Would-be assassin unapologetic in documentary on San Francisco shooting of Pres. Ford

New documentary on assassination attempt in San Francisco

This year marks half a century since the assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford in Downtown San Francisco. The convicted shooter, Sara Jane Moore, died in September, but not before she sat down for a series of revealing interviews. Those conversations are the focus of "Suburban Fury," a documentary that debuted Friday night at the Roxie Theater in the Mission.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - This year marks half a century since the assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford in Downtown San Francisco.

The convicted shooter, Sara Jane Moore, died in September, but not before she sat down for a series of revealing interviews.

Those conversations are the focus of "Suburban Fury," a documentary that debuted Friday night at the Roxie Theater in the Mission.

The shooting

Sept. 22, 1975 is a date etched into the memories of San Franciscans of a certain age.

The backstory:

As he walked out of the Hotel St. Francis in Union Square, a bullet missed President Ford's head by five inches.

"It's stunning to think that happened at the most iconic San Francisco location," said "Suburban Fury" director Robinson Devor.

The would-be assassin was Sara Jane Moore, an accountant and divorced mother of five who lived in Danville.

Moore was arrested at the scene, and questioned inside the hotel. She eventually pled guilty to attempted assassination and served 32 years in prison, before being released on parole in 2007.

"Suburban Fury"

In "Suburban Fury", now showing at the Roxie on 16th Street, we get a glimpse inside Moore's mind, and the radical beliefs that led her to pull the trigger.

"What we had was not a government but a phony cabal," said Moore in an interview for the film. "I was aiming for a head shot because I thought he was probably wearing body armor."

Decades after the shooting, More returned to the Hotel St. Francis, where she did one of the interviews that appears in "Suburban Fury".

"At the time all this was happening, it's not that I was two Sara Moores, it's that I was three Sara Moores. That may be difficult for people to understand," Moore said in the film.

I sat down with Devor, who interviewed Moore over several years, and says she showed little regret.

What they're saying:

"There is a bit of a lack of empathy as a human being," said Devor. "I think there's a complexity that an audience member will be able to see about the many different ‘whys' she did it."

In context

The San Francisco shooting came just 17 days after another attempted assassination of Ford in Sacramento.

Big picture view:

"Both of the attempts on Ford were by women, which is, I think, the only time that's happened," said Steve Woolpert, a politics professor at St. Mary's College of California. "I think in a way that these two attempts were kind of like aftershocks from all the earthquakes in the 60s."

Devor hopes the film gives people pause, 50 years later.

"In this age of political violence which is rearing its head again, I think we yearn to know where these instincts come from," said Devor.