Telling Lies in America (1997)

Director:

Guy Ferland

Writer (WGA):

Joe Eszterhas (written by)

Release Date:

15 October 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Tagline:

Dress sharp. Drive fast. Look cool. Laugh last.

Plot:

Karchy (Brad Renfro) is a boy in school who has moved from Hungary to America in the 1960's. He is struggling...

Plot Keywords:

Hall Of Fame | Radio | Radio DJ | 1960s | Money

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Kevin Bacon	...	Billy Magic
Brad Renfro	...	Karchy 'Chucky' Jonas
Maximilian Schell	...	Dr. Istvan Jonas
Calista Flockhart	...	Diney Majeski
Paul Dooley	...	Father Norton
Jonathan Rhys Meyers	...	Kevin Boyle
Luke Wilson	...	Henry
Damen Fletcher	...	Amos 'Blood Smith'
Jerry Swindall	...	Andy 'Croak' Stas
K.K. Dodds	...	Justine
James Kisicki	...	Cecil Simms
J.J. Horna	...	The Blind Kid
Ben Saypol	...	Timmy Morelli
Tony Devon	...	Danny Hogan
Rohn Thomas	...	Sgt. Disapri

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 (video premiere) | Hong Kong:IIA | Spain:T | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Company:

Banner Entertainment

Trivia:

This was one of the first seven films to be foreclosed by the Screen Actors Guild for non-payment of wages and residuals to SAG members. On 13 July 2004, rights to the film were sold at auction.

Quotes:

Diney Majeski: Why you got to show off so much?
Karchy Jonas: Cause I ain't got that much to show.

Soundtrack:

Little Bitty Pretty One

A good movie about the seedy side of the music business

This is a charming movie that touches upon payola in the 60's. Bacon takes money for overplaying a song on radio, thus boosting its ratings, and uses Renfro as a go-between for these dealings so that the money never goes direct from sponsor to Bacon. After a while Renfro becomes bolder as some of Bacon's attitude rubs off on him. He starts lying about his background, car and things he's done to impress those around him. But he finally quits when he realizes that these 'white' lies hurt as well as the 'black' ones. When the FBI decide to pressure Renfro into giving evidence against Bacon by speaking to the judge during his naturalization proceedings, things take an interesting twist as the judge, before the proceedings, speak to Renfro alone and have a little chat about George Washington and the cherry tree. Won't spoil it by telling you what it is, but watch and find out, as it has a bearing on the movie as well. Calista Flockhart puts up a pretty convincing performance as well.