Punishment Park (1971)

"Punishment Park" is a pseudo-documentary purporting to be a film crews's news coverage of the team of soldiers escorting a group of hippies, draft dodgers, and anti-establishment types ... See full summary »

Director:

Peter Watkins

Writer:

Peter Watkins

Stars:

Patrick Boland, Kent Foreman, Carmen Argenziano

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Patrick Boland	...	First Tribunal Defendant
Kent Foreman	...	Defendant in the tribunal
Carmen Argenziano	...	Jay Kaufman, Tribunal Defendant
Luke Johnson	...	Defendant in the tribunal
Katherine Quittner	...	Nancy Smith
Scott Turner	...	James Arthur Kohler, Tribunal Defendant
Stan Armsted	...	Charles Robbins
Mary Ellen Kleinhall	...	Allison Mitchner
Mark Keats	...	William C. Hoeger, Tribunal Chairman
Gladys Golden	...	Mary Jurgens, Tribunal Member
Sanford Golden	...	Sen. Harris
George Gregory	...	Mr. Keagan
Norman Sinclair	...	Alfred J. Sully - Tribunal Member
Sigmund Rich	...	Prof. Hazlett
Paul Rosenstein	...	Paul Reynolds - Tribunal Member

Storyline

"Punishment Park" is a pseudo-documentary purporting to be a film crews's news coverage of the team of soldiers escorting a group of hippies, draft dodgers, and anti-establishment types across the desert in a type of capture the flag game. The soldiers vow not to interfere with the rebels' progress and merely shepherd them along to their destination. At that point, having obtained their goal, they will be released. The film crew's coverage is meant to insure that the military's intentions are honorable. As the representatives of the 60's counter-culture get nearer to passing this arbitrary test, the soldiers become increasingly hostile, attempting to force the hippies out of their pacifist behavior. A lot of this film appears improvised and in several scenes real tempers seem to flare as some of the "acting" got overaggressive. This is a interesting exercise in situational ethics. The cinéma vérité style, hand-held camera, and ambiguous demands of the director - would the actors be ...

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Plot Keywords:

soldier | military | pseudo documentary | pacifist | draft dodger | 

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 February 1972 (UK)

Also Known As:

Büntető park

Filming Locations:

San Bernardino Mountains, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Churchill Films,Françoise Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many of the "actors" were not acting in a traditional sense. In the introduction, Peter Watkins says many protesters were real-life protesters, and most soldiers were real-life conservatives. All improvised lines based on their opinions. There were no rehearsals.

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Goofs

At the end of the film, when the defendants of group 638 are listening their sentences and again when they are being asked if the prefer the Punishment Park instead of their original sentences, Allison Mitchner is being referred by the president/judge as Mary Ellen Mitchner. At the start of the film she is being referred as Allison Mitchner. The name of the actress that plays the role of Allison Mitchner is Mary Ellen Kleinhall.

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Quotes

Documentarist: [while the US-Flag is waving in the desert:] Under the provision of Title 2 of the 1950 Internal Security Act, also known as the McCarran Act, the President of the United States of America is still authorized, without further approval by Congress to determine an event of insurrection within the United States and to declare the existence of an "internal security emergency". The President is then authorized to apprehend and detain each person as to whom there is reasonable ground to believe ...

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits at all. The title doesn't appear until halfway through the closing credits.

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Connections

Featured in Hagan Reviews: Punishment Park (2017)

User Reviews

Amazing film!!!!!!

As someone who was dealing with the draft board the year this was made, I was absolutely astounded by the truth of it's vision. The haircuts, clothes, figures of speech, that was what it looked and felt like at the time. Contrary to popular memory, everyone wasn't a hippy with a few "bad" people who were for the war. It WAS scary! I may be wrong, but I do believe that most of the dialogue of the trial section, anyway, was written from various quotes such as from the trial of the Chicago 7. If you want to see something amazing, imagine that on national TV!!! It was on national TV!!!!

Great movie!!!