The American Astronaut

"Space is a lonely town"

2001 1h 32m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.9

IMDB

★6.9TMDB · 62●51Metacritic★6.9IMDB · 3,252

MusicScience FictionAdventureWesternComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Samual Curtis's first mission in this bizarre science fiction musical comedy requires him to take a cat to a saloon on an asteroid. There, he meets his former dance partner (the Blueberry Pirate) and collects his payment: a device capable of producing a Real Live Girl.

“Space is a lonely town”

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Cast

Cory McAbee
Samuel Curtis
Joshua Taylor
Blueberry Pirate
Greg Russell Cook
Boy
Rocco Sisto
Professor Hess
James Ransone
Bodysuit
Annie Golden
Cloris
Tom Aldredge
Old Man
Bill Buell
Eddie

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Cory McAbee
Writers: Cory McAbee
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

25 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Cory McAbee, shot by W. Mott Hupfel III. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by The Billy Nayer Show. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Pete Beaudreau shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Cory McAbee and Joshua Taylor and Greg Russell Cook carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Space is a lonely town".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0243759 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 62 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Cory McAbee directs. W. Mott Hupfel III behind the camera. The Billy Nayer Show scores. Pete Beaudreau cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

125 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by Cory McAbee, shot by W. Mott Hupfel III. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by The Billy Nayer Show. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Pete Beaudreau shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Cory McAbee and Joshua Taylor and Greg Russell Cook carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Space is a lonely town".
7IMDB entry: tt0243759 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 62 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Classified under 9 themes, including "musical", "breast", "space western", "astronaut".

The technical file

Cinematography: W. Mott Hupfel III
Original score: The Billy Nayer Show
Editing: Pete Beaudreau
Production design: Geoff Tuttle
Costume design: Dawn Weisberg
Makeup / hair: Mia Thoen
Sound: Robert Fernandez
Runtime: 92 min · 1h 32m
Status: Released
Box office: $38,170
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The American Astronaut (2001)
Metacritic: 51/100
IMDB rating: 6.9/10 · 3,252 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Awards

2 wins & 2 nominations

Also by

Cory McAbee

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Walruse2018-02-07
★ 9/10
The American Astronaut is a sci-fi musical set in a redneck retro-futuristic space age, had the American frontier continued off the planet. The scenery is of rustique planetary habitats and travel through interplanetary space in an equally rugged vessel. Thematically it is an exposition on families and the inter-family relational space, all of which might be considered unconventional. Visually it is absolutely stunning in beautiful black and white with high contrast that accentuate the grittiness. The soundtrack is excellent and the musical numbers work well too. It is enthralling, it is dramatic, it is funny and it is now on among my favorite films. tl;dr 1975 in Warsaw; Young Homer writes a script for his step-brother David Lynch while listening to banned rockabilly albums. There is a worn poster of Gagarin on the wall and a postcard from France from his step-dad, the lorry driver that defected and abandoned them. His mom is singing in the kitchen.

Production companies