LICENSED TO KILL
Year: 1997
Country:
United States
Run Time:
80 minutes
Dread of violent crime pervades American society. Yet harassment, assault and homicide are encouraged - if the victim happens to be suspected of being gay. That's the chilling thesis behind Arthur Dong's interleaved interviews with convicted murderers who killed in the name of homophobia. Army Sgt. Kenneth French, after a night of liquor and Clint Eastwood videos, opened fire on a public restaurant while railing against homosexuals in the military. Jay Johnson, HIV-positive scion of an upright, religious family, terrorized Minneapolis queer hangouts to exorcise his own closeted guilt. Dong himself claims to have been attacked, and when he got away the punks turned on the next pedestrian to happen along, a priest. Though his subjects cite the Bible, moral outrage, and their own abused childhoods to explain their offenses, Dong leaves little doubt that these men (some themselves gay) are sociopaths, muggers, and gangbangers ready to prey on all citizens, straight or not. But, picking up cues from right-wing political propaganda and bigotry, they go after sanctioned targets because of a deadly perception that, as one tattooed lifer says, "Police ain't going to do a thing . . . They are not interested." Contains graphic footage. - Charles Cassady
Screenplay
Arthur Dong
Director
Arthur Dong
Producer
Arthur Dong, Thomas G. Miller
Cinematography
Robert Shepard
Editing
Arthur Dong
DeepFocus Productions
P.O. Box 16720
San Francisco, CA 94116-1621
tel: (415) 665 9669
fax: (415) 665 2139
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