Killer of Sheep
Killer of Sheep | |
---|---|
Directed by | Charles Burnett |
Written by | Charles Burnett |
Produced by | Charles Burnett |
Starring | Henry G. Sanders Kaycee Moore Charles Bracy Angela Burnett |
Cinematography | Charles Burnett |
Edited by | Charles Burnett |
Distributed by | Third World Newsreel[1] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 80 minutes[2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $10,000 |
Box office | $416,509[3] |
Killer of Sheep is a 1978 American drama film edited, filmed, written, produced, and directed by Charles Burnett. Shot primarily in 1972 and 1973, it was originally submitted by Burnett to the UCLA School of Film in 1977 as his Master of Fine Arts thesis. It features Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, and Charles Bracy, among others, in acting roles.
The film depicts the culture of urban African-Americans in Los Angeles'
Killer of Sheep premiered at the
Plot
Stan works long hours at a slaughterhouse in
Cast
- Henry G. Sanders as Stan
- Kaycee Moore as Stan's wife
- Charles Bracy as Bracy
- Angela Burnett as Stan's daughter
- Eugene Cherry as Eugene
- Jack Drummond as Stan's son
Production
Burnett used grant money from the UCLA School of Film to help finance the film, but delayed production because his first choice of actor was in prison and he wanted to wait until he was paroled. Meanwhile, he made the short film The Horse. When the university insisted he make his thesis film with or without his first-choice actor, Burnett cast Henry Sanders.[9]
Directed by Charles Burnett, Killer of Sheep was shot in Watts on a budget of less than US$10,000 ($38,000 in 2016 dollars) over roughly a year's worth of weekends in 1972 and 1973, with additional shooting in 1975. In 1977, Burnett submitted the film as his Master of Fine Arts thesis at the School of Film at the University of California, Los Angeles. Burnett said he also intended to make the film a history of African-American music and filled it with music from a variety of genres and different eras.[10] Burnett also kept a stable job while Killer of Sheep was being shot, spending his time working at an agency reading scripts and synopsis.[11]
Roof jumping scene
One scene contains a low-angle shot of children leaping from rooftop to rooftop.[12] Juliet Clark, a journalist writing for the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, said the scene shows how children in the film "seem to achieve a mobility that eludes their elders".[13]
In 2009, a still from the scene, showing one of the boys mid-jump, was reproduced in red tint and used as the cover of rapper
Critical reception
Though the film won the Critics' Award at the
Killer of Sheep holds a 97% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus states: "By turns funny, sad, and profound, Killer of Sheep offers a sympathetic and humane glimpse into inner-city life."[15] Critics and scholars have likened the film to the work of Italian neorealist directors, particularly Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini, for its documentary aesthetic and use of mostly non-professional, on-location actors. Burnett has also been compared to Yasujirō Ozu for his strong sense of composition, Stanley Kubrick for his sharp ear for juxtaposing popular music with images, John Cassavetes for his knack for coaxing natural performances from amateur actors, and Robert Altman for his interest in the minutiae of human interaction. Burnett's self-professed influences are Jean Renoir, Basil Wright, and Federico Fellini, all of whom exemplify the tender, humane and compassionate qualities for which Burnett has been praised, qualities intensely present in Killer of Sheep. Critic Andrew O'Hehir, noting the strong influences of Jean Renoir, Roberto Rossellini,[16] and Satyajit Ray, said, "It's hard to overemphasize how strange and ambitious and completely out of context it was for a black urban filmmaker with no money and no reputation to make that kind of movie in 1977."[17]
In 1990, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[17]
In 2008,
The National Society of Film Critics chose Killer of Sheep as one of its 100 Essential Films.
In 2015, the BBC named the film the 26th greatest American movie ever made.[19]
Lists
The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films released in 2007.[20]
- 1st – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
- 2nd – Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
- 3rd – Glenn Kenny, Premiere
- 3rd – Michael Sragow, The Baltimore Sun
- 3rd – Nick Schager, Slant Magazine
- 3rd – Richard Corliss, TIME magazine
- 5th – Dana Stevens, Slate
- 10th – Ella Taylor, LA Weekly
Distribution
Having previously only existed on worn 16mm prints, the film was restored and enlarged to 35mm by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and Milestone Films, thanks in part to a donation from filmmaker Steven Soderbergh. The soundtrack, which had not been licensed, was also paid for at a cost of over US$150 000.
On March 30, 2007, it opened in select theaters in the United States and Canada and on November 13, 2007, it was released on DVD as part of a deluxe box set with a director's cut of Burnett's sophomore feature My Brother's Wedding and three Burnett shorts: Several Friends (a 1969 aesthetic precursor to Killer of Sheep), The Horse (an "allegory of the South", in Burnett's words), and When It Rains (praised as one of the greatest short films of all time by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum).
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 21, 2008, Turner Classic Movies presented the world broadcast premiere of the film as part of a night-long marathon of Burnett's work. Burnett was interviewed before and after the film by TCM's primetime host Robert Osborne.
See also
References
- ^ "Distributor FAQ: Third World Newsreel". Independent Magazine. October 1, 1998. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ "KILLER OF SHEEP (12A)". British Film Institute. British Board of Film Classification. September 10, 2007. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
- ^ Killer of Sheep at Box Office Mojo Retrieved February 11, 2014
- Slate.com, March 30, 2007
- ^ Maslin, Janet (November 14, 1978). "Screen: 'Killer of Sheep' Is Shown at the Whitney:Nonprofessional Cast". The New York Times. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
- ^ JSTOR 26356944.
- ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-60473-950-3.
- ^ 'Killer of Sheep' by Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2007
- ^ a b "Gale - Product Login". galeapps.gale.com. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
- ISBN 9781118475003.
- BAMPFA. September 20, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
- Complex. Archivedfrom the original on June 19, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
- ^ Killer of Sheep at Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved February 11, 2014
- ^ "Killer of Sheep - A Film by Charles Burnett - About the Film". www.killerofsheep.com. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
- ^ a b "Killer of Sheep" by Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com, March 30, 2007
- ^ Empire's The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. Empire via Internet Archive. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
- bbc.com, July 20, 2015
- ^ "Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 2, 2008.
External links
- Official website
- Killer of Sheep at IMDb
- Killer of Sheep at the TCM Movie Database
- Killer of Sheep at Box Office Mojo
- Killer of Sheep at Metacritic
- Killer of Sheep at Rotten Tomatoes
- Ghetto Blues: Beauty & Despair in Watts (TCM Movie Morlocks)
- Killer of Sheep essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, Bloomsbury Academic, 2010 ISBN 0826429777, pages 737-738 [1]
- Cinema Then, Cinema Now: Killer of Sheep a 1993 discussion of the film with Basil Wilson, hosted by Jerry Carlson of CUNY TV