The film, which took three years to complete, revolves around these events, but is filled out with Yang's own recollections of the 1950s and 1960s.
費時三年完成的《牯嶺街少年殺人事件》就是以這個社會事件為本，佐以他自己對五、六十時年代的記憶和經驗拍攝而成。