The Killing of America

Very interesting and entertaining documentary featuring heaps of real footage of shootings and assassinations, etc. The squeamish should definitely avoid, because the footage is extremely graphic, and should definitely not be viewed by those under the age of 18.

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.

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.