This movie was so low budget it should be collecting welfare.
This was David Carradine's project and obviously he is the only one who believed in it. It was filmed mainly in 1973, but not finished until 1981, and includes a scene where Carradine appears to have aged about ten years; make-up being to costly, I presume.
The film is about a recently discharged Vietnam vet who wanders into a small Kansas town and comes across a dilapidated Carousel, which he takes to fixing, arousing the suspicions of the townspeople. That is the plot.
Carradine plays the character much like his Kung Fu's Caine: The quiet, unassuming and ambiguous wanderer. A man with a hidden past. A man of uncertain principle.
The townspeople, played by Barbara Hershey, small time actors and townspeople, react by offering him odd jobs while questioning his intentions; by quietly giving support, or by trying to drive him off. Even the mangy dogs seem particularly mangy, like small time animal actors.
For some reason it all works. If Carradine had one more dime to spend on this film it may have ruined it.
Americana is an outstanding film.
