Punishment Park (1971)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 9
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 0
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 1
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 0
liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 2,826
Movie Info
While Peter Watkins' films of the 1960s reflected the political turmoil and tumult of that decade, 1971's Punishment Park offered a disturbing look at the backlash against leftist activism which emerged in the wake of such events as the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago and the shootings at Kent State University. Set at some unspecified point in the near future, Punishment Park was inspired by a provision of the 1950 McCarran Internal Security Act, which gives the President of the United
Jan 1, 1971 Wide
Nov 22, 2005
Chartwell Films
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Cast
-
-
Carmen Argenziano
Jay Kaufman -
Stan Armsted
Charles Robbins -
-
Jim Bohan
Captain Sheriff's Dept. -
-
Luke Johnson
Luke Valerio -
Scott Turner
Janus Kohler -
Katherine Quittner
Nancy Smith -
Harold Schneider
Desert Pacifist -
Peter Watkins
Documentarist -
Patrick Boland
Defendant -
Frederic Franklyn
Prof. Daly -
Gary Johnson
Jim Reedman -
Tom Kemp
Tribunal Marshal -
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All Critics (15) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (0) | DVD (13)
Shot during the post-Kent State "law and order" election of 1970, Punishment Park can seem so outrageous as to verge on camp, but few other movies capture so painfully the rhetoric and desperation of the times.
an extraordinary film - provocative, incendiary and deeply depressing. Go out of your way to see it and spread the word, while you still can without being arrested.
A wooly curio.
a troubling document from a time when the country seemed about to tip into chaos
Punishment Park is told in the pseudo-documentary style that defines most of the obscure body of work by British filmmaker Peter Watkins.
The film is as widely applicable to our own factious state of the union as it was to that of America in the 1970s.
Watkins' convincing cinema-verite style contradicts what we know is an historical untruth
It is a polemic exercise between the Left and the Right, with no room for the middle point of view.
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Foreign Titles
- Punishment Park (1971) (DE)
- Punishment Park (1971) (CA)


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