An American Crime
A suburban housewife’s twisted obsession turns her home into a nightmarish prison as she holds a teenage girl captive, forcing a desperate neighbor to confront the darkness before it destroys them both.
“The true story of a child's punishment that became a woman's crime.”
Synopsis
The true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 40
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Melissa KentShot by Byron ShahScored by Alan Ari LazarDesigned by Nathan Amondson
Box Office
2007 · Box office
Produced on a $2.0M budget
Production budget
$2.0M
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Cast & Crew
40 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Elliot Page
as Sylvia Likens
Hayley Mcfarland
as Jennie Likens
Catherine Keener
as Gertrude Baniszewski
Nick Searcy
as Lester Likens
Romy Rosemont
as Betty Likens
Ari Graynor
as Paula Baniszewski
Scout Taylor Compton
as Stephanie Baniszewski
Tristan Jarred
as Johnny Baniszewski
Hannah Leigh
as Shirley Baniszewski
Bradley Whitford
as Prosecutor
James Franco
as Andy
Scott Eastwood
as Eric
Supporting cast
16Michael O Keefe
as Reverend Bill Collier
Carlie Westerman
as Marie Baniszewski
Michelle Benes
as Hope Orbach
Jeremy Sumpter
as Coy Hubbard
Brian Geraghty
as Bradley
Channing Nichols
as Patty
Michael Welch
as Teddy
Evan Peters
as Ricky Hobbs
Amy Ferguson
as Sally
Will Carter
as Officer Waters
Edward James Gage
as Bailiff
Patricia Place
as Mrs. Doyle
Paul Grace
as Cottin Candy Vendor (uncredited)
James Meehan
as Defense Attorney (uncredited)
Paul Palo
as Newspaper Reporter (uncredited)
Gary Sievers
as Carnie (uncredited)
Directors
1Writers
2Producers
4Other crew
6Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
Official ratings
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for An American Crime yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for An American Crime yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on An American Crime?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on An American Crime.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for An American Crime yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on An American CrimeNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…