the audience applauded

Redundant and unnecessary.

I'll tell you why so serious

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's a documentary in the mold of the mondo films or Faces of Death, and the film mostly consists of archival footage, but some of it appears to have been shot by a cameraman specifically for the film (The Kennedy assassination zoom in shots on the window and tracking shot inside the interior where Oswald fired and the man demonstrating Whitman's behavior appeared as if they might have been made just for this film, as well as some of the earlier footage). Obviously don't watch it if you're unwilling to see violent and gruesome images. Often it just discusses the material and has little graphic material to show, but they don't shy away from people being shot on screen and even a few suicide or after death photos.The beginning was the most interesting part because all of the footage was just everyday violent scenes and showcased the gritty streets of the most dangerous American cities. It seemed initially like it had an underlying message and was more artfully directed than something like FoD. Quite a depressing atmosphere to the whole thing, but then all of the iconic scenes of successful or attempted assassinations of famous figures (Wallace, Reagan, MLK, JFK, and his brother Robert), followed by a few mass shootings/snipers, serial killers, Jonestown, etc. occurred--some more obscure than others. Though it's interesting if you haven't seen a lot of this footage, it does become a bit rote, especially if you're familiar with any of the content. I'd already seen the footage from Bundy and Kemper, and a few others--unfortunately, most of the archival footage is not edited together in a unique way and has rather banal commentary.Aside from some occasionally inventive editing and the strong start, and some decent music choices, most of the footage is available on Youtube, and this is only of note as a clip compilation film with little direction other than to document a bunch of violent scenarios, usually by category rather than chronologically. It offers no real insight into the American condition, why the violence occurs, or how to ameliorate it, and very few statistics (all shoehorned in at the beginning). It's also wrong at a few points--average IQ for murderers of the type presented tend to be below 100, but the more charming and higher IQ killers usually get all the media attention (Might have been flimsy data at the time, but I'm just pointing that out). As well as the odd suggestion that people in prison for life or with a long sentence would be released because of prison overpopulation or something (They presumed Sirhan Sirhan would be released just 3-4 years after the film debuted in '81). Absolutely no documented information is included to substantiate any of these claims or even any concrete examples are given (they could have at least interviewed a few cops or legislators or something). The ending with Lennon's peace vigils is rather tepid, but it seems they were pressured to end on a more positive note.A quick listing of footage or details in the film: Wallace, Lennon, Reagan, MLK, JFK, and his brother Robert (there are also Sirhan Sirhan interviews), all either successfully or unsuccessfully assassinated; Ted Bundy, Edmund Kemper, Wayne Henlon and Dean Corll, Brenda Spencer, John Wayne Gacy, Mark Essex (and two others), Charles Whitman, Jonestown Massacre, Tony Kiritsis, Manson Family, Robert Smith, James Hoskins, and some very brief footage of the Vietnam War. There's some other content, but that's the bulk of it.

Though crass in some parts, The Killing of America is an accomplished, paranoia inducing travelogue through the big dog's fraught relationship with violence, made even more shattering due to the fact that whilst there might not be mania inducing levels of lead in their atmosphere anymore (For Now), the underlying problems that triggered most of this chaos still plague America today.We go from Ghetto Shootouts to Political Assassinations to Serial Killers to one of the greatest twist endings, if you can call it that, in cinema, let alone exploitation, which like I said this Mondoco does go into. It's a disturbing catalogue of tragedy, idiocy and despair at the great social experiment blowing up in people's faces. A genuine sense of panic is felt whilst watching and as this is evidently a political film about bringing to attention a nation's state of emergency, well, Mission Accomplished.The Killing of America is, whilst not for repeat viewings, a must watch if you're even half interested in Mondo.

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.

The latter half of the 20th century was rife with societal and political turmoil in the United States of America, and this resulted in a wave of violent crime that continued to the end of the century. There are many contributing factors attributed to this spike in violence, including mass proliferation of guns and drugs, overcrowded prisons, immoral foreign wars, crooked politicians, and poor economic conditions, but The Killing of America focuses mainly on how ingrained violence is in American society, and how we consider violence a part of our cultural identity.The Killing of America tackles this subject with uncompromising reality, using rare and often shocking archival footage to shock the viewer into submission. However, the film never comes off as an exploitation film. Although the footage is often brutal, it is used with journalistic integrity.The documentary focuses on a host of violent events in recent history such as assassinations, hostage situations, robberies, spree killings, and serial killings. Many of the subjects the film covers are famous, such as the Kennedy assassinations, while others are more obscure, especially for people like me who weren't alive to experience the events as they happened. Many of the situations are shocking, and a lot of the footage included in the movie is so effective that it may change your perception of what it means to be a violent criminal.We see killers of all kinds, from all walks of life in America. We understand after viewing that violence can happen anywhere, at anytime, to anyone, by anyone. It paints a picture of a society in deep turmoil based on race, class, politics, and sometimes for no reason at all. Its almost as if the country is constantly at war with itself, with absolutely no sense of togetherness as a nation.The Killing of America is one of the most shocking and effective documentaries I've ever seen. it is continually engaging and throughout its running time never loses steam. Its use of archival footage and music is some of the best I've ever seen in a documentary. It is a raw piece of filmmaking that exposes the true face of American society. I highly recommend this film to any fans of good documentaries or anyone with an interest in American society.