The Killing Floor

PG

1984

1 hr. 57 min.

Drama

List

92%

12 Reviews

Tomatometer

100%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

During World War I, impoverished African-American father Frank Custer (Damien Leake) leaves his Southern family and heads to Chicago in search of work. After landing a job at one of the city's many slaughterhouses, he gets caught up in the heated debate over organized labor. Before long he emerges as a hypnotic leader, urging his peers to join the union, a move that puts him at odds with his best friend, Thomas (Ernest Rayford), who starts to question Frank's motivations for backing the union.

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Audience Member

As a guilt penece for not going to the local labor library viewing of this amazing film I am instead going to post a positive review online. You have to see this movie to understand why unions only work when everyone employed by the employer need to be organized. The only thing that drives union resentment is personal greed. The employer can, will, and has exploited that. A NOTE TO YOUNGER VIEWERS..... this film can seem slow and gross for context pf where it takes place. This is a hard pill to swallow be4cause of the way the film tries to create dramatic effect and it doesn't fail but can seem very slow by todays standards. That ebing said no film better shows why Janus V AFSCME was a crippling blow to modern unions

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The Killing Floor is a rare and insightful examination of the tensions between race and class in 20th century U.S. history, a topic still very much relevant to our current social and political climate. Starting in 1917 and ending in 1919, the film take place against the backdrop of World War I (not World War II as stated in the description on this site). As many factory workers were off fighting in the war and the demand for meat by the army required increased meat processing in Chicago's famous (or infamous) Union Stockyards, jobs in the meatpacking industry were plentiful during this period. The protagonist of the story, Frank, a African-American sharecropper from the South, heads North to Chicago in search of a better life. Know as the Great Migration, millions of African-Americans would make this journey during the mid 20th century attempting to escape the racial oppression of the Jim Crow South. However, when the arrived in the "promised land" of Chicago, the often found new forms of racism in the North. This period was also an important time for the budding labor movement in the U.S. Workers in the stockyards were attempting to form industrial unions to combat low wages and dangerous working conditions. When Frank gets a job in the stockyards, he finds himself drawn into to this union organizing drive. But Frank soon finds himself torn between loyalties to his race, with many black workers distrustful of the union, and his class interest which encourage him to unite with his fellow workers regardless of race. The film concludes against the backdrop of the bloody 1919 Chicago Race Riots. The riots test the class loyalties of Frank and his fellow workers and demonstrate the difficulty of creating cross racial alliances in the highly charged racial atmosphere of 20th century America. The Killing Floor explores these tensions like few other films have. The production values are mediocre at best. This film was originally made for PBS. The film does blend in archival and contemporary documentary footage in a unique way. This technique connects the past with the present. In particular the use of footage of the Chicago race riots of the 1960's to represent the 1919 race riots is clever technique as it highlights how these racial tensions and outbreaks of violence continued throughout Chicago's history. The use of real slaughter house footage can be tough on the squeamish. The acting is also not the greatest and in a few cases, terrible. Most of the actors are largely unknowns though it is fun to catch a few big names who have minor appearances in the film as this was early in their careers. This is no Oscar winning film by any stretch. But the historical themes and social/political issues addressed in this film are important and this film does a great job of addressing them. I have used this film in history courses I teach since the early 2000's. It is a great examination of themes relevant in any U.S. history course, labor history course, sociology course or Chicago history course. Unfortunately this film is currently only available on VHS, though a digital version has been in the works for sometime. Hopefully the financing will allow for the production of a digital version soon.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

watched it in my history class it's a very, well-put together film about the race riots before and after WWI Frank Custer is such a person to look upon, his struggle to find honest work and make life better for his family in the South while dealing with racial discrimination and prejudice the film captures many of the elements back in 1919 when workers were harshly put down and turned against one another people like Custer were willing to walk in certain areas of Chicago to go to work even if it mean being killed on the spot; that's what I call bravery and determination the workers face their own dilemmas as well trying to trust one another looking past their own judgements and intolerance 'They'll keep pushing us til we end up killing each other' I also love the fact that it's not just African-American laborers trying to make it through but other immigrants as well it's hard at times to witness the physical weight of it all due to the race and class conciousness it's another American worker film that attempts to sympathize with the audience; still makes it a challenge but worth it labor unions or no labor unions the workers in the meat-packing factories all gathered for a purpose to make their lives less painful and taking their jobs seriously catch this fim if you want to learn about the race riots that took place it's a wonderful story of uniting, putting differences aside, living the dream, tolerance, acceptance, and survival

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

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Audience Member

i loved this as a kid and i still love it to this day

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Bill Duke

Director

Damien Leake

Frank Custer

Moses Gunn

Heavy Williams

Alfre Woodard

Mattie

Ernest Rayford

Thomas Joshua

Cynthia Baker

Emma

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Michael Phillips

Chicago Tribune

Chicago film history remains the richer for its existence and its recent digital restoration.

Jun 18, 2020

Full Review

Richard Brody

New Yorker

A revelatory historical drama that offers a powerful template for social analysis in fiction.

Jun 15, 2020

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

[T]he drama is centered on Frank’s journey from naïve country boy in the city to idealistic activist struggling to bridge the racial divide and caught somewhere between his black coworkers and the white union leadership.

Mar 4, 2023

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Jake Mulligan

Dig Boston

An intrinsically American historical epic.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 6, 2021

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Powerful stuff.

Rated: 3.5/4

Nov 27, 2020

Full Review

Neely Swanson

Easy Reader (California)

There is clearly a story to tell, but Lee and Rassbach were unable to frame it in a meaningful and dramatic way.

Nov 24, 2020

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Synopsis

During World War I, impoverished African-American father Frank Custer (Damien Leake) leaves his Southern family and heads to Chicago in search of work. After landing a job at one of the city's many slaughterhouses, he gets caught up in the heated debate over organized labor. Before long he emerges as a hypnotic leader, urging his peers to join the union, a move that puts him at odds with his best friend, Thomas (Ernest Rayford), who starts to question Frank's motivations for backing the union.

Director: Bill Duke
Screenwriter: Leslie Lee
Production Co: American Playhouse
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 18, 2020

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