Killer of Sheep

Stan (Henry G. Sanders) works long hours at a slaughterhouse in Watts, Los Angeles. The monotonous nature of his work begins to affect his home life with his unnamed wife and their two children, Stan Jr. and Angela. Through a series of episodic events-such as acquaintances attempting to involve Stan in a criminal scheme, a white woman propositioning him to work at her store, and Stan and his friend Bracy (Charles Bracy) trying to purchase a car engine-a mosaic of a harsh working-class life emerges. Within this life, Stan feels powerless to change the course of his circumstances. Intercut between these events are scenes of children in Watts, playing and roughhousing together among the abandoned houses and dilapidated surroundings.