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!

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.

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.

Michael Moore must have seen this movie. This is Bowling for Columbine, dark and hopeless early 80s style. No humour here, just a dystopia view of an ugly, violent, dysfunctional America going down in flames, loosely connected through a sprawling narrative, and fueled by amazing archive footage.

Sensitive viewers be warned. There are plenty of ghastly sequences and photographs here. Some, no, lots of completely horrible stuff that will make you cringe.

While Moore aims at amusing us as he hammers away on his message, The Killing of America goes straight for shock value. The narrative seems to exist primarily as an excuse for showing a lot of violent images. The message never goes beyond "Look at all the violence. Something must be wrong with America". While true enough, this is hardly Pulitzer stuff.

But it is not message that makes this movie interesting. It is the fantastic collection of archive footage that the filmmakers have managed to scrape together. With the risk of appearing warped, I must admit that this is truly fascinating stuff. You'll find news footage here of riots, assassinations of political figures, sniper mass murderers etc. that is rarely shown anywhere.

I have long been fascinated by American contemporary history and politics, and in that vein, I find this movie unmissable. The three segments showing the JFK assassination from different angles alone make it worth watching. I have never really doubted that Oswald was the only assassin before, but now...let's just say I'll leave a little room for speculation. Just a tiny little bit.

Those interested in the phenomena of mass or serial killers will also get their fill of material here. A large segment of the film is dedicated to this, including court footage of Ted Bundy and an interview with Edward Kemper. Both seem earily "normal". Isn't that more scary than if they were ranting lunatics? An audio tape, seemingly real, of Jim Jones admonishing his disciples to take their own lives more willingly, without complaining so much, is another complete hairraiser.

While obviously taken out of context and thrown together in order to create a slanted image of what was going on during the 1960s and 1970s, many of the scenes in this movie rightly show us a different America than the one we recognize from mainstream media.

This is not the whole truth. But it is a small part, an evil, shadowy part. The Killing of America desensitizes recent history. And as such, it is essential.