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 Hippies; the crowd is mostly clean-shaven radicals and college students.
Do Not Do This Cool Thing: 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.
Peter Bonerz, who went on to play Jerry on The Bob Newhart Show, as Gus, John's sound man.
Tear Jerker: The MLK retrospective that the protagonists watch on TV.
Unintentional Period Piece: 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.
