Pulse of Cinema
Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980) series poster
Drama · Crime

Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones

1980 1 season 2 episodes limited series
67 Pulse
7.5 IMDb
One evening 3 hours
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Plot

In the 1960s, Reverend Jim Jones began as an idealist helping minorities and working against racism. After a move to San Francisco and increased power and attention, Jones became focused on his belief in nuclear holocaust, declared himself a prophet, and founded the Peoples Temple. With a loyal following of over 1,000, who donated their entire life savings to him and to join his commune, he moves them to Guyana. When possible crimes come to the attention of the authorities, and once notified that some individuals are being held against their will, an investigation begins. Rather than face the charges, Jones commits suicide, and roughly 900 of his followers do the same.

Credits

Created by: Ernest Tidyman

Cast: Powers Boothe, Ned Beatty, Irene Cara, Veronica Cartwright, Rosalind Cash, Brad Dourif

How the Pulse Score works

For series, Pulse starts from the IMDb rating shrunk by vote count, then applies FORMAT CALIBRATION. Series score systematically higher than films on IMDb, so using the raw number would unfairly push a show like Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones to the top of a film catalogue. Calibration maps the series distribution onto the film one; meaning 67 is COMPARABLE to a film with the same Pulse.

One more difference from films: Letterboxd does not track series, so series Pulse derives from a single source (IMDb) rather than two.

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