The Roosevelts (film)

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The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
TheRoosevelts-BluRayDVD-Cover-20140910.jpg
Blu-ray cover
Genre Documentary film
Based onThe Roosevelts: An Intimate History
by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns
Written by Geoffrey C. Ward
Directed by Ken Burns
Starring Paul Giamatti, Edward Herrmann, Meryl Streep
Narrated by Peter Coyote
Theme music composerDavid Cieri
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of episodesSeven
Production
Producer(s) Ken Burns
Paul Barnes
Pam Tubridy Baucom
Vivaan Salvi
CinematographyBuddy Squires
Allen Moore
Nikhilesh Mehra
Editor(s)Paul Barnes
Tricia Reidy
Erik Ewers
Daniel J. White
Running time14 h (840 min)
Production company(s)Florentine Films
Distributor Public Broadcasting Service
Release
Original network PBS
Original release
  • September 14, 2014 (2014-09-14)
External links
Website

The Roosevelts: An Intimate History is a 2014 American documentary film directed and produced by Ken Burns. It covers the lives and times of the Roosevelt family, including Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican and the 26th President of the United States; Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat and the 32nd President of the United States, a cousin of Theodore; and Eleanor Roosevelt, the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, a niece of Theodore who had wed Franklin. As a result of the influence of Theodore and Franklin as Presidents, as well as Eleanor as First Lady, a modern democratic state of equal opportunity was begun in the United States. The documentary film begins with the birth of Theodore in 1858 and ends with the death of Eleanor in 1962. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Documentary film nonfictional motion picture

A documentary film is a nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record. "Documentary" has been described as a "filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception" that is continually evolving and is without clear boundaries. Documentary films were originally called 'actuality' films and were only a minute or less in length. Over time documentaries have evolved to be longer in length and to include more categories, such as educational, observational, and even 'docufiction'. Documentaries are also educational and often used in schools to teach various principles. Social media platforms such as YouTube, have allowed documentary films to improve the ways the films are distributed and able to educate and broaden the reach of people who receive the information.

Ken Burns American documentary filmmaker

Kenneth Lauren Burns is an American filmmaker, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs in documentary films. His widely known documentary series include The Civil War (1990), Baseball (1994), Jazz (2001), The War (2007), The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009), Prohibition (2011), The Roosevelts (2014), and The Vietnam War (2017). He was also executive producer of both The West, and Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies.

Roosevelt family family

The Roosevelt family is an American business and political family from New York whose members have included two United States Presidents, a First Lady, and various merchants, politicians, inventors, clergymen, artists, and socialites. Progeny of a mid-17th century Dutch immigrant to New Amsterdam, many members of the family became locally prominent in New York City business and politics and intermarried with prominent colonial families. Two distantly related branches of the family from Oyster Bay on Long Island and Hyde Park in Dutchess County rose to national political prominence with the elections of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909) and his fifth cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945), whose wife, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was Theodore's niece.

Contents

Actors and historians

The documentary film is narrated by Peter Coyote. Actors read lines of various historical figures and a series of noted commentators give background information. They include:

Peter Coyote American actor and director

Peter Coyote is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audiobooks. He is known for performing in films including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Cross Creek (1983), Jagged Edge (1985), Patch Adams (1998), Erin Brockovich (2000), A Walk to Remember (2002), Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012) and Good Kill (2014). He was the "Voice of Oscar" for the 72nd Academy Awards ceremony, the first Oscars announcer to be seen on-camera.

Paul Giamatti American actor

Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first garnered attention for his breakout role in Private Parts (1997) as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, which led to him playing more supporting roles such as Sergeant Hill in Saving Private Ryan (1998), Bob Zmuda in Man on the Moon (1999) and John Maxwell in Big Momma's House (2000).

Theodore Roosevelt 26th President of the United States

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was an American statesman, sportsman, conservationist and writer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He previously served as the 25th vice president of the United States from March to September 1901 and as the 33rd governor of New York from 1899 to 1900. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century. His face is depicted on Mount Rushmore, alongside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. In polls of historians and political scientists, Roosevelt is generally ranked as one of the five best presidents.

Edward Kirk Herrmann was an American actor, director, writer, and comedian, best known for his portrayals of Franklin D. Roosevelt on television, Richard Gilmore in Gilmore Girls, a ubiquitous narrator for historical programs on The History Channel and in such PBS productions as Nova, and as a spokesman for Dodge automobiles in the 1990s.

As themselves:

Jonathan Alter American journalist

Jonathan Alter is a liberal / progressive American journalist, best-selling author, documentary filmmaker and television producer who was a columnist and senior editor for Newsweek magazine from 1983 until 2011, and has written three New York Times best-selling books about American presidents. He is a contributing correspondent to NBC News, where since 1996 he has appeared on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC. Alter was one of the first magazine or newspaper reporters to appear on MSNBC. When the shows were on the air, he could often be heard on Imus in the Morning and The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio. In 2013 and 2014, Alter served as an executive producer on the Amazon Studio's production Alpha House, which starred John Goodman, Mark Consuelos, Clark Johnson, and Matt Malloy. In 2019, he co-produced and co-directed "Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists," a documentary about the columnists Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill, which is available on HBO.

H. W. Brands American historian

Henry William Brands Jr. is an American educator, author and historian. He has authored 30 books on U.S. history. He holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his Ph.D. in history in 1985. His works have twice been selected as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.

Blanche Wiesen Cook is a historian and professor of history. She is a recipient of the Bill Whitehead Award.

Other voices include: Adam Arkin, Keith Carradine, Kevin Conway, Ed Harris, Josh Lucas, Carl Lumbly, Amy Madigan, Carolyn McCormick, Pamela Reed, Billy Bob Thornton, and Eli Wallach.

Adam Arkin American television, film and stage actor and director

Adam Arkin is an American television, film and stage actor, and director. He played the role of Aaron Shutt on Chicago Hope. He has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Tony as well as three primetime Emmys, four SAG Awards, and a DGA Award. In 2002, Arkin won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Special for My Louisiana Sky. He is also one of the three actors to portray Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck on Monk. Between 2007 and 2009, he starred in the NBC drama Life. Beginning in 1990 he had a guest role on Northern Exposure playing the angry paranoid Adam, for which he received an Emmy nomination. In 2009, he portrayed villain Ethan Zobelle, a white separatist gang leader, on the FX original series Sons of Anarchy.

Keith Carradine American actor

Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor, singer and songwriter who has had success on stage, film and television. He is known for his roles as Tom Frank in Robert Altman's Nashville, Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series Deadwood, FBI agent Frank Lundy in Dexter and US President Conrad Dalton in Madam Secretary. In addition, he is a Golden Globe- and Academy Award-winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting dynasty that began with his father, John Carradine.

Kevin John Conway is an American actor and film director.

Episodes

No.Episode [8] Original air date
1"Get Action" (1858–1901)September 14, 2014 (2014-09-14) [9]
Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt all overcame challenging circumstances early in their lives during the Gilded Age. As a result of the influence of Theodore and Franklin as Presidents, as well as Eleanor as First Lady, a modern democratic state of equal opportunity was begun in the United States.
2"In The Arena" (1901–1910)September 15, 2014 (2014-09-15) [10]
Theodore becomes the 26th President of the United States, fights corporate greed, builds the Panama Canal and helps preserve wilderness areas. Franklin marries Eleanor and enters politics by running for the New York state senate.
3"The Fire of Life" (1910–1919)September 16, 2014 (2014-09-16) [11]
Theodore pursues a progressive crusade and, as a result, compromises the Republican Party. Later, he promotes America's entry into World War I. Franklin serves as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He becomes involved with another woman and his relationship with Eleanor becomes a purely political partnership.
4"The Storm" (1920–1933)September 17, 2014 (2014-09-17) [12]
Franklin runs for Vice President of the United States but his party loses the election. The next year, he is stricken with a disabling paralytic illness. Eleanor develops a political life of her own. Franklin becomes Governor of New York and, later, runs for the office of President of the United States.
5"The Rising Road" (1933–1939)September 18, 2014 (2014-09-18) [13]
Franklin becomes the 32nd President of the United States, introduces the New Deal to help resolve the Great Depression and undertakes the issue of Adolf Hitler's rise in Germany. Eleanor provides Franklin with a liberal perspective and becomes, herself, a political force.
6"The Common Cause" (1939–1944)September 19, 2014 (2014-09-19) [14]
Franklin, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, promotes America's entry into World War II and eventual Allied victory. During wartime, Eleanor helps to maintain the earlier New Deal initiatives and comforts wounded troops in the Pacific.
7"A Strong and Active Faith" (1944–1962)September 20, 2014 (2014-09-20) [15]
Franklin wins a fourth term as President, plans for peacetime but dies while in office on April 12, 1945. Eleanor, after Franklin's death, promotes civil rights, civil liberties and the United Nations. She died in 1962 and was mourned as First Lady of the World.
Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd President of the United States

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th century. Roosevelt directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. As a dominant leader of his party, he built the New Deal Coalition, which realigned American politics into the Fifth Party System and defined American liberalism throughout the middle third of the 20th century. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II. He is often rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Eleanor Roosevelt American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was an American political figure, diplomat and activist. She served as the First Lady of the United States from March 4, 1933 to April 12, 1945 during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office, making her the longest serving First Lady of the United States. Roosevelt served as United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952. President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.

Reviews and criticism

The series premiered to positive reviews and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator for Peter Coyote's narration of the first episode. [16] In September 2014, The Roosevelts became the most streamed documentary on the PBS website to date. [17]

According to critic James Poniewozik of Time magazine, "The Roosevelts tells the story of the American 20th century in triptych. Teddy (who became President in 1901) is progressivism, expansionism and reform. FDR is the rise of American power and the rewriting of the social contract. (Conservative pundit George Will sums up his legacy: the government would not just 'provide the conditions for the pursuit of happiness' but 'deliver happiness, understood as material well-being.') Eleanor looks ahead to postwar globalism and the move of women and minorities in from the margins." [4] Further, Poniewozik states, "The Roosevelts brings up a kind of nature-nurture question: did these leaders make the times, or did the times make these leaders? It can’t answer this question. But it does manage to tell an educational, emotional story of how these leaders and their times made us." [4]

Hank Stuever, critic at The Washington Post, writes, "Let’s start with the end. When it’s over — when you make it through the marathon that is Ken Burns’s beautiful, seven-part documentary The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, ... you may find yourself with a lingering, nebulous grief. You’re sorry it’s over. You’re sorry they’re over. You’re sorry a certain expression of American ideals is, or often appears to be, completely over." [18]

One critic of the series, Michelangelo Signorile, wrote in The Huffington Post that the production was entertaining, but noticeably omitted any references to the Newport sex scandal and another scandal involving Sumner Welles. Signorile also criticized Burns' dismissal of a possible sexual relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok as 'tabloid' material. [19] Pulitzer Prize winning historian John Loughey was similarly dismayed that the Newport affair was not included in the series. [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Elliott Bulloch Roosevelt Father of Eleanor Roosevelt and brother of Theodore Roosevelt

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References

  1. ↑ Moore, Frazier (September 10, 2014). "PBS' 'The Roosevelts' portrays an epic threesome". AP News . Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  2. ↑ Genzlinger, Neil (September 12, 2014). "A Family's Rough Ride Through an American Era". New York Times . Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  3. ↑ Egan, Timothy (September 4, 2014). "Roosevelts to the Rescue". New York Times . Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Poniewozik, James (September 12, 2014). "Review: The Roosevelts Gets Up Close and Personal With History". Time Magazine . Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  5. ↑ Bianco, Robert (September 10, 2014). "The Roosevelts: An Intimate History PBS, **** out of four". USA Today . Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  6. ↑ Lowry, Brian (September 10, 2014). "TV Review: 'The Roosevelts: An Intimate History'". Variety . Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  7. ↑ Hollander, Sophia (September 5, 2014). "More Questions for Filmmaker Ken Burns On 'The Roosevelts: An Intimate History'". Wall Street Journal . Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  8. ↑ Staff (2014). "The Roosevelts - Episode Guide". PBS . Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  9. ↑ Staff (2014). "The Roosevelts - Episode 01". PBS . Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  10. ↑ Staff (2014). "The Roosevelts - Episode 02". PBS . Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  11. ↑ Staff (2014). "The Roosevelts - Episode 03". PBS . Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  12. ↑ Staff (2014). "The Roosevelts - Episode 04". PBS . Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  13. ↑ Staff (2014). "The Roosevelts - Episode 05". PBS . Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  14. ↑ Staff (2014). "The Roosevelts - Episode 06". PBS . Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  15. ↑ Staff (2014). "The Roosevelts - Episode 07". PBS . Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  16. ↑ Ge, Linda (September 12, 2015). "Creative Arts Emmys: The Complete Winners List". The Wrap . Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  17. ↑ Staff (September 22, 2014). "Ken Burns' 'The Roosevelts' Docu His Most Streamed To Date". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  18. ↑ Stuever, Hank (September 12, 2014). "'The Roosevelts': Once you finish all 14 hours, you're sorry to see them go". The Washington Post . Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  19. ↑ Signorile, Michelangelo (September 23, 2014). "'The Roosevelts:' Ken Burns Closets Eleanor, Disappears FDR's Gay Sex-Entrapment Scandal in the Navy". Huffington Post . Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  20. ↑ Confino, Arielle (September 29, 2014). "FDR's Dark Anti-Gay Legacy in Newport". Go Local Prov. Retrieved November 5, 2015.

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