THE KILLING FLOOR
Screened in the 1985 Semaine de la Critique, this Sundance Award-winning drama was directed by Bill Duke as his first feature from a screenplay by producer-filmmaker Elsa Rassbach and the renowned Black dramatist Leslie Lee. Based on actual events and characters, the film’s story is told by Frank Custer (Damien Leake), a southern Black migrant working on the “kill floor” of a giant Chicago slaughterhouse in World War I. While struggling to bring his wife (Alfre Woodard) and children “up north”, Frank joins with European immigrant workers in a pioneering effort to build the first interracial union in the Stockyards but must confront rising racial and ethnic tensions — stoked by management and culminating in the notorious Chicago “race riot” of 1919– as he attempts to unite the workers.
Year of production: 1985
Country: United States
Duration: 118 minutes
Credits
- Bill DUKE Director
- Elsa RASSBACH Screenplay
- Leslie LEE Screenplay
- Bill BIRCH Cinematography
- John N. CARTER Editing
- Maher AHMAD Production Design
- Robert N. KIDDER Sound
- Elizabeth SWADOS Music
Casting
- Damien LEAKE Frank Custer
- Moses GUNN Heavy Williams
- Alfre WOODARD Mattie Custer
- Clarence FELDER Bill Bremer
- Dennis FARINA Foreman Harry Brennan
- Ernest RAYFORD Thomas Joshua
- Mary ALICE Lilah Deane
- John MAHONEY Thomas Condon
- Patrick NUGENT Jack Johnstone
- Stephen HENDERSON James Cheeks
- Ted LEVINE Commander
Images
Contacts
Production
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MADE IN U.S.A. PRODUCTIONS, INC.
c/o Elsa Rassbach, President, Moeckernkiez 4
10963
BERLIN Germany
T: 49 1707381450elsarassbach@gmail.comwww.the-killing-floor.com
International Press
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MADE IN U.S.A. PRODUCTIONS, INC.
T: 49 1707381450www.the-killing-floor.com
Elsa RASSBACHelsarassbach@gmail.com
International sales
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MADE IN U.S.A. PRODUCTIONS, INC.
T: 49 1707381450www.the-killing-floor.comelsarassbach@gmail.com
