Amazon.com: The story of Huey Long is the quintessential drama of power and ethics. To his constituents, he was a populist hero. To his critics, he was the unscrupulous "dictator of Louisiana" who didn't break the law, but used the law to achieve his own ends. A towering figure on the political landscape, Louisiana's infamous governor and United States senator may well have wound up in the White House, had he not been felled by an assassin's bullet in 1935. Long was the inspiration for Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the King's Men (a film version of which earned Broderick Crawford an Academy Award). As this fascinating documentary by Ken Burns (The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz) vividly illustrates, truth is even more compelling than fiction. Originally broadcast on the award-winning PBS series The American Experience, Huey Long painstakingly charts Long's inexorable rise to power. Archival footage and interviews with Louisiana natives, politicians, family members, historians, and political colleagues bring Long to thundering and bombastic life. --Donald Liebenson
hard-to-find information This is an excellent video for those interested in Huey Long. It gives more insight into his personality and beliefs than any other source that I have found. One of a kind!!!
Do not watch! I just watched this film and was very unhappy with it. I expected more out of KB and thought that this movie was very one-sided and was unable to express what Huey Long was really about!
This documentary was not emotionally grabbing nor even minimally enthralling. I would give this movie a 1 out of five. If you know nothing of Huey Long, watch this movie.... If you already know of Huey Long....well, watch this movie anyways, cuz there aren't too many about him.
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Ken Burns at his best. From the interviews to the music and photos, this is a very informative and inspiring piece. Long was a complex man, and, now nearly 3/4 of a century later, we are no closer to sorting him out than when he was shot. There are fascinating interviews and comments by Mrs. Hodding Carter Sr, and other contemporaries, but Robert Penn Warren absolutley steals the show with his readings and comments. It's good if you know a little about either Long or Louisiana going in (If your only frame of refrence is contemporary urban culture, you may have a little trouble understanding why some of these things happened...), but in any case, get it!
The Kingfish For those of us old evough to remembr anything about politics in the 30s, this is must viewing. Huey Long once stated: "I can beat FDR because I can out promise him." Who knows what this man would have done if he hadn't died by an assisins's bullet. The people of Louisiana loved him like no other. The bigwigs in the state despised him with a passion. Fascinating period in American history.
Excellent Documentary Hard to capture the life of such a fascinating and complex character in a documentary, but Burns does as good a job as can be done. And he does so with balance.
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