The more I thought about it, I thought that the old movie I saw at an impressionable age was about the San Francisco Earthquake. I looked it up to be sure and, sure enough, that must have been the one. Turns out it happened in 1906, not "18something", but a certain amount of memory loss is to be expected at my age. Also, it wasn't the military command that issued the "shoot to kill" order, it was the mayor. Indeed, some of the looting was done by a few bad apples among the soldiers themselves.
"On April 18, in response to riots among evacuees and looting, Mayor Schmitz issued and ordered posted a proclamation that "The Federal Troops, the members of the Regular Police Force and all Special Police Officers have been authorized by me to kill any and all persons found engaged in Looting or in the Commission of Any Other Crime".[39] In addition, accusations of soldiers themselves engaging in looting also surfaced.[40] "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_San_Francisco_earthquake#Response
Uncle Ken is probably right that no such order was issued in the Detroit Riot of 1967. I do believe that there was some undocumented shooting that went on. Shit happens in a war. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but the current situation in Chicago may not be that desperate, at least not yet.
This must have been the movie, although I don't remember any of it.
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