Film

Assassins

1990 · 1h 30m

This darkly satirical musical reframes American history through the eyes of those who attempted – successfully or not – to kill US presidents. Structured as a surreal carnival sideshow, the piece weaponises American musical traditions – vaudeville, folk ballads, barbershop quartets, patriotic Sousa-style marches and Bacharach pop – to undercut the myth of the “American Dream,” exposing how frustration, alienation and entitlement can curdle into violence. By giving voice to figures from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, Assassins invites audiences not to condone their acts but to confront the unsettling continuity between personal disillusionment and national mythology, turning the musical stage into a mirror for America’s darkest obsessions.

Patrick Cassidy

Balladeer

Victor Garber

John Wilkes Booth

William Parry Leon

Proprietor

Terrence Mann

Leon Czolgosz

Greg Germann

John Hinckley

Jonathan Hadary

Charles Guiteau

Eddie Korbich

Giuseppe Zangara

Lee Wilkof

Samuel Byck

Annie Golden

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme

Debra Monk

Sara Jane Moore

Jace Alexander

Lee Harvey Oswald

Marcus Olsen

David Herold

Lyn Greene

Emma Goldman

John Jellison

James Blaine

William Parry

President James Garfield / President Gerald Ford

Michael Shulman

Billy Moore

• Jerry ZaksDirector

Release date

December 18, 1990

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

1h 30m