Born American | |
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Directed by | Renny Harlin |
Produced by | Markus Selin |
Written by | Renny Harlin Markus Selin |
Starring |
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Music by | Richard G. Mitchell |
Cinematography | Henrik Paersch |
Edited by | Paul Martin Smith |
Production
company |
Cinema Group Ventures
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Distributed by | Cinema Group Continental Video Finnkino |
Release date
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August 30, 1986 |
Running time
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95 min. |
Country | United States Finland |
Language | English |
Budget | 2 806 722 € |
Box office | $3,401,376 (US) |
Born American (Finnish: Jäätävä polte; UK title: Arctic Heat) is a 1986 film directed by Renny Harlin. It was a feature length action movie about three Americans vacationing in Finland who cross the border into the Soviet Union. It was originally supposed to star Chuck Norris but he backed out when filming was delayed by funding problems and his son, Mike Norris, landed the lead instead. A Finnish production, this was at that time the most expensive film ever to have been made in Finland. The Finnish Board of Film Classification first banned the movie, because of excessive violence and anti-Soviet elements. Because of that the movie had to be shortened 3.5 minutes before it was finally accepted for distribution October 29, 1986 with the Supreme Court decision. The premiere was December 19, 1986. The success of the film in the United States allowed Harlin to get his foot in the door in Hollywood.
In his 2008 book Kohti sinipunaa, Juhani Suomi revealed that the request to ban the movie originated from Vladimir Sobolov, the Soviet Union's ambassador to Finland.
Born American was released in North America over the Labor Day Weekend in 1986. It was the ninth biggest movie that weekend, earning $2.2 million in 1,071 theaters. The film's overall box office take was $3,388,020.