Skip to Content

New to the Mac? Check out TUAW's Mac 101

StevenPrince Tagged Articles at Cinematical

SXSW Review: American Prince

Filed under: Documentary », SXSW », Theatrical Reviews »



More than 30 years ago, Martin Scorsese decided to spend an evening -- more than a day, really -- filming his friend Steven Prince as he told all kinds of strange and fascinating stories about his life. The result was the short documentary American Boy, which had no official release in 1978 but floated around "unofficially" for decades. Tommy Pallotta saw one of these bootleg copies when he was in college, and never forgot it. He and Richard Linklater included one of Prince's stories from American Boy in Waking Life. And more than 30 years after American Boy, Pallotta and Linklater spent a similar evening hearing more of Prince's tales, which are the backbone of Pallotta's documentary American Prince. Both films screened back-to-back at SXSW.

Steven Prince in American Prince has mellowed a lot -- he sits comfortably in a chair sipping cognac and genially relating stories about his years in Hollywood. You might remember him as the gun salesman in Taxi Driver, and he had a few other minor roles in films, as well as working on some other Scorsese films. As a result, he has some very colorful stories to share with the guests in the room as well as the film's audience. The setting of the documentary might remind you of Steven Tobolowsky's Birthday Party, which played SXSW in 2005, but more tightly focused, and without a lot of interaction from the other guests.

SXSW Exclusive: 'American Prince' Poster and Two Clips

Filed under: Documentary », SXSW », Trailers and Clips », Posters »


Click image below to view full poster

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster and two clips for American Prince, a documentary directed by animator/filmmaker Tommy Pallotta, who was a producer on Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly. The film takes a look at Martin Scorsese's 1978 documentary American Boy, which never has had an official release, and which only a few people have seen (generally as a bootleg). Pallotta follows up with the film's subject, Steven Prince, 30 years after Scorsese's film. Prince is probably best known to many of us as the guy who played the gun salesman in Taxi Driver, but apparently both documentaries reveal an extremely colorful life. I can't wait to find out the details.



American Prince will have its world premiere at SXSW this Saturday, March 14, with an encore screening on Tuesday, March 17. Scorsese's American Boy will be shown right before this film, a documentary double-feature you won't want to miss if you're in Austin next week. Check out one clip below (which happens to be the first couple of minutes of the film), and another clip after the jump.

 
.