Viggo Mortensen in Young Americans

Release: 1993

Director: Danny Cannon
Writer(s): Danny Cannon & David Hilton

Runtime: 104 min.

MCAA Rating: R for language & violence

Websites:
IMDb

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Brego website

Young Americans Cast and Crew

Viggo Mortensen: Carl Frazer

Other leading roles:
Harvey Keitel as John Harris
Iain Glen as Edward Foster
John Wood as Richard Donnelly
Terence Rigby as Sidney Callow
Keith Allen as Jack Doyle
Craig Kelly as Christian O'Neill

Young Americans Synopsis

Los Angeles police detective John Harris (Harvey Keitel) comes to London to assist Scotland Yard in tracking down a new villain in the underworld. He discovers the mastermind to be an old adversary, Carl Frazer (Viggo Mortensen). Frazer has been recruiting teenage street kids to do his dirty work.

Young Americans Brief Review

Viggo Mortensen's character, Carl Frazer, is about as evil as they come. He is a charismatic sociopath, an expert manipulator of the teenage boys that he recuits for drug deals and assassinations. He woos the seemingly unloved and neglected boys, and appears to genuinely like them, yet he has no qualms about ordering their execution when their cover has been compromised.

He plies the boys with alcohol, drugs and prostitutes. His smooth seduction of a potential new recruit, Christian O'Neill (Craig Kelly), is chilling, and it comes as no surprise when Frazer meets a violent end in the film.

Viggo Mortensen plays the role well, as always. One could argue that his character shows little depth, but given Frazer's soulless nature, this is probably an accurate portrayal.

Young Americans Resources

Young Americans Video Clips

Carl Frazer is one of Viggo Mortensen's most thoroughly evil characters. These clips illustrate the way that he uses his charm and charisma to convince teenaged boys to commit crimes for him.

ya-02: Strobes «1-May-05» - Strobe lights flash on Carl Frazer's face as he watches from the shadows at a disco.

Quicktime video 320x240 (00'03, 348KB)

ya-03: You're special «1-May-05» -

Quicktime video 320x240 (00'37, 4MB)

ya-06: Giggling «1-May-05» - Tiny two-second clip in which Viggo Mortensen (as Carl Frazer) emits a very silly giggle.

Quicktime video 320x240 (00'02, 196KB)

ya-09: I never worry, Jack «1-May-05» - A cocky Carl Frazer (Viggo Mortensen) tells his friend, "I never worry, Jack. Makes me look ugly."

Quicktime video 320x240 (00'04, 352KB)

ya-15f: What's up? «1-May-05» - Carl Frazer (Viggo Mortensen) uses a combination of good humor and threats to try to reassure the teens working for him. Finally he cajoles them, "Come on fellows, loosen up. You make me look bad. It's a party. You want something, take it. It's free."

Quicktime video 320x240 (00'51, 3.8MB)

Young Americans Photo Gallery

These photographs were captured from the Young Americans DVD. Unfortunately the DVD image quality is not great, so the full-sized shots are not as good a quality as most of the screencaps on the site.

More screencaps are on the way...if you don't want spoilers, don't read the captions on the individual photo pages.

Strobe light (633x273)	Strobe two (633x273)	Strobe smoker (633x273)
Preparing the speech (633x474)	False reassurance (633x474)	Reassurance (633x474)
Want out? (633x474)	You're special (633x474)	I trust you (633x474)
Big grin (633x474)	Bearing a gift (633x474)	Introduction (633x474)
Sighting a new prospect (633x474)	Sizing Chris up (633x474)	Wicked grin (633x474)
Being served (633x474)	Questioning Chris (633x474)	Questioning Chris (633x474)
Car ride (633x474)	Sharing (633x474)	Quiet ride (633x474)
Quiet ride (633x474)	What's up? (633x474)	Glum face (633x474)
Worried? (633x474)	Bullet (633x474)