The Killing of America

Take the "Happiness is a Warm Gun" two minute shocking segment presented in "Bowling for Columbine" and multiply for almost two hours, then you have this excellent documentary named "The Killing of America". It reminds of what Michael Moore did in his powerful masterpiece, but this film haven't reach the impact of the Oscar winning documentary since it wasn't released in the U.S. back in 1982 and not even now (but it's easy to find on the internet). Leonard Schrader's film touched a deep wound of America and of course this couldn't be released in there, it would be misinterpreted and still can be depending of how one view this documentary. Strangely, this was made for the Japan market, another reason of why this wasn't shown in U.S. not even for home video.

What we have here is a look at some of the most horrendous figures and crimes that ever appeared in U.S. between 1950's and 1980's, most of them captured on camera, broadcasted on TV, followed by an haunting voice over from Chuck Riley. There you'll see the Kennedy's assassination, John Lennon's murder, Jim Jones, Ted Bundy, Charles Whitman, Sirhan Sirhan, Charles Manson, Brenda Spencer and other bigger and minor criminal and tragical events recorded on film that took place in America.

The intelligence of this documentary is to provoke a debate on why there was so much violent crimes in America in all the images presented here without reaching the sensationalism of things like "Faces of Death". It intrigues its viewers by exploring a dark past of one the most powerful countries of the world showing a unflattering and sad side of it. It gives us numbers, facts, informations and impressive things to make its audience think about possible reasons behind this enormous stream of crimes and violence.

The images are haunting and quite depressive, but it should never be viewed as an attack to a country's past, it's just a critical piece that exposes its great arguments over a current critical situation of that period. It could happen at any place, and it happens indeed. I'm hoping to find such a brutal and honest film like this concerning the violent facts and images of my country, someday in a future until we have someone with the guts like the creators of this powerful media. 10/10

The Killing of America is one of those must see documentaries. Unlike other films of this sort(Executions), this is portrayed in a NON exploitational way.

Very violent, very grim and when you think about the statistics that they show... VERY SCARY!

Of course that if we watch it after "Bowling for Columbine", perhaps it will mean not much for you, but it definitely sets a horrible, sad and real background to all the violence phenomena that the USA has been living after 1963, and after a long journey through history, it ends up in the contemporary times of when the movie was made: 1982. The documentary is explicit, is depressive, sad, but still, very crude and accurate, and studying the theme from different points of view: anthropological, sociological, historical, etc. If you are interested in understanding how USA became so chaotic and yet the world potency, I think this movie is a must.

The Killing of America (1981)

*** (out of 4)

This documentary highlights the violent culture that has overtaken America. Throughout the running time we see a number of stories dealing with mass murderers, sexual assaults, sniper attacks and various other crimes. Narrator Chuck Riley talks about everything from political assassinations (the Kennedy's) to Jonestown to the Manson murders. Throughout the film we see how America is slowly becoming undone due to violence.

THE KILLING OF America was released in American theaters for a couple weeks before it pretty much disappeared from this country. The film was made for the Japan market where it was a huge hit and it was also released there in a much longer version with even more stories. As it stands, the film remains a fairly well-made look at a violent culture and unlike the FACES OF DEATH series, this film here takes real footage to show what violence is doing.

This film certainly has a message to get across. A lot of the blame is put on the fact that it's very easy to get a gun and we see what happens when madmen get their hands on an easy weapon. There's some interview footage with some of the mass murderers that are show (including Robert Kennedy's murderer) and we also see some trial footage to Ted Bundy. The John Lennon murder is looked at as are the stories of John Wayne Gacy, John Hinckley and Jim Jones among others.

The FACES OF DEATH series was pure exploitation to the cheapest level. I wouldn't call this film exploitation since it's main goal was to obviously scare people into hoping for better laws to protect people. The film manages to be entertaining as long as you can put up with the violence of the story.

This movie was hard to find. reading about it, I read it wasn't ever released in America. I have currently found it as a Region 2 (United Kningdom/Europe) DVD release.

that being said, this is one great documentary. I'm sure it was very shocking to anyone who saw it in 1982, it was shocking to me today. In today's world, the media- television, movies, music etc. There is a lot of violence. There is a lot of glamorization of violence. Some people like violence, some don't. That is not the point.

This documentary deals with murder rate in America. Its not just another documentary covering a few statistics here and there, this has excellent footage. You will hear surprising statistics, you will see serial killers, you will see actual people being shot.

It IS shocking. I have seen so much shocking stuff, that I am numb to a lot now, but this was shocking. I for one, never saw the entire JFK footage. Its on here. The Robert F Kennedy assassination is on here. A few other actual footages, or assassinations and assassination attempts are on here.

Serial killers are covered in depth in this documentary. You see actual footage of notorious killers such as Ted Bundy, and Charles Manson. You hear about others you may have heard of- Charles Whitman, John Wayne Gacy etc.

There were also some serial killers and incidents I never even heard of in this movie. There was one incident where a guy who gives out bank loans was taken hostage and paraded around the city for 3 days in front of the media and everyone. There is another incident where a guy takes over a TV station.

Today we have documentaries such as Bowling for Columbine, or Fahrenheit 911. These are trash. they do not show good legit footage, and the truth and statistics in these documentaries are twisted. I have no reason to believe anything in this Killing of America documentary is false. First of all, the footage is right there. The only thing that would be made up is the statistics, which I doubt.

This documentary is graphic. This documentary is shocking. It is also a great history lesson. You will learn more about killers and incidents you know. If you have not seen this film, and know a lot of the subject, you are still guaranteed to learn something.

I would say this is a must see for anyone interested in shocking real events, or interested in well made documentaries. It will shock you.