%22American+Boy:+A+Profile+of+Steven+Prince%22 |title=Martin Scorsese's Documentary Histories: Migrations, Movies, Music |date=2021-03-25 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-5013-3689-8 |language=en}} Its subject is Scorsese's friend Steven Prince, known for his small role as Easy Andy, the gun salesman in Taxi Driver. Prince is a raconteur who tells stories about various events in his life.{{cite web|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/12/movies/review-film-two-early-scorsese-profiles-of-his-parents-and-of-an-actor.html|title=Review/Film; Two Early Scorsese Profiles, of His Parents and of an Actor|authorlink=Janet Maslin|author=Maslin, Janet|date=January 12, 1990}}
The Neil Young song "Time Fades Away" is featured in the film.{{Cite magazine |last=Pappademas |first=Alex |date=2020-07-07 |title=Steven Prince, an Early Scorsese Star, "Was the Guy with the Gun" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/steven-prince-an-early-scorsese-star-was-the-guy-with-the-gun |access-date=2024-04-26 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}
A sequel, American Prince, was released in 2009 and was directed by Tommy Pallotta.
Synopsis
Martin Scorsese and a small group of friends gather in a living room in Los Angeles with the charismatic Steven Prince. Over the course of the evening, Scorsese films Prince talking about various events in his life with a mixture of humor and gravitas. Prince recalls stories such as being a former drug addict, a road manager for Neil Diamond, and a traumatic event in which he witnessed a boy die by accidental electrocution. Scorsese intersperses home movies of Prince as a child as he talks about his family.
When talking of his years as a heroin addict, he recalls Neil Diamond offering to help Prince get clean, but he refused. Later, however, Prince goes through recovery and remembers being shocked to learn he had a green ceiling in his home. He never noticed before because his eyelids had always been half-closed as an effect of the heroin.
Prince recalls injecting adrenaline into the heart of a woman who overdosed, with the help of a medical dictionary and a Magic Marker. Years later this story was re-enacted by Quentin Tarantino in his screenplay for Pulp Fiction.{{cite web|website=IndieWire|title=How the ‘Pulp Fiction’ Adrenaline Shot Scene Was Inspired by Scorsese’s ‘Lost Film’ — Watch|author=Dry, Jude|date=January 26, 2017|url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/pulp-fiction-overdose-scene-scorsese-tarantino-watch-1201773966/}}{{cite web|title=Ultimate Guide To Martin Scorsese And His Directing Techniques|date=January 6, 2023|publisher=Indie Film Hustle|url=https://indiefilmhustle.com/ultimate-guide-to-martin-scorsese-and-his-directing-techniques/|author=Beyl, Cameron}}
Prince also tells a story about his days working at a gas station, and having to shoot a man he caught stealing tires, after the man pulled out a knife and tried to attack him. This story was retold in the Richard Linklater film Waking Life.
Cast
- Steven Prince as Self
- Julia Cameron as Self (uncredited)
- Mardik Martin as Self (uncredited)
- Kathi McGinnis as Self (uncredited)
- George Memmoli as Self (uncredited)
- Martin Scorsese as Self (uncredited)
Production
The film was shot over the course of two weekends.{{sfn|Wilson|2011|p=90}}
References
{{reflist}}
Works cited
- {{cite book|last=Wilson |first=Michael |title=Scorsese On Scorsese |publisher=Cahiers du Cinéma |date=2011 |isbn=9782866427023}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0077157|title=American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince}}
{{Martin Scorsese}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Boy: A Profile Of Steven Prince}}
Category:Films directed by Martin Scorsese
Category:Documentary films about actors
Category:American documentary films
Category:1978 documentary films
Category:1970s English-language films
Category:English-language documentary films
{{bio-documentary-film-stub}}