American Heart (film)
1992 film by Martin Bell
American Heart is a 1992 American independent drama film directed by Martin Bell and starring Jeff Bridges and Edward Furlong. It was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award in a number of categories and won in the Best Male Lead category.
Plot
Jack Kelson has just been released from prison in Seattle after serving a five-year sentence for robbing a jewelry store. His 14-year-old son Nick, whose mother has been dead for many years, is in desperate need of a father and arrives at the prison to meet him, but he is rebuffed. Nick persists on tagging along with Jack and the two take up residence at a cheap hotel. Over time, the two settle into a push-and-pull relationship. Jack tries to resist the pleas of his ex-partner Randy to return to robbery and finds a job downtown as a window washer. He also makes a phone call to a woman named Charlotte and they meet up at the hotel. It is revealed Charlotte had been writing letters to Jack while he was incarcerated, through the prison's publication American Heart where prisoners can solicit correspondence. Jack talks about moving to Alaska for a new life, but is not sure if he wants to bring Nick with him.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “American Heart (film)” is 1992 film by Martin Bell. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through American, Heart and film, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1992 film by Martin Bell” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q464861. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1992.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “American Heart (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.