Killer of Sheep (1978) on Netflix
Stan kills and processes sheep at a slaughterhouse in Watts, in Los Angeles. The work leaves him with chronic insomnia and little feeling left for his wife and two children.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.2/108,779 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes98%
Trailer
Plot summary
Stan works at a slaughterhouse in Watts, in Los Angeles, killing and processing sheep. The job is monotonous and leaves him with chronic insomnia and emotional exhaustion. He feels powerless to change his circumstances. At home he is unresponsive to his wife. He and his wife have two children, Stan Jr. and Angela. His friend Eugene joins him in trying to buy a car engine. Acquaintances try to involve him in a criminal scheme, and a white woman offers him work at her store.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Killer of Sheep (1978)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Charles Burnett delayed production of his UCLA thesis film because his first choice of actor was in prison and he wanted to wait until he was paroled; when the university insisted he film with or without that actor, Burnett cast Henry Sanders.
- Killer of Sheep never got a general release because Charles Burnett had not secured rights to its music; Milestone Film & Video licensed the rights in 2007 for US $150,000, and the film then reached 200-plus cities 30 years after its premiere.
- In 2009 a still from the scene of children leaping from rooftop to rooftop, showing one of the boys mid-jump, was reproduced in red tint and used as the cover of rapper Mos Def's album The Ecstatic.
- Killer of Sheep was shot in Watts on a budget of less than US$10,000, about $73,000 in 2025 dollars, over roughly a year's worth of weekends in 1972 and 1973, with additional shooting in 1975.
