Saw this movie on a TV rerun a while back and thought it wasn't too bad. I know someone from the town of Medina, N.D., where he was living after prison. It's pretty surreal when you know someone whose family was around at the time of the incident.
Yes, this movie is very realistic. Its not flashy, its not stylized, its like real life, the way movies are supposed to be. Rod Steiger also looks insanely close to the real Gordon Kahl.
It is probably one of the largest stories in N.D. history because of the nationwide impact it had.
If you catch this on TV (probably on one of the smaller cable channels),check it out, especially if you are from N.D. Its not that bad of a movie and for those of you who remember it, I'm sure you'll find things you like and don't like about it.
In the Line of Duty: Manhunt in the Dakotas
1991
Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller
In the Line of Duty: Manhunt in the Dakotas
1991
Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller
Plot summary
Gordon Kahl is man who feels that the U.S. government doesn't care about the American farmer, so he retaliates by not paying taxes. He would be sent to prison and upon being released, his views have not changed. He encourages anyone who is having trouble not to pay taxes. He also joins a paramilitary and a white supremacy group. When the FBI learns of this, they try to arrest Kahl but Kahl, armed, doesn't want to go, and when the Feds don't let him go, he kills most of them. He then goes on the run and it's up to the FBI agent to headed the operation to find Kahl, and anyone else who may have been involved.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Movie Reviews
Not too bad.
Outstanding performance by Rod Steiger .........
Whether "Midnight Murders" is an accurate depiction of the pursuit of hateful fugitive Gordon Kohl doesn't matter. What does matter is that this powerful film is immensely entertaining. Rod Steiger gives an outstanding performance as Kohl, while Michael Gross playing F.B.I. Agent Richard Maberly, is a relentless pursuer of justice. Deluded into thinking that killing two U.S. Marshals was an act of self defense, Kohl goes on the run, aided somewhat by sympathetic South Dakota locals. The movie is exciting from start to finish, with great rural locations, and an eerie bird call like soundtrack. The final shootout only confirms that there really were no winners in this film. - MERK
TV movie about a foreshadowing event in 1983.
The Gordon Kahl incident, Medina, North Dakota on Sunday, February 13, 1983, was a forerunner to the James and Steven Jenkins incident, Ruthton, Minnesota in September, 1983, the whole mid-1980s farm crisis, and even Ruby Ridge and Waco. Gordon Kahl was a promoter of Posse Comitatus, and had a considerable following in North Dakota. Eventually, push came to shove. Kahl went down to the Arkansas Ozarks. But the FBI went in and got their man. The movie is based on a book written by James Corcoran who covered the news story for the Fargo Forum. The Georgia filming location suffices for North Dakota in winter? Not quite. There was a Dodge Ramcharger in the actual slaying incident. There was a small undercurrent of Posse Comitatus in North Dakota and Minnesota in the 1980s and early 1990s. They are a neo-Nazi sort of group. I think maybe an anti-Big Brother undercurrent would be a good thing if not taken to extreme extremes, but not a racist one.