Blackouts (2015)

This 2015 episode of the PBS series "American Experience," directed by Adriana Bosch, recounts the chaotic events of the July 13, 1977, blackout in New York City, where a lightning strike and cascading failures plunged the city into darkness for 25 hours amid a brutal heat wave. It examines the social and economic strains of the era, including fiscal crisis and racial tensions, which fueled widespread looting and arson affecting over 1,600 stores with $1 billion in damage and 3,700 arrests. Through archival footage, interviews with residents, firefighters, police, and Mayor Abe Beame, the film portrays the night's harrowing descent into anarchy, a serial killer's opportunistic murders, and the understaffed emergency response, highlighting the fragility of urban infrastructure and the resilience of the city's spirit.