* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** The journey of the {{cowboy}}-like motorcyclist in the opening scene to deliver reels of film to the studio (this was before TV cameramen had satellite hookup) chronicles some random car crash. Film at 11.
** Most poverty in America at the time, including inner-city poverty, was (and still is, in many places) white.
** The depiction of the DNC protestors, being footage of the actual protest, features few {{New Age Retro Hippie}}s; the crowd is mostly [[BombThrowingAnarchists clean-shaven radicals]] and college students.
%%* {{Anvilicious}}: The film's message.
%%** Of course, it's a complicated message about media exploitation of real life {{conflict}} for entertainment [[RealityTV (which obviously went unheeded)]].
* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: As mentioned, the message is about media exploitation of real life violence for entertainment. The medium is... a film that uses a police riot as a stage for actors to walk around in.
* HarsherInHindsight: The film's central message ''(see: noun, [[RealityTV reality television]]).''
** The lyrics from the page quote were written three years before Kent State, although people got killed in '68 as well.
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** Creator/PeterBoyle as the owner of a gun range.
** Peter Bonerz, who went on to play Jerry on ''Series/TheBobNewhartShow'', as Gus, John's sound man.
* TearJerker: The MLK retrospective that the protagonists watch on TV.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: A prime example of a film that draws a lot of its power from being this. Everything that happens is all the more extraordinary knowing that the Chicago rioting really was going on in the background.
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