Punishment Park (1971)

Director:

Peter Watkins

Writer:

Peter Watkins (writer)

Release Date:

1980 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

"Punishment Park" is a pseudo-documentary purporting to be a film crews's news coverage of the team of soldiers escorting a group of hippies...

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Punishment | Anti Establishment | Underground | Capture

Cast

Patrick Boland	...	First Tribunal Defendant
Kent Foreman	...	Defendant in the tribunal
Carmen Argenziano	...	Jay Kaufman, Tribunal Defendant
Luke Johnson	...	Defendant in the tribunal
Katherine Quittner	...	Nancy Smith
Scott Turner	...	James Arthur Kohler, Tribunal Defendant
Stan Armsted	...	Charles Robbins
Mary Ellen Kleinhall	...	Allison Mitchner
Mark Keats	...	William C. Hoeger, Tribunal Chairman
Gladys Golden	...	Mary Jurgens, Tribunal Member
Sanford Golden	...	Sen. Harris
George Gregory	...	Mr. Keagan
Norman Sinclair	...	Alfred J. Sully - Tribunal Member
Sigmund Rich	...	Prof. Hazlett
Paul Rosenstein	...	Paul Reynolds - Tribunal Member

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | UK:X | France:-12 | USA:R

Company:

Chartwell

Trivia:

Whole movie was filmed using Eclair 16 mm camera. Theather cut and the version for released DVD is been blown up to 35 mm film.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In her tribunal closing statement, Alison Mitchner makes reference to the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States, and uses the phrase "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". This phrase is in the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.

Quotes:

Desert Pacifist: At another time, the honorable thing or the right thing to do might be to be a policeman or to be President. Right now, I think the honorable thing to do is to be a criminal.

Amazing film!!!!!!

As someone who was dealing with the draft board the year this was made, I was absolutely astounded by the truth of it's vision. The haircuts, clothes, figures of speech, that was what it looked and felt like at the time. Contrary to popular memory, everyone wasn't a hippy with a few "bad" people who were for the war. It WAS scary! I may be wrong, but I do believe that most of the dialogue of the trial section, anyway, was written from various quotes such as from the trial of the Chicago 7. If you want to see something amazing, imagine that on national TV!!! It was on national TV!!!!

Great movie!!!