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Selection of Short Films from the Pittsburgh Police

Introduction by Brittany Gravely, DER
Screening on Film

From 1969-1970, working in association with the Lemburg Center for Violence Studies at Brandeis University, Marshall directed and shot a series of short films following the day-to-day events of a police squad in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Filmed during the racial tensions and civil disorder that gripped the city in response to Martin Luther King’s assassination – a period that witnessed the arrest of two thousand citizens – Marshall gained incredible access to the inner workings of the urban police force. Designed for use in law schools, community relations projects, sociology and urban studies programs and for use by the police themselves, the films cut to the bone of such issues as privacy and civil liberties versus police intervention while providing a fascinating perspective on one of the most turbulent periods in recent American history.

PROGRAM

  • Nothing Hurt But My Pride

    Directed by John Marshall.
    US, 1973, 16mm, black & white, 15 min.
    Print source: HFA
  • Vagrant Woman

    Directed by John Marshall.
    US, 1973, 16mm, black & white, 8 min.
    Print source: HFA
  • Wrong Kid

    Directed by John Marshall.
    US, 1973, 16mm, black & white, 8 min.
    Print source: HFA
  • After the Game

    Directed by John Marshall.
    US, 1973, 16mm, black & white, 9 min.
    Print source: HFA
  • Youth and the Man of Property

    Directed by John Marshall.
    US, 1973, 16mm, black & white, 7 min.
    Print source: HFA
  • A $40 Misunderstanding

    Directed by John Marshall.
    US, 1973, 16mm, black & white, 8 min.
    Print source: HFA
  • You Wasn't Loitering

    Directed by John Marshall.
    US, 1973, 16mm, black & white, 6 min.
    Print source: HFA
  • Henry is Drunk

    Directed by John Marshall.
    US, 1973, 16mm, black & white, 7 min.
    Print source: HFA
  • Manifold Controversy

    Directed by John Marshall.
    US, 1973, 16mm, black & white, 3 min.
    Print source: HFA
  • $21 or 21 Days

    Directed by John Marshall.
    US, 1973, 16mm, black & white, 8 min.
    Print source: HFA

Part of film series

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Rosine Mbakam, 2025 McMillan-Stewart Fellow