The Killing of America (1982)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Sheldon Renan

Writers:

Chieko Schrader (writer)
Leonard Schrader (writer)

Release Date:

14 July 1983 (Australia)

Genre:

Documentary | Crime

Tagline:

A stunning eye-witness experience of the growth of violence in the United States

Plot:

A documentary of the decline of America. It features a lot a great footage (most exclusive to this film) from race riots to serial killers and much-much more. |

Plot Keywords:

Gun Control | Prostitution | Extreme Violence | Accident | USA

Cast

Chuck Riley	...	Narrator
Ed Dorris	...	Himself, Los Angeles Sheriff's Dept., Homicide (as Sgt. Ed Dorris Ret.)
Thomas Noguchi	...	Himself, Los Angeles County Coroner
Sirhan Sirhan	...	Himself
Wayne Henley	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Ed Kemper	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Berkowitz	...	Himself (Son of Sam) (archive footage)
Kenneth Bianchi	...	Himself - Hillside Strangler (archive footage)
Lawrence Bittaker	...	Himself (archive footage)
Arthur Bremer	...	Himself - Shoting Wallace (archive footage)
Sam Brown	...	Himself - Sidewalk Sniper (archive footage)
Ted Bundy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dean Corll	...	Himself (archive footage)
Juan Corona	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mark Essex	...	Himself - Howard Johnson Sniper (archive footage) (as Robert Essex)
John Wayne Gacy	...	Himself (photographs) (archive footage) (as John Gacy)
Richard Hall	...	Himself - Hostage (archive footage)
John Hinckley	...	Himself (archive footage) (as John Warnock Hinckley)
James R. Hoskins	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jim Jones	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Reverend Jim Jones)
Jacqueline Kennedy	...	Herself (archive footage)
John F. Kennedy	...	Himself (archive footage) (as President John F. Kennedy)
Robert F. Kennedy	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Robert Kennedy)
Martin Luther King	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Lennon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Charles Manson	...	Himself (archive footage)
Herbert Mullin	...	Himself - Serial Killer (archive footage)
Lee Harvey Oswald	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ronald Reagan	...	Himself (archive footage) (as President Reagan)
Jack Ruby	...	Himself (archive footage)
Leo J. Ryan	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Rep. Leo Ryan)
Robert Benjamin Smith	...	Himself - Mass Murderer (archive footage) (as Robert Smith)
Brenda Spencer	...	Herself - School Sniper (archive footage)
George Wallace	...	Himself (archive footage)
Charles Whitman	...	Himself - The Texas Tower Sniper (archive footage)

Also Known As:

Violence U.S.A (Japan: English title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:18 | New Zealand:R18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | Norway:18 (video premiere) (1983) | Norway:(Banned) (1982-2003) (cinema release)

Trivia:

This film has never been released, distributed, televised nor made available for sale in the USA.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Narrator: While you watched this movie, five of us were murdered. One was the random killing of a stranger.

Movie Connections:

References The Great American Girl Robbery (1979)

Soundtrack:

Imagine

Excellent Archival Footage

Documentary featuring footage of some of America's most well known murders and assassinations. It's filled with a lot of statistics and done with a very serious tone giving it a sort of newsworthy 'importance'. (If narrator Chuck Riley's voice got anymore resonate of stern you'd swear he'd have to be a robot.) Yet it offers no real solutions and after ninety minutes of almost complete carnage does it only briefly mention the issue of handgun registration. Thus despite it's pretensions it's really like all the rest of it's exploitation brethren (FACES OF DEATH, INHUMANITIES, etc) which were made simply to cash in on the shock value of it's content.

Yet there are a few things that allow this to rise above the rest. First of all everything is well known and documented so there is no question as to it's authenticity. You also get to see some intriguing interviews with the killers. There's the very, very confused Sirhan Sirhan, the lighthearted and joking Charles Manson, and the intelligent,well versed Ed Kemper who explains how he slept with the severed heads of his victims. There's also moments of Ted Bundy getting very riled up during his court case. There's a security tape showing two killers very politely allowing a woman to go ahead of them in line, buy her stuff and leave, before coldly shooting the clerk to death. There's even a look at the 16 year old girl who shot 15 school children at a playground and then later became the inspiration for the Boomtown Rats song I DON'T LIKE MONDAYS. And there's even more.

If it's vintage archival footage of some of modern America's most bizarre and notorious crimes and criminals that you are after, than this is tops. It's well edited for ultimate emotional impact and remains quite riveting. It's strong stuff despite it's dubious politics and intentions. Why this has become so obscure and hard to find is a mystery.