Telling Lies in America

1997 Drama

Karchy Jonas (Brad Renfro) was born in Hungary and immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio in the early 1960s where he felt adrift in a strange sea of American culture. Jonas tries to fit in at the Catholic high school he attends but finds himself a laughing stock. At home, his stern father (Maximilian Schell) insists that he adhere to traditional Hungarian ways. Karchy's only respite is the rock & roll music he adores. A year before he arrived, flashy, failed disc jockey Billy Magic (Kevin Bacon) rolled into town, found a job at WHK and became the host of the High School Hall of Fame contest, something that Karchy decides he must win so he too can be cool and therefore impress his lovely classmate Diney (Calista Flockhart). Eventually, he does win and before long has made friends with Billy. The DJ proves to be a real pal and pays Karchy a C-note a week to run a few errands and do odd jobs for him. Some of those tasks involve taking money from promoters. When not working, Billy is introducing Karchy to life's wild side. But despite such fun times, there is much the naive youth is destined to learn the hard way about his new buddy Billy. The film's story comes from screenwriter Joe Eszterhas' (Basic Instinct) script, penned around 1982. Himself a Hungarian immigrant, Eszterhas added a few autobiographical touches to the script. more..

Director: Guy Ferland

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Brad Renfro,Maximilian Schell, Calista Flockhart, Paul Dooley

Reviews

  • A heartfelt sleeper from screenwriter Joe Eszterhas and director Guy Ferland.

    Ken Fox - TV Guide

    27 April 2013

  • I liked this movie a lot - not just for Bacon and Renfro, but also for the work of the wonderfully-named Calista Flockhart, as the girl who dates Karchy.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    27 April 2013

  • It's a career high mark for Bacon, whose flashy smirk and stifled grimaces flesh out a character both scary and pathetic in this intimate, nostalgic film that delves into the art of the hustle.

    Peter Stack - The San Francisco Chronicle

    27 April 2013

  • It's a surprisingly sweet underdog immigrant coming-of-age story set in 1961.

    Jay Carr - The Boston Globe

    27 April 2013

  • Director Guy Ferland, who has made one previous feature, handles this material smoothly and well, aided by the juke-box bright colors caught by cinematographer Reynaldo Villalobos. And Eszterhas, who has never shown much flair for comedy - except for the mother lode of unintentional laughs in "Showgirls" - puts humor into this story of surprising warmth and bite.

    Michael Wilmington - The Chicago Tribune

    27 April 2013

Awards

  • National Board of Review (1997)