American Experience: Truman
(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Brand: ParamountDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 260 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-02-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS
Movie Reviews of American Experience: Truman
Movie Review: at last,, the definitive Truman documentary !!
Summary: 5 Stars
What a knockout documentary, with Robards' fine narrative style not intruding on the dandy old film and newsreels and with Mc Cullough doing his usual fine commentary job. At last, we see Truman and his world from the start to the near-finish, and it is indeed a documentary, which should most certainly be preceded by the just as fine FDR one, that school children should study and write essays about. They need to learn FDR's and Truman's times as well as their Presidencies, and these two together show us both. They had some monumentally tough situations to deal with as Presidents, and while their performances weren't flawless, they were remarkably appropriate to their times.
This was a critical time in 20th century American history from the Depression thru the first years of the Cold War, and I can't imagine any other two Presidents doing anything close to the good jobs they did.
What really grabs one who is already familiar with the history, tho, about this Truman documentary, is the man. If there's one sentence in this 4.5 hours of film that stands out in my mind, it's his refusal to drop any more but the first two atomic bombs on Japan - "I don't want to kill any more kids."
That simple probably unrehearsed sentence says it all about him. Duty-bound in his own view to order those first two bombings to save what could have been hundreds of thousands of Japanese and American lives in a continuation of the traditional war and defending his decision to his death, he still knew what he had done, and he cared. And I believe that he was privately bothered about those kids in particular until he died.
And the presentation of that segment of the documentary, which pulled few punches with its imagery, was beautifully "neutral" in tone and style. It simply told the story of what he believed was needed and of what that led to.
Bravo, PBS. :)
Summary of American Experience: Truman
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/14/2006Similar DVD Movies
American Experience: The Crash of 1929PBS; Release date: 2009-12-15; DVD
Best price: $13.17
Price in other shops:
American Experience - Ulysses S. Grant, Warrior PresidentParamount; Release date: 2005-02-15; DVD
Best price: $9.78
Price in other shops:
American Experience: Woodrow WilsonPBS; Release date: 2002-08-27; DVD
Best price: $14.85
Price in other shops:
The American Experience: The KennedysParamount; Release date: 2004-10-05; DVD
Best price: $8.92
Price in other shops:
Biography - Dwight D. Eisenhower (A&E DVD Archives)A and E Home Video; Release date: 2005-04-26; DVD
Best price: $8.02
Price in other shops:
American Experience: NixonWGBH HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2008-08-26; DVD
Best price: $13.03
Price in other shops:
American Experience: LBJParamount; Release date: 2006-02-14; DVD
Best price: $10.49
Price in other shops:
American Experience: FDRParamount; Release date: 2006-01-10; DVD
Best price: $12.40
Price in other shops:
TrumanHBO Home Video; Release date: 2000-02-29; DVD
Best price: $3.79
Price in other shops:
American Experience: TR: The Story of Theodore RooseveltParamount; Release date: 2006-02-14; DVD
Best price: $12.42
Price in other shops: