I have to admit being somewhat biased toward this film, as I was living in the apartment building (at the time) where most of the filming took place! The rent was $225/month if I remember correctly, and it was indeed a "studio"... complete with bare bulb hanging from the ceiling and a lot of roaches :-) (the room used in the movie was somewhat nastier than the one I was in - there was a top floor, a middle and a basement, and I was living in one of the middle floor rooms at the time). But I got to see a great deal of the process of filming a movie (extremely interesting and educational) as well as meeting Jeff Bridges and Edward Furlong (no, I don't appear anywhere in the film as either an extra or an actor). As for the movie itself, it turned out quite a bit better than I had expected. Martin Bell is underrated as a director, and it's unfortunate that lately he's concentrated on TV rather than movies - he really is talented (See "Streetwise," 1984). The ending of American Heart really was sad, although we've seen it before in a lot of movies. Yet another reflection on the sad state of today's society.
And now, a small revelation... in the movie, the apartment where "Jack" and his son lived was portrayed as being on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. Actually, the building used in filming was on Capitol Hill, a few blocks west of Broadway. No, I'm not going to give away the street address or the name of the apartments, sorry :-).
My overall review for "American Heart" - 9/10.
