Kill the Poor (film)
Encyclopedia
Kill the Poor is director Alan Taylor
's screen adaptation of a novel by Joel Rose
. The film is set in Manhattan
's Alphabet City
in the early 1980s, when the neighborhood was a center of illegal drug activity. The film's title comes from the Dead Kennedys
song Kill the Poor
.
The other principles are:
A shared distrust of Carlos and Segundo unites this eclectic group and prompts them to hold "co-op" meetings with one goal: eviction of Carlos and Segundo DeJesus.
in 2003. It was then shown in 2006 at the IFC Center
in New York City
.
Alan Taylor (director)
Alan Taylor is an American television and film director, television producer, and screenwriter. Taylor has directed for numerous programs on both network television and premium cable, most notably on HBO...
's screen adaptation of a novel by Joel Rose
Joel Rose
Joel Rose is an American novelist.Rose has co-authored and edited graphic novels for DC Comics. His journalism has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, New York Newsday, Marie Claire, Paper, Details, Bomb, Los Angeles Times, and Black Book, among others. He has written for several...
. The film is set in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's Alphabet City
Alphabet City, Manhattan
Alphabet City is a neighborhood located within the Lower East Side and East Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is also known as Loisaida, a Spanglish adaptation of 'Lower East Side'. Its name comes from Avenues A, B, C, and D, the only avenues in Manhattan to have single-letter...
in the early 1980s, when the neighborhood was a center of illegal drug activity. The film's title comes from the Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
song Kill the Poor
Kill the Poor
"Kill the Poor" was the third single by the Dead Kennedys. The record was anus in October 1980 on Cherry Red Records with "In-sight" as the b-side. The title track was re-recorded for the band's first album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables , although the single and album versions show little...
.
Plot
Kill the Poor begins with a fire in the apartment of tough guy Carlos DeJesus and his troublemaking son Segundo. The screenplay then focuses on the other tenants of the rundown building in an attempt to determine who set the blaze.The other principles are:
- Joe Peltz, a young man who ignored his uncle's warnings to bring his wife Annabelle and their young child into the neighborhood where his Jewish grandparents had their start in America;
- Spike, an aspiring found-object sculptor;
- Delilah, a flamboyant gay man;
- Butch, a presumptuous graduate student;
- Scarlet, the tenement's resident floozy;
- Negrito, a fixture in the neighborhood.
A shared distrust of Carlos and Segundo unites this eclectic group and prompts them to hold "co-op" meetings with one goal: eviction of Carlos and Segundo DeJesus.
Release
Kill the Poor was first screened at the Tribeca Film FestivalTribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
in 2003. It was then shown in 2006 at the IFC Center
IFC Center
IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, New York City in the United States of America. It is located at 323 Sixth Avenue, on the former site of the Waverly Theater, which was itself a well known art house movie theater...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Cast
- David KrumholtzDavid KrumholtzDavid Krumholtz is an American actor best known for playing Professor Charlie Eppes in the television series Numb3rs. He appeared as Seth Goldstein in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and its two sequels, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas...
— Joe Peltz - Clara Bellar — Annabelle Peltz
- Paul CalderónPaul CalderonPaul Calderón is an American actor.He was born in Puerto Rico. Calderón moved to New York with his family at the age of six, where he grew up on the streets of the Lower East Side and Spanish Harlem...
— Carlos DeJesus - Jon Budinoff — Segundo
- Cliff GormanCliff GormanCliff Gorman was an American stage and screen actor. He won an Obie award in 1968 for the stage presentation of The Boys in the Band, and went on to reprise his role in the 1970 film version....
— Yakov - Damian Young — Delilah
- Heather BurnsHeather Burns- Life and career :Burns was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Chicago Bull and U.S. Attorney Jim Burns. She is engaged to fellow actor Ajay Naidu, her high school boyfriend. Heather attended and graduated from Evanston Township High School. She is a graduate of New York University's...
— Scarlet - Otto SanchezOtto SanchezOtto Sanchez is an American actor best known for playing Carmen Guerra in the HBO prison drama Oz. He also played the role of Otto in the short-lived drama Kidnapped. He appeared as a supporting character in Bad Boys 2. He played the lead role of Paul in the film Push which won awards at The Long...
— Negrito - Zak OrthZak OrthZak Orth is an American comedic actor known for his roles in Wet Hot American Summer, The Baxter, Melinda and Melinda, In and Out, and Music and Lyrics...
— Butch - Larry Gilliard Jr.Larry Gilliard Jr.Lawrence "Larry" Gilliard, Jr. is an American character actor who has appeared in films, television series and theatre. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of D'Angelo Barksdale on the HBO drama series The Wire, a role which earned him much critical acclaim.Gilliard was born in New York City...
— Spike