Excellent, a Must See

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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 documentary is about violence in America up to 1981. It was intended for a Japanese audience. There's lots of violent footage, some not readily seen anywhere else. If that's what you're looking for this is a good movie for you. But it doesn't really make a statement other than America might be more violet in 1981 than ever before. I say might because we're not sure why or by how much. There are some messed up people out there. That's what this shows you, example after example...over and over and over again. Newspaper coverage used to be as graphic as this movie. In the 1950's newspapers often included gruesome pictures of mangled injuries from auto accidents. Generally, 90% of the population are well-meaning. The other 10% are ill-intentioned or desperate enough to commit horrible things. This movie is about those 10%.

Even though 'The Killing of America' wants to state a peaceful message, it has a dubious way of getting its point across, lacking logic and thoroughness. Of course, a lot of the statistics may be real, but more than anything else they show (partly) how a 'new' society, after two world wars, is beginning to face its limitations and problems concerning its enormous growth, high speed development and radical cultural changes... and several serial killers portrayed here never even used a gun! But beyond that, restrictions on American gun laws would certainly have mý blessing...Back to 'T.K.o.A.', because beyond its failing as a documentary, it offers an intriguing series of archival footage pertaining to all kinds of 'modern' violence in America, from about the early sixties up to the early eighties. It starts right off the bat with the brutal street killing of a black suspect by some cops, and does not flinch at showing gore or seedy images that many will find offensive - some ninety minutes of assassinations, snipers, riots, war, mass-suicide and serial killers are then still to come...As a documentary: 3 out of 10. As a historic document: 9 out of 10. Which brings it to an average of 6 out of 10, since I find it hard to prioritize in this case...

I first saw this movie as a young teenager in about 1984. Back then I never really got the seriousness of what "Killing of America" was trying to do. In many cases I found myself watching it just to see scenes of violence like it was any random horror movie. Subsequent views have had a polarising effect considering how I once viewed the same footage.Killing of America, is a shockumentary, nothing more nothing less. It's role is not to delve into why the violence is happening or what is turning middle America against itself. I don't believe any movie or documentary can successfully do that, given that there are simply too many factors for why such violence exists.For the film to generate the shocks that it does, even where the extreme violence is 50 years ago, is powerful in itself.The reasons of why Charles Whitman decided to climb the university tower and just open fire on random strangers is never explored, but the fact that it happened, seemingly without any real provocation should be enough to make people stop and question.The reasons why Robert Smith entered a beauty college and callously slaughtered 5 people, one of them a 3 year old, are never revealed, only stating that he "wanted to get known". That is the real nature of this film. It's appeal is in its straightforwardness.The narration doesn't focus on gender or on race. There are crimes of white on black violence, just as much as black on white violence. However the undertone of how easily accessible guns are to people who obviously can't handle them and shouldn't be anywhere near them is evident throughout. The random almost inexplicable assassination of Martin Luther King who just wanted peace, to the equally bizarre assassination of Robert Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan who claimed he didn't remember doing it.There's footage of a police officer explaining how a shotgun can easily be purchased in any store or supermarket and also footage of alleged gun reforms that just don't go far enough, so the Killing of America is predominantly about gun violence, but again it's role is not to explain why the violence exists, but the fact that it does exist and that it's almost becoming acceptable due to how commonplace it is.Yes there are a few anachronisms in the film, but these center around the use of numbers and statistics. It's unlikely that all this violence had a turning point in 1963, however one has to think that that date was chosen due to how traumatised America and most of the world was when Kennedy was assassinated, more so than ever before. Kennedy was not the first U.S president to be assassinated; Abraham Lincoln anyone?The 1960's was not the first decade of serial killings either, given that the Charles Starkweather case happened in the late 50's and Bonnie & Clyde were way back in the 30's, but the 60's seemed to be the decade where so much happened in a relatively short span of time, from race riots, excessive almost daily violence, and an ongoing war both political and actual.Overall this is a powerful film that achieves what it sets out to do. Much in the same way images of cancer are put on cigarette packs in some countries, this film is meant to be an in your face account of just how far and how fast society is sliding and continues to do so in the present day. It leaves out the psychological analysis of why and just presents the evidence as bleak as it is. If you can manage to locate a copy buy it and keep it.