Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection

Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection
by Charles Burnett

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DVD details

Actor: Henry Gayle Sanders, Kaycee Moore
Director: Charles Burnett
Brand: OSCILLOSCOPE PICTURES
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 81 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-11-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: New Yorker Video/Milestone Cinematheque
Product features:

KILLER OF SHEEP: CHARLES BURNETT COLLECTION (DVD MOVIE)

DVD Reviews of Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection

DVD Review: In the ghetto
Summary: 4 Stars

Charles Burnett's rediscovered classic is the quiet story of a family in Watts. Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders) is a good man who has nearly been crushed by poverty. His soul-killing job at a slaughterhouse doesn't earn enough to lift the family out of poverty, and he is unable to sleep or find joy in life. Nevertheless, he fulfills his responsibilities the best he can. His wife (Kaycee Moore) watches what has become of the man she loves with deep concern and love. Disconnected scenes of their lives and the lives of those around them are intercut with scenes of children at play, inviting us to contemplate their constrained futures.

Burnett has a great eye and captures many powerful black and white images. His non-professional crew of actors is sometimes painfully amateur but it all somehow contributes to the verisimilitude of the project. Although we do see some law-breaking in this film, Burnett is more interested in telling the stories of decent people with values than gangstas and thugs, and he succeeds in producing a work of gentle, heart-breaking nobility.

DVD Review: Outstanding film
Summary: 5 Stars

I'm astonished that Killer of Sheep has received a few negative reviews. These perhaps reflect some limitations of the audience rather than flaws in Burnett's rich film.

Killer of Sheep features an unorthodox narrative that it is honest and more compelling than any over-scripted studio drama. The film progresses from scene to scene in the life of an African American man living in the post-riot Watts community of L.A. To call the plot "inane", as one reviewer did, would be akin to calling life "inane". The shot angles and composition are finely arranged throughout. Cinematography is wielded to enhance meaning. Look at the scene when the fake tough guys come to visit and pay attention to the composition for a fine example of Burnett's subtle work. Then place the scene in the context of 1970s black American cinema for a response to the blaxploitation films that were popular in the early middle 1970s. There have been many American movies made, but Killer of Sheep is one of the few that is actually about American life. There is much to appreciate in Killer of Sheep, and its honesty should make it meaningful to viewers from many walks of life.

DVD Review: Do we have "shills" posing as Amazon reviewers?
Summary: 1 Stars

I couldn't believe how bad this was.

It did have some entertainment value. I watched this with my wife. After a while we started laughing at the really inane plot, the frequent "jumps" between scenes, and poor readings of lines...I believe "Killer of Sheep" was a student project - I just don't believe it was a grad school assignment. Maybe Middle School...maybe

There was nothing of value I could glean from this. No attempt at creating an allusion between his "day job" - in an abattoir (where he kills sheep), and his own dismal daily life... The camera placement was uninspired, focus was an issue at times, there were few hand-held shots, but that might have been a later innovation as this was made in the 70's.

The "acting" was atrocious. In one of the opening scenes of the principal movie, one of the (very) minor characters excuses himself when he observes two ne'er-do-wells approaching the door...the guy looked like he could play a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears, in other words - he could have "taken on a baar with a switch"...and he gives an incredibly bad reading to the line..."Here comes X and Y. I'd better get out of here."

This was recommended by my favorite professional movie reviewer, Joe Morgenstern, of the WSJ. So I was anxious to see it. What a letdown!

BTW I didn't buy it here, or anywhere. Our library happens to have a superb collection of DVDs, selected principally by one gentleman who told me "Movies are my life!". When I asked him if he had seen "Killer of Sheep" - he said he had. "Did you like it?" "No."

DVD Review: Over Promised and Under Delivered
Summary: 1 Stars

After reading most of the glowing reviews of Mr. Burnett's film, Killer of Sheep, I was excited about my purchase. Being an avid viewer of indie films, with a special interest in African American indie films,I was all the more intrigued by this film. Much to my chagrin, this movie was horrible. I can only think that perhaps I missed something, but I do not think that this is the case at all. Compared to films like Carl Seaton and Kenny Young's One Week, or Wendell B Harris, Jr's Chameleon Street, or Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have it, this film falls flat, and boy does it fall hard! I would not recommend spending a dime on this movie. I have to think that the good reviews that it has received have been the result of payoffs, or great politicking, because this film, in this viewer's strong opinion, warrants none of the praise it has received. To consider it a classic, is to do a disservice to the many other critical Black films that are truly worthy of this title

DVD Review: Slice of Life
Summary: 4 Stars

This is not a Hollywood Blockbuster, and is made in Black and White. It is not a conventional film with a plot, rather it is a slice of the life of a man living in Watts. There is nothing remarkable in his life, and it delves into the notable tedium and frustrations of his rather regular existence. A million miles from contemporary Blaxploitation films, or more recent Hood flicks. The film has innovative cinematography and interesting visuals for one made on a low budget. Not an "entertaining" film, but an interesting and challenging one.

Description of Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection

January 31 1971. More than 125 vietnam veterans representing every major combat unit to see action gathered in detroit to heal a nationand themselves. Winter soldier the documentary of this event remains to this day a remarkable plea for peace. Studio: New Yorker Films Video Release Date: 11/20/2007 Run time: 53 minutes

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