Killer Of Sheep
Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders) works long hours at his job in a slaughterhouse in Watts, Los Angeles.
The monotonous slaughter affects his home life with his beautiful unnamed wife (Kaycee Moore) and two children, Stan Jr. and Angela (Jack Drummond and Burnett’s niece, Angela).
Through a series of episodic events - some friends try to involve Stan in a criminal plot, a white woman propositions Stan in a store.
Stan and his friend Bracy (Charles Bracy) attempt to buy a car engine - a mosaic of an austere working-class life, in which Stan feels unable to affect the course of his life, emerges.
The futility of this envisioned life is leavened by moments of wry humor and beauty; the most famous scene is of Stan and his wife in an exhausted embrace, slow dancing to Dinah Washington’s “This Bitter Earth”.
The final scene is of Stan herding sheep down the metal corridor to their slaughter.
Genre: Drama
Directed by: Charles Burnett
Starring: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy
Runtime: 83min