Killer of Sheep

1977

1h 20m

Drama

List

98%

Tomatometer

80 Reviews

84%

Audience Score

2,500+ Ratings

In Watts, an urban and mostly African-American section of Los Angeles, Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders) spends his days toiling away at a local slaughterhouse. His macabre profession seeps into his personal life as he struggles to keep his family afloat and content. Other life situations also prove to be difficult, since it seems that dark intentions lurk within the people he meets outside his family. The layers of stress cause Stan to question whether a better quality of life is possible.

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Critics Consensus

By turns funny, sad, and profound, Killer of Sheep offers a sympathetic and humane glimpse into inner-city life.

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Mark Feeney

Boston Globe

It's quiet, unhurried, understated, unblinking. Mood matters more than style, dailiness more than incident.

Rated: 3.5/4

Sep 21, 2020

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Poverty in the ghetto is not the guns and drugs we see on TV. It is more often like life in this movie: Good, honest, hard-working people trying to get by, keep up their hopes, love their children and get a little sleep.

Rated: 4/4

Jul 2, 2018

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Empire Magazine

Rated: 5/5

Jun 20, 2008

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Jas Keimig

The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

It's a complicated, collage portrait that doesn't provide answers, only brilliant reflections.

Dec 8, 2021

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Tom Meek

Cambridge Day

It's a very internal film, brought out by some incredibly emotive acting, Burnett's melancholic tone and some brilliant cinematic framings.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jun 11, 2020

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David Lamble

Bay Area Reporter

Killer of Sheep is virtually a blues symphony.

May 21, 2020

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s r

1001 movies to see before you die. This one was raw and provided a glimpse into life in Watts in the late 70s. It was informative, but a bit slow at times. The use of the Afro American Symphony 1st movement was my favorite part. It was a STG DVD.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

William L

There were kids doing parkour in LA in the 1970s? Who knew? My first exposure to the notoriously underrecognized American director Charles Burnett, Killer of Sheep is proof positive that student films can actually be more than just academic requirements. What a then-28-year old Burnett brings to this film on a shoestring budget, with an unlicensed soundtrack and a ragtag collection of largely nonprofessional acting talent, is a triumph of human-focused filmmaking in the manner of a Satyajit Ray, Roberto Rosselini, or Abbas Kiarostami. The story takes the everyday life of a working-class man and presents it as both a melancholic fight and a triumph of simply existing, infusing it with wonderfully candid depictions of LA's Watts district. Henry Sanders delivers the perfect combination of the 'bend-don't-break' sensibilites that characterize the everyman's struggle, contending with his dead-end profession, slow-paced home life, and ambitions beyond his current circumstances. Seeing his negotiation for a secondhand motor with his little disposable income, only to have it fall off the bed of a pickup and be rendered worthless, is a heartbreaking moment. A triumph of restrained filmmaking, relying on honesty, character, and empathy to carry the day, Killer of Sheep is neorealist-inspired masterpiece that has been confined to obscurity for far too long. (4.5/5)

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

10/19/21

Full Review

Audience Member

Killer of Sheep doesn't so much tell a story as it does introduce us to a harsh reality that many people haven't witnessed or understood. Through a realistic setting and realistic characters, Charles Burnett crafts a movie that aims to inform and does so to good effect.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Mr. Burnett's compassion as a neorealist director, as well as his gifts as a storyteller, give an almost unrecognizable style to this humorous, unhappy, thoughtful depiction of lower-class living.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The is a seminal film in the history of African-American cinema from acclaimed director Charles Burnett. It was shot as his thesis for UCLA in 1977 with family and friends on no budget. I'd struggle to tell you what it's about, really it is just follows a family as they go about their day in a poor suburb of L.A. What makes the film is that it feels raw and authentic, like the Italian Neo-realistic films, which makes it oddly compelling. It also has an amazing soundtrack featuring some great Blues songs as well as Paul Robeson and Dinah Washington. Film lovers must check this out.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The dialogue, which is read with either insufficient or excessive emphasis by the non-actors, is often buried under a soundtrack of vintage blues, making it doubly hard to follow. Even the slaughter of the sheep is numbingly uneventful.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

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Charles Burnett

Director

Henry G. Sanders

Stan

Kaycee Moore

Stan's Wife

Charles Bracy

Bracy

Angela Burnett

Stan's Daughter

Eugene Cherry

Eugene

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Synopsis

In Watts, an urban and mostly African-American section of Los Angeles, Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders) spends his days toiling away at a local slaughterhouse. His macabre profession seeps into his personal life as he struggles to keep his family afloat and content. Other life situations also prove to be difficult, since it seems that dark intentions lurk within the people he meets outside his family. The layers of stress cause Stan to question whether a better quality of life is possible.

Director: Charles Burnett
Screenwriter: Charles Burnett
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Sep 15, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA): $339.9K
Runtime: 1h 20m