New Documentary 'The Witness' Looks For the Truth Behind the Kitty Genovese Murder
Calling all true-crime fans: We’re here to clue you in to your next obsession. The acclaimed documentary The Witness opens in theaters in June, and it tackles one of the most famous murders in American history: the killing of Kitty Genovese. Yahoo Movies spoke with the driving creative forces behind the film, James Solomon and Bill Genovese, on Facebook Live and you can watch the interview below.
But first, in true True Crime fashion, allow us to set the scene of the crime: In March 1964, New York native Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death on the streets of her Queens neighborhood. What brought the story to national attention, however, were news reports that as many as 38 of her neighbors heard her cries for help or saw the attack and declined to get involved, essentially allowing her murderer, Winston Moseley, to continue his assault.
That detail has captured the public imagination ever since, making the Kitty Genovese case a popular reference point for psychologists, sociologists and criminologists alike. (This particular true crime has found its way into fiction over the ensuing decades; Alan Moore’s classic graphic novel, Watchmen, even makes reference to Genovese in a memorable issue that revolves around the masked vigilante, Rorschach.)
With The Witness, Solomon specifically set out to go beyond the headlines and investigate Kitty’s life, as well as her death. To accomplish that, he partnered with an important person from his subject’s past who’d rarely spoken publicly: Kitty’s younger brother, Bill. Sixteen years old at the time of the murder, Bill later enlisted in the Marines and served in Vietnam.
He and Solomon first connected in the 1990s when the director was adapting the story into a film for HBO. That project was never realized, but the two stayed in touch and in 2004, they started work on The Witness in the wake of a New York Times article that suggested that certain details of the crime — specifically whether or not there really were 38 witnesses — may not have been accurate. Over the next decade, they tracked down and interviewed Kitty’s neighbors, her lover and even the son of the man who killed her.
Related: ‘The Witness’ Clip: Uncovering the Mysteries of Kitty Genovese’s Death
By embarking on The Witness, Bill departed from his family’s longstanding policy regarding Kitty’s death, which was to not to discuss the case. “My mother was so devastated by what happened to her daughter, she had a stroke a year after my sister’s murder,” Genovese tells us. “The family circled the wagons together. We were always on the alert to not deal with the press.” But the lingering memory of his sister, as well as the new details that emerged about her death, spurred him to spearhead Solomon’s documentary. “It wasn’t just [Bill’s] family that had remained silent,” the directors says. “The people who were most profoundly impacted all had remained silent for decades. The story behind the story was what drew me to making the film. It was really about Bill and his journey.”
Related: New Documentary ‘The Witness’ Debunks the Myths of the Infamous Kitty Genovese Murder
One of the most important steps on Bill’s journey — and, arguably, the most remarkable scene in the film — was reaching out to Moseley to explore the possibilities of an interview. Convicted of Kitty’s murder in June 1964 and initially sentenced to death (later reduced to a life sentence), Moseley spent five decades in prison, making him one of New York’s longest-serving inmates. (He passed away in March 2016 at the age of 81.) While he ultimately declined to meet with Genovese, Moseley’s son, Stephen, did agree to an on-camera interview. In the course of their encounter, the two men discover they’ve grown up with different mythologies surrounding the events of that night and work together to find a common truth. “It’s extraordinary what they’re doing [in that moment],” Solomon says. “The film is in many respects about false narratives and the narratives you tell yourselves.” Watch the video above to hear more from our fascinating conversation. And for more about where you can see the documentary, go here.
