Film Based On Sacramento Good Guys Hostage Situation Premieres Saturday

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - It's called "A Clear Shot", and it premieres in Sacramento on Saturday.

Shots were fired on live TV as a tense eight-hour standoff at the Good Guys electronics store in South Sacramento came to a close.

The 1991 hostage situation left three of the four robbers, two store employees, and a customer dead.

"A lot of what happened is burned into my mind even 28 years later," said reporter George Warren.

Warren was broadcasting at the scene as the drama unfolded.

"We came on live right as the flashbang grenade was going off inside the store," he said.

That live TV tragedy is now the basis for "A Clear Shot " premiering this weekend at Sacramento's Esquire Theater.

"It's still the biggest hostage situation in U.S. history," said Nick Leisure Writer and Director of "A Clear Shot".

Leisure was born in Sacramento and watched with his friends as the incident unfolded.

"We saw it on the news and ended up going over there to check it out," he said.

The movie changes the name of the store and parts of the plot have been fictionalized but it does re-create some of the most iconic scenes from the standoff, including the shattering of the front window, and a deputy stripping down to his underwear to deliver a bulletproof vest to the gunmen.

"It tells both sides of the story, like from the perspective of the police and also from the perspective of the gunmen," said Leisure.

Though the movie is set in Sacramento, it wasn't filmed here. Leisure says the lack of local support forced him to shoot the scenes in Mexico.

"We've brought millions of dollars to Mexico now. That could have been revenue in Sacramento," he said.

Today, the building where the incident took place is a Dollar Store. Good Guys went out of business years ago but this notorious slice of Sacramento's history will now gain new attention on the silver screen.