Founding Fathers
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.82 You Save: $30.13 (75%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.28 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Founding Fathers
Movie Review: A great teaching aid
Summary: 5 Stars
Our History classes at the high school used this DVD when the new text books did not arrive on time. It was a great visual aid and I would recommend it to all.Movie Review: the fun way to learn about pre-revolutionary times
Summary: 4 Stars
I love history and in recent months I have been voraciously reading / viewing various books / DVD collections. The Founding Fathers, which I believe is based on the book by M.E. Bradford, is one of 2 DVD collections available by the History Channel that discusses the lives and times of the countries' founding fathers. The other DVD collection is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. This DVD collection was the first one created by The History Channel.Both DVD collections discuss the lives and times of the founding fathers (brothers). This particular DVD collection starts with a discussion of Sam Adams and the rise of discontent amongst New Englanders. It focuses on the events that led to the American Revolution much better than the other DVD collection, Founding Brothers. After viewing both of them again I would say without a doubt that this series deals with pre-revolution to the constitution whereas Founding Brothers is more constitutional conventions to post revolution times and the establishment of parties / bickering amongst the founders.
1. This DVD collection is well produced. Famous actors provided the voices for the characters.
2. While the DVD is certainly worth watching I found myself wishing it had more facts about events of the American Revolution. But, as the title states, this series is about the founding fathers.
3. The series did a nice job of discussing how various fathers had issues with slavery. It discussed whether they were pro-slavery or against it and how some had serious troubles dealing with it.
4. The one thing I thoroughly enjoyed about the DVD collection was that it clearly depicts how each of these men came together despite their different backgrounds and temperaments to found a nation.
Most of my reviews are in business / economics and I encourage people to read them, whether here on ... or at my personal website. If you are interested in economic history book I would encourage everyone to read The Worldly Philosophers by Robert Heilbroner since it is more international in scope and deals with the lives and times of the most famous economists in history. If you are interested in economic development / evolution of U.S. property history I would encourage you to read Hernando DeSoto's Mystery of Capital but note his lack of focus on corruption in certain countries. A great general business book is by the management guru Peter Drucker entitled "The Essential Drucker."
Movie Review: Brings intellectual history to the masses
Summary: 4 Stars
Recently, I viewed and purchased the sequel to this, "Founding Brothers". I found this series, focusing on the start of the revolutionary spirit to the creation of the Constitution, a bit better. It is very rare indeed that any video (let alone something for the always mainstream 'History Channe') focuses on the intellectual history of our nation. Usually, the physical aspects of the revolutionary war is focused on. The subject matter here, the revolutions intellectual fire, is not only interesting; it's host of characters: Patrick Henry, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Thomas Paine, etc. is a great "cast".
There are two problems. First, the documentary, like its sequel (see my review) is very one sided towards the federalists. Alexander Hamilton, George Washington and John Adams are treated as saints whereas Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson are written off as purely self-motivated hacks. Similarly, James Madison is focused on AS a federalist but his later anti-federalist leanings are not even MENTIONED.
The second flaw is that some of the voice-overs do not seem quite right. Burt Reynolds as Patrick Henry, James Woods as John Adams, Hal Holbrook as Franklin, these are fine. But imagine my suprise when I found country singer Randy Travis reading for James Madison. And whoever did Thomas Jeffersons voice had equally little passion.
Ryan Setliff's review below may well be a typical reaction to a DVD like this. No, it does not paint the founders as perfect noblemen, but it is accurate. Patrick Henry had a monstrous temper, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were flirts. John Hancock and Alexander Hamilton were greedily ambitious, John Adams was disagreeable in most senses of the word and Thomas Paine was a drunk. Strong statements but I would challenge Mr. Setliff or anyone else to find citations to disprove them. many of the scholars, contrary to Mr. Setliffs contention, have proven themselves. Jack Rakove anyone?
Movie Review: Decent Overview of the Founding Father's life
Summary: 4 Stars
First of all, this DVD is NOT about the American Revolution. If you want to know about the American Revolution and how the country was built, then "Liberty: The American Revolution" from PBS is a much better choice. Nevertheless, this is still a decent DVD, if you want a quick overview of the biography of the Founding Fathers. Each Founding Fathers biography is covered equally in length. They are Samuel Adams, John Hancock, John Adams, Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. You will learn that each Founding Fathers has different reason to join the revolution, not all of them get along with each other, they came with many flaws just like humans, and not all of them were respected after the end of the revolution. The DVD is begin with the seed of the revolution, why each Founding Fathers decided to join the revolution, the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, and the creation of the U.S constitution along with the Bill of Rights. Overall, this is a decent DVD. My only complains are sometimes they talk about the Founding Father's character that are not important to the revolution and there is very little coverage about the war. But overall, this is a good DVD if you want a quick overview of the life of the Founding Fathers.
Movie Review: Well worth watching despite the annoying commentators.
Summary: 4 Stars
This DVD offers an interesting and useful perspective on the Founding Fathers. It is a relatively painless way to learn a great deal about these men, their ideals, and some of the things that gave rise to the American Revolution.I personally thought that the historian-commentators were largely mouthy and annoying. The narration was pretty good, and in fact I wish there were a way to simply edit out the commentators while leaving the narration. It is possible to present the Founders both as the human beings they were without losing sight of the fact that America was extraordinarily fortunate to have brought forth such men at this critical time. At times I thought that this series missed the mark in this regards, and went out of its way to focus on minor personal quirks that frankly are of no importance and only minor interest. The Founding Fathers were, after all, giants.
Nevertheless, at least this piece deals with the American Revolution and the Founders, which are underrepresented topics.