Crime drama Bomb City revisits 20-year-old tragedy

Bomb City, the true-crime drama now ready to stream only on Showmax, has been compared by critics to SE Hinton’s 1967 novel The Outsiders. The book, which was later made into a movie by Francis Ford Coppola, tells the story of two rival gangs, the working-class Greasers and upper-class Socs, whose inevitable clash ends in death.

But there’s a big difference between The Outsiders and Bomb City. The novel is fiction, and Bomb City is based on a tragic true story.

Variety says: “In synopsis, it might sound like an updated version of The Outsiders … but [director Jameson] Brooks’ film, which the director co-wrote with Sheldon R Chick, actually has its roots in real-life events of nearly two decades ago, and arguably cuts deeper as it methodically and relentlessly fashions a chain of actions and repercussions.”

Murder or manslaughter?

Bomb City tells the story of enigmatic 19-year-old punk rocker Brian Deneke (played by Dave Davis), who got caught up in a brawl between his group of friends and the wealthy jocks in his hometown of Amarillo, Texas, on the night of December 12 1997.

Brian was killed when Dustin Camp (portrayed by a character called Cody Cates in the movie), intentionally ran him over with his father’s Cadillac in a parking lot. But that’s not where the story ends. In the trial that follows, Cates (read: Camp) receives an unbelievably light sentence, and never spends a day in prison for the crime.

In real life, the bias of the jurors towards the “upstanding” Camp, and the justice system’s failure to bring Deneke's killer to book, sent shock waves through the US and horrified members of the punk subculture in Amarillo. Deneke’s father told the Dallas Observer in 1999 that Brian had been a target of violence and humiliation by jocks like Camp for years. Yet his murderer got off with a fine that was never paid, and 10 years' probation.

Welcome to the world of punk

Camp and Deneke, on the surface, might not seem too different - they were both white, middle-class teenage boys living in a small Texas town. But to understand the simmering tensions between the two, and the atmosphere of violence in Amarillo, you need to be immersed in their world.

Forbes says Bomb City takes you right into the heart of the punk subculture. “We go to punk shows, tag buildings with spray paint, skate aimlessly around town, run from police, dodge the landlord demanding the rent, read angsty poetry aloud in a field, fall in love, get into arguments with friends and feel the toxic combination of pain and rage when the jocks hurl insults and glass bottles in an attempt to terrorise and humiliate the kid who doesn’t fit their mould.”

It’s a feature film, not a documentary

Brooks and Chick, the director and writer, grew up in Amarillo and were in their early teens when Deneke was killed. They felt a responsibility to make a movie that would resonate with its audience while offering a lesson of tolerance. “The event was a tragedy all around, and we wanted to be conscientious in the way we were depicting everybody in the film,” Chick told The Austin Chronicle.

While the events of the film unfold as they did in real life, certain characters are given pseudonyms, including Camp and his reviled defence attorney Warren L Clark, who shifted the blame for Deneke's murder to the punks themselves.

To find out more about the build-up and aftermath of Brian Deneke’s death, stream Bomb City exclusively on Showmax. Watch now »

This article was paid for by Showmax.