Charles Burnett: Killer of Sheep (1977)

[Chris Knipp]

A slice of Watts preserved forever

Killer of Sheep is a peculiar and unique film about ordinary and very real Watts black people. A man, his wife, his little kids and some people he knows are shown in little scenes organized by a variety of classic black songs and separated by sequences of neighborhood kids playing in yards and sidewalks and vacant lots -- fighting with stones, dirt, and sand; riding bikes; girls chanting jumping rope songs; boys getting hurt and crying; and, memorably, boys and girls seen from below as they jump daringly from one building over to another. Now revived in some art houses, Killer of Sheep is a rough but powerful statement.

We begin with the strong visuals. The square black and white images of Killer of Sheep show a simple and powerful sense of visual composition. Husband and wife sitting at the table are as unified in the weight and rhythms of planes as a painting by C�zanne. This hasn't got much in it to appeal to an ordinary audience, but it's still a film that feels definitive as a late Seventies statement about the black urban American poor. In its desultory way of capturing true blackness it's not hard to be reminded David Gordon Green's George Washington, and Green has cited (http://www.kamera.co.uk/interviews/a_quick_chat_with_david_gordon_green.php) this film as an influence. But beyond that, the muscular clarity and precise sense of composition define Burnett as the ultimate vernacular Cartier Bresson of the southern California ghetto.

Next we move to the people. Stan (Henry Gale Sanders) works in a sheep slaughterhouse. His pretty wife--and we see this more than once--dolls herself up to please him and have sex with him after dinner, but when he gets home from work he's too tired and demoralized even to talk. On a day off Stan goes with a friend to buy an old car engine for $15 from a card-playing man in flashy clothes whose nephew is on the floor recovering from a fight. Later Stan and his wife and friends get dolled up and go off in a car to the race track but they get a flat and there's no spare so there's no trip to the race track either. In a memorable scene Stan and his wife slow dance to Dinah Washington's "This Bitter Earth" in their house. Just the way Stan looks at his wife and puts his hand on her says more than hundreds of other movies about a life lived together in intimacy but without hope. A couple men steal a TV, daring anybody to stop them. Scenes of Stan working in the slaughterhouse fill in the deadening side of his work life. Their numbing brutality is the only thing that is redundant in a film in which otherwise nothing seems wasted.

Not all the elements in Killer of Sheep are as strong; it's just that no one else filmed this material so directly and forcefully. Burnett's dialogue isn't great and his actors are amateurish and the scenes don't go anywhere--the story line is episodic and a little bit aimless--though assuredly that is an essential part of the point in this depiction of a life without prospects. Though the roughness does part to explain Burnett's obscurity, polish isn't always the thing that most matters. Despite the fact that this was a graduate piece made in UCLA film school for under ten thousand dollars, it is--it's clear now in a theatrical revival thirty years later--a film that's extraordinarily, inexplicably memorable for its images and its people and the powerful songs that bind them together.

Though unevenly, Burnett went on after this first feature to maintain quality, but never gained much of an audience. His editing style, his abrupt, casual sense of the flow of things, didn't change a great deal in his later movies with more trained actors and a more reasonable budget: To Sleep with Anger (1990) starring Danny Glover, which got some video play and festival attention. His 1994 police drama, The Glass Shield, which was notable, well reviewed, but again little seen. I came into the IFC Center in NYC to see Gus Van Sant's Mala Noche on a rainy Monday night and Vanessa Redgrave and a small entourage swept in behind me to see Burnett's film. I knew its reputation was high but wondered why Ms. Redgrave had chosen it for her night off from the theater where I'd just sat in the first row, center to see her in Joan Didion's one-person Year of Magical Thinking. The answer was: her sister Lynn Redgrave acted in a Burnett film of 1999 that was never distributed. This was The Annihilation of Fish with James Earl Jones and Margot Kidder. Unfortunately one writer (http://www.cinescene.com/dash/charlesburnett.html) who's seen it reports it's his worst film, a clumsy attempt to do something more mainstream. It is somewhat saddening to learn that his latest effort is a bust. It's also a little difficult to avoid feeling cynical about the way magazine and newspaper writers about the movies so consistently nowadays fall all over each other to praise work that's three decades old, but have little good to say about anything offbeat produced last month. What could be safer? But it seems at heart Charles Burnett has always remained as much a maverick he was in '77. Burnett has received awards, a number of them in 1999. The recent art house revival of Killer of Sheep by Milestone Films may bring him some further recognition.

Rotten Tomatoes has details (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showthread.php?t=551060) of the Killer of Sheep revival locations and links to further information on current screenings of this now much-heralded film.

http://www.killerofsheep.com/

[oscar jubis]

Chris, I've been waiting "all my life" to have a chance to watch Killer of Sheep. I'll be watching it on Monday.
I've been a fan of Charles Burnett since To Sleep with Anger came out in 1990 (it made my Top 10 list that year at #3). I liked The Glass Shield ('94) but I can help but think it would be better if CB hadn't been forced by the producers to tone down the ending.

Since then, Burnett has primarily directed for television. He's been magnificent. Nightjohn, a drama about slavery and literacy is a masterpiece (it made my Top 10 at #3 like To Sleep with Anger). I haven't seen the short When it Rains, a French TV commission Rosenbaum included among his Top 10 Films of the 1990s.
Charles Burnett has also directed some excellent TV documentaries. I absolutely loved The Blues: Warming by the Devil's Fire, which actually is a mix of documentary and personal memoir. Also memorable: Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property (2003).

Also highly recommended but unavailable:
Bless Their Little Hearts (1984), an independent film written and lensed by Burnett, but directed by his film school buddy Bill Woodbury.

[Chris Knipp]

Are any of the TV pieces available on DVD?

Where will you be seeing Killer of Sleep, a regular Miami theater?

[Chris Knipp]

MySpace listing for the film gives a lot of release dates and locations, though I don't see Miami--nor Berkeley, where it was shown at Landmark's Shattuck Theaters in May and early June. The listings go through the rest of the year, and it's supposed to be leaving the IFC Center in NYC tomorrow. I guess Oscar is going to Ft. Lauderdale.

http://www.myspace.com/MilestoneFilms

June only from there below:
MUST END 6/21! IFC Center, New York, NY
HELD OVER Angelika Film Center, Dallas, TX
HELD OVER E Street Cinema, Washington, DC
6/8-21/07 Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, TN
6/15-19/07 Lake Worth Playhouse, Lake Worth, FL
6/15-23/07 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
6/15-21/07 Landmark Theatres, Minneapolis, MN
6/18-21/07 State Theatre, State College, PA
6/20-26/07 Merrill's Roxy Cinema, Burlington, VT
6/22-28/07 Melwood Screening Room, Pittsburgh, PA
6/22-28/07 Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA
6/23, 26, 28/07 Cinematheque Ontario, Toronto, ON, Canada
6/25-26/07 Cinema Paradiso, Fort Lauderdale, FL
6/29-7/5/07 Tivoli Theatre, St. Louis, MO
6/29-7/5/07 Ken Cinema, San Diego, CA
6/29-7/5/07 Tivoli Theatre, St. Louis, MO
6/29-7/1/07 Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Forth Worth, TX
6/29-7/5/07 Capri Theatre, Montgomery, AL

[oscar jubis]

I considered driving last weekend to Palm Beach County to see it then decided to wait until 6/25 to watch it closer to home, at the Paradiso.
Nightjohn and The Blues: Warming by the Devil's Fire are on dvd. Burnett often uses minors in central roles and these two are no exception.

[Chris Knipp]

I'll look for those two on Netflix. After I asked I remembered you'd said you liked the Paradiso Theater.

[Chris Knipp]

American Family: Journey of Dreams (2002) is another TV item on DVD at Netflix.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
American Family: Journey of Dreams (2002) is another TV item on DVD at Netflix.

Burnett directed some episodes (I couldn't find out which ones or how many of them). It's really Gregory Nava's project. The only review I could find (by dvd Verdict's Mancini) states:

"The results of such expeditions are usually mawkish, pretentious, and patronizing. American Family is all of those things in turn. It labors under Nava's social agenda and, as a result, rarely hits a narrative stride with full confidence. Its drama regularly slips into manipulative melodrama, and its comedy is even worse, feeling mostly forced, eliciting pained winces instead of laughs. The show boasts one of the most impressive casts of any television show ever, yet they labor under writing so bloated with self-importance the dialogue is too often wooden, jokes ill-timed and out-of-place, and plot-points predictable and manipulative."

[oscar jubis]

Well I watched Killer of Sheep tonight and it's hard to contain my excitement. Cinema Paradiso added an additional screening for next Saturday which means I don't have to drive 30 miles each way on a workday to catch it again. I should write a review or commentary. Perhaps I'll wait until after my second screening. For now, just a correction and a half.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chris Knipp
In a memorable scene Stan and his wife slow dance to a Nancy Wilson song in their house.
The song is Dinah Washington's "This Bitter Earth".

Though the roughness does part to explain Burnett's obscurity, polish isn't always the thing that most matters.
I guess he's "obscure" to mainstream audiences (but a darling of serious film buffs since To Sleep with Anger, which played in theaters and then was released on vhs).

As for Killer of Sheep being unreleased for so long, here's a quote from an interview he gave at a Directors Guild of America screening in 2001:
""I still don't have the rights," Burnett said. "Someone asked me why the film hasn't screened more than it has, and that's the reason. I tried to get the rights earlier, but you have to go all over the place. The people who made those old 78s have to be tracked down. You have to go to peoples' garages and things like that. It's very hard. I just quit."

[Chris Knipp]

I'll make the correction on the tune. I knew I was guessing. I don't really have the identifications of them or would have mentioned them more. Also, I read that the song credits were a cause of problems with releasing. Then how can they release it now, one wonders? When I say obscure, of course I mean to mainstream audiences, but probably a lot of film buffs have not seen Killer of Sheep up till now either. It isn't on video or DVD is it? So unseen is obscure. But I get your point; he has a high reputation. I know about To Sleep with Anger, but I have to see The Glass Shield. I heard about it and knew it was highly recommended and meant to see it but just never got around to it. I wasn't as diligent a pursuer of film at that time.

My review is just a rough general comment, I leave you a lot of room for more subtle and detailed observations. But it did impress me very much and I had to write something, get the name up here too.

[oscar jubis]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Also, I read that the song credits were a cause of problems with releasing. Then how can they release it now, one wonders?
Because Milestone Film & Video decided to do the required research into who owns the songs and purchase the right to use them in the film. They acquired the rights to distribute not only Killer of Sheep but My Brother's Wedding (1983) and three short films including Rosenbaum's favorite Burnett film: the 12-minute When It Rains.

It isn't on video or DVD is it?
Not yet. Milestone will release all of them on dvd. No dates announced. No information about how many discs (for the 2 features and 3 shorts), whether they'll be released separately or any extra features. However, the version of My Brother's Wedding to be released is a new version re-edited by Burnett recently.

I know about To Sleep with Anger, but I have to see The Glass Shield. I heard about it and knew it was highly recommended and meant to see it but just never got around to it.
I certainly don't want to dissuade you from watching The Glass Shield because it's a good movie. But it looks like a minor work compared with Killer of Sheep, To Sleep with Anger, The Blues: Warming by the Devil's Fire, and Nightjohn. I must have seen the latter about 5 times (I bought the vhs in the 90s). It flew under the radar of most critics because it's made-for-tv. Here's Rosenbaum's detailed review (http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/0796/07126.html)

My review is just a rough general comment, I leave you a lot of room for more subtle and detailed observations. But it did impress me very much and I had to write something, get the name up here too.
I'm glad you watched it and decided to write a review. It's a good one, Chris. It's being available here actually makes it less imperative for me to write my own.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for these additional notes. Anyway I've put The Glass Shield, the Blues series (I guess you have to get all of them) and Nightjohn on my Netflix queue.
Thanks for the favorable comment on my review. The Rosenbaum review gives a lot of information, though the text is slightly gabled, including one paragraph repeated.

[oscar jubis]

You're right about Rosenbaum's review of Nightjohn.
Here's the The Blues (http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Martin_Scorsese_Presents_The_Blues_A_Musical_Journ ey/60031958?dmode=SERIESDISCS&lnkctr=mdp-seriesdetails&trkid=189530) page at Netflix. Burnett's film is on disc 4 which can be rented individually.

[Chris Knipp]

I'll move up No. 4 and see if I feel like watching the other blues discs; I might.

[oscar jubis]

My favorite movie of the year (if it wasn't 30 years old) came back to town for a re-release mostly because actor Henry Gale Sanders payed us a visit. It was really great meeting him. It was great watching Killer of Sheep again in a theater. I asked him during Q&A to what extend there was a complete script before he agreed to appear in what was basically a student film. He told me that most of the film was improvised. That, upon agreeing to appear on the film, all he knew is that a UCLA student named Charles Burnett intended to make a slice-of-life in Watts, something like an antidote to blaxploitation flicks. And that he was playing a slaughterhouse worker. He says that just recently he understood that his characteristic melancholia is a consequence of being a Vietnam veteran. A sort-of low intensity PTSD. It has served him well though, particularly in this role.

The most enigmatic part of Killer of Life is that cryptic, pre-credits prologue in which an unidentified boy gets scolded by his dad and slapped in his face by mom. Jonathan Rosenbaum, who has seen the film a ton of times, wondered whether that was a flashback involving protagonist Stan when he was a kid. Mr. Sanders explained that on his 7th or 8th viewing he finally figured that the "prologue boy" is seen later in long shots riding a bicycle. Apparently, Burnett's aim is to express the universality and commonality of the boy's experience with his parents by making him an anonymous character.

For those who missed it, Killer of Sheep and Burnett's second film My Brother's Wedding will be available on Milestone dvd beginning Tuesday November 13th.

[Chris Knipp]

good to know about the dvd. Glad you got to meet with the main actor. I did get to watch the Blues film, by the way. the one with the boy in it. I have not seen The Glass Shield yet though.

In London--where there don't seem to be any interesting films showing that I haven't seen. Blame It on Fidel is here, and TimeOut London gives Bug a higher rating than In the Wild.

[oscar jubis]

These are playing in London and would be films I've liked or would like to see. I'm sure there are some you haven't seen and would find worth seeing:
LUST, CAUTION
IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON
I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SLEEP
12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST
THE BAND'S VISIT
OPERA JAWA

...and if you liked KILLER OF SHEEP don't forget to rent the extras disc, which includes Burnett's second feature MY BROTHER'S WEDDING, when you get back home.

[Chris Knipp]

i want to see the German one, The Counterfeiters. I don't know whwere you got those listings but they don't seem to be correct or current. The Band's visit is showing at two cinemas but most of the others, not listed. I have seen In the Shadow of the Moon, and that is showing.

There is also the NFT and yesterday evening I went to an as yet unreleased film of Malcolm Macdowell reminiscing about Lindsay Anderson there.

[oscar jubis]

I got the list from TIME OUT London. The German movie opens in NYC on the last day of 2007. Sounds very interesting. I wouldn't miss the Ang Lee movie. Wish I could watch it again but it's left town.

[Chris Knipp]

The TimeOut London listings just might have expired. I might see Blame It on Fidel with a friend here, though I saw it at the Rendez-Vous at Lincoln Center this year--it's really good. But my priority is The Counterfeiters. Don't worry about the Ang Lee, I will catch that eventually, but the reviews have kept me from being excited to see it when my time is limited. It's still showing in NY and I'll be there for several days on my way back to California. I think this is the day movies change in London so I'll see what's on. However, I am not particularly here for movies like I am in New York and Paris.

[oscar jubis]

I don't know if LUST, CAUTION will still be playing when you get back to the States. I don't know if you had time to read my review. Basically, I think that memories of Brokeback and the studio selling it as a thriller raised the wrong expectations about the film. It's impossible to catch everything. I missed BLAME IT ON FIDEL and PARIS, JE T'AIME when they played here. They're just out on dvd though. There's an indie playing in NYC that I recommend, and I don't know if it will play elsewhere. It's called CHOKING MAN. Check it out if you can.

[Chris Knipp]

Blame it on Fidel is more important to see than Paris Je T'aime; I will see about Choking Man--i heard about it somewhere but forget where. I'll see Lust Caution somehow eventuallyl even if it's not in NYC. Choking Man is at Cinema Village, which is good.

[oscar jubis]

Maybe you read my MIFF review of Choking Man, which I'll (re)post under its own thread now that the film is an official 2007 release.
Paris Je T'aime is, by definition, hit-and-miss.

[Chris Knipp]

Mostly miss, I guess....

No, I may have missed your Choking Man review, or forgotten it. Sorry.

[Johann]

Beautiful thread guys.
Learned a lot.
Great to hear you met a star of the film and got to ask questions.
Makes the experience even better.
I'll be buying the DVD soonest- saw it on the shelf at HMV and wondered where I heard of it before.

I've only seen one Burnett film, the one from the Blues box set.

[Chris Knipp]

As you know I did see Lust,Caution. i did not see Choking Man because i was doing other things the last couple of days. I did see The Counterfeiters in London; I don't know if I've gone into that? I wrote a review of it on my website, (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?t=932) but I don't think I've posted it on this site--better to wait till it comes out in NYC at least.

[oscar jubis]

Robert Osborne will interview writer/director Charles Burnett in between showings of several of his films including three short features. It's TONIGHT! Here's the schedule (times are EST):

8:00pm [Drama] Killer of Sheep (1977)
A black slaughterhouse worker copes with the stress of raising a family with little money.
Cast: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy. Dir: Charles Burnett. BW-80 mins

9:40pm [Drama] Horse, The (1973)
A young boy comes of age dealing with a horse's violent death.
Dir: Charles Burnett. C-14 mins

10:00pm [Drama} My Brother's Wedding (1983)
Estranged brothers reconcile when one agrees to be the other's best man.
Cast: Everett Silas, Jessie Holmes, Gaye Shannoon-Burnett. Dir: Charles Burnett. C-81 mins

11:30pm [Drama] When It Rains (1995)
A musician tries to help a friend pay the rent.
Cast: Ayuko Babu. Dir: Charles Burnett. C-13 mins

12:00am [Drama] Several Friends (1969)
An African-American family copes with employment issues in South Los Angeles.
Dir: Charles Burnett. C-22 mins

12:30am [Drama] Killer of Sheep (1977)
A black slaughterhouse worker copes with the stress of raising a family with little money.
Cast: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy. Dir: Charles Burnett. BW-80 mins

2:10am [Drama] Horse, The (1973)
A young boy comes of age dealing with a horse's violent death.
Dir: Charles Burnett. C-14 mins

2:30am [Drama] My Brother's Wedding (1983)
Estranged brothers reconcile when one agrees to be the other's best man.
Cast: Everett Silas, Jessie Holmes, Gaye Shannoon-Burnett. Dir: Charles Burnett. C-81 min

4:00am [Drama] When It Rains (1995)
A musician tries to help a friend pay the rent.
Cast: Ayuko Babu. Dir: Charles Burnett. C-13 mins

4:30am [Drama] Several Friends (1969)
An African-American family copes with employment issues in South Los Angeles.
Dir: Charles Burnett. C-22 mins

[Chris Knipp]

Great that Turner Classic Movies (I assume thaht's what "TCM" stands for) is doing this. What is "tonight"? Which night? Unfortunately I don't have access to this channel and rarely even watch TV. I hope these will be available on DVD.

[oscar jubis]

Charles Burnett night on Turner Classic Movies tonight 1/21/08.
The Charles Burnett Box we discussed on previous page was indeed released in November.

[Chris Knipp]

So the Turner Classic presentations are all available in that DVD boxed set?

[oscar jubis]

Yes, they are. The only thing you'd missed is the genial and knowledgeable Robert Osborne interviewing Burnett. I love TCM. This year Schickel's Brando and Kent Jones' outstanding Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows premiered there. These are two of the best docs of 2007, in my opinion of course. The TCM boards are, by far, the best place to discuss pre-1980 Hollywood cinema.

[Chris Knipp]

Too bad I miss it all, on TV. Maybe the interview will come as a bonus on a future DVD. The Kent Jones Val Lewton film premiered (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showthread.php?t=411412&page=3) at Lincoln Center, I think, December 13. I didn't see it at the Walter Reade but was aware of it then. I don't know if this is a factor for the Kent Jones documentary, but I learned with The BEliever that if a film premieres on TV, it loses Oscar eligibility. Because "The Believer" premiered on Showtime cable, Ryan Gosling was robbed of a Best Actor Oscar nomination that he definitely deserved for the 2001 film. I don't know if this applies in any sense here. It seemed quite important for The Believer, though. I saw Schickel's documentary, Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin in London at the NFT a couple years ago with a lengthy Q&A with Schickel afterwards. I guess the new Brando one is like the Chaplin one, a followup on his book.