''Made in U.S.A.'' is a 1987 American

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

film directed by Ken Friedman from a screenplay by Zbigniew Kempinski.

Plot

The film stars

Adrian Pasdar Adrian Kayvan Pasdar (; April 30, 1965) is an American film, television, and voice actor. He is known for his roles in ''Profit'', '' Near Dark'', '' Carlito's Way'', '' Mysterious Ways'', ''Desperate Housewives'', '' Burn Notice'', '' Heroes'' a ...

and

Chris Penn Christopher Shannon Penn (October 10, 1965 – January 24, 2006), credited as Chris Penn after 1991, was an American actor. He was the brother of actor Sean Penn and musician Michael Penn. Noted as a skilled character actor, he was typically cas ...

as two young men who decide to leave behind their working-class lives in the coal-mining country of Pennsylvania and travel to California. Along the way, they pick up a hitchhiker (

Lori Singer Lori Singer (born November 6, 1957) is an American actress and musician. The daughter of conductor Jacques Singer, she was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and raised in Portland, Oregon, where her father served as the lead conductor of the Oregon ...

) and embark on a crime spree. The leitmotiv of the film involves Tuck and Dar ending up in different locations across the United States destroyed by man made environmental disasters. Starting in their dying hometown of

Centralia, Pennsylvania Centralia ( ) is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough and near-ghost town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Its population declined from 1,000 in 1980 to five residents in 2020 because a Cent ...

and traveling to other towns including the

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Times Beach, Missouri Times Beach is a ghost town in St. Louis County, Missouri, St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, southwest of St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis and east of Eureka, Missouri, Eureka. Once home to more than two thousand people, the town was co ...

and

Church Rock, New Mexico Church Rock () is a census-designated place (CDP) in McKinley County, New Mexico, McKinley County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,542 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 1,128 in 2010 United States census, 2010 ...

Cast

as Dar *

as Tuck *

as Annie * Marji Martin as Ma Frazier * Tiny Wells as Pa Frazier *

Judith Baldwin Judith Lee Baldwin (born March 26, 1946) is an American film and television actress. A life member of the Actors Studio, Baldwin amassed 46 screen credits between 1969 and her leading role in 2005's ''Every Secret Thing''. In 1978, she replaced ...

as Dorie * Jacqueline Murphy as Cora * Frank Beddor as Bud *

Dean Paul Martin Dean Paul Martin Jr. (born Dino Paul Crocetti Jr.; November 17, 1951 – March 21, 1987) was an American pop singer and film and television actor. A member of the California Air National Guard, Martin died in a crash during a military training ...

as Cowboy *

Katherine Kelly Lang Katherine Kelly Lang (born Katherine Kelly Wegeman; July 25, 1961) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Brooke Logan in the CBS soap opera '' The Bold and the Beautiful'' of the CBS Daytime programming block. Early life L ...

as Kelly

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features songs and score by the American band

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

, who in 1995 released an album (also titled ''

Made in USA A Made in USA mark is a country of origin label affixed to American-made products that indicates the product is "all or virtually all" domestically produced, manufactured and assembled in the United States. The label is regulated by the Federal ...

'') of music they had recorded for the film. In 2016 the band released "Spinhead Sessions" with extended versions of the cues they'd created for the film.

Versions of the film released by rival creators

The release of the film was delayed because of a dispute over artistic control between Friedman and John Daly of Hemdale Films. Friedman first showed his version, without the permission of Hemdale, who held the copyright, at the

1987 Cannes Film Festival The 40th Cannes Film Festival took place from 7 to 19 May 1987. French-Italian actor Yves Montand served as jury president for the main competition. French filmmaker Maurice Pialat won the ''Palme d'Or'', the festival's top prize, for the drama ...

. Daly released the studio's version to video in 1989.

Trademark dispute over the film's title

The film was originally entitled ''USA Today'', but the publishers of the ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' newspaper,

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as severa ...

sued the film's producers,

Hemdale Film Corporation Hemdale Film Corporation (known as Hemdale Communications after 1992) was an independent American-British film production company and Film distributor, distributor. The company was founded in London in 1967 as the Hemdale Company by actor David He ...

, for the use of the name for one of the company's features. As a condition of the settlement, Hemdale decided to rename the title to ''Made in U.S.A.'', according to documents filed in federal court.

References

External links

* 1987 films American crime comedy-drama films American black comedy films 1980s crime comedy-drama films Films produced by Charles Roven 1987 black comedy films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films Films set in Pennsylvania English-language crime comedy-drama films English-language black comedy films De Laurentiis Entertainment Group films TriStar Pictures films {{1980s-US-film-stub