Customer Reviews

Biography - Dwight D. Eisenhower (A&E DVD Archives)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I got this dvd to supplement the PBS box set The Presidents which didn't have a dvd on Eisenhower.

This dvd is from the A&E Biography series and so tends to take an overall view of Eisenhower's life, hitting the maybe more familiar highs and lows with members of his family and co-workers offering their views, etc. It fell short for me on Eisenhower's Presidency. It captured it in essence but if this dvd had been lengthened out to 2 dvds, looking into his cabinet, his style as a President, etc. it might have been a great set. It seemed before you knew it, the 100 minutes was gone and you didn't get a more in-depth sense of the significance of his presidency. I'm sure someone will put another dvd out.

A fairly complete bio of Ike - it covered his youth, Mamie Doud, the loss of his son, his starting the interstate highway system, and his relationship with Kay Summersby. I'd rate it at 4½ stars.

I also have Ike - Countdown to D-Day starring Tom Selleck. A very good movie.
A detailed book about individual battles, written by "Ike" himself: CRUSADE IN EUROPE. A personal account of World War II

An excellent video showing the life of Eisenhower. Learned some things I never heard about him. How a small town Kansas boy made it big in a world rapidly changing.

This is the biography that should have been in with the set, "The Presidents" from the PBS Home Video Collection to complete that set. Ike was a cool peacekeeper managing hot headed generals. It's no surprise the country liked Ike, and both political parties courted him to run for president in their party. This is a short piece which could have been expanded to include so much more, but it is good all the same.

I'm sure it is difficult (impossible?) to condense a life filled with extraordinary accomplishments into a 100 minute film. But, given that problem, to my taste entirely too much time and space was devoted in this presentation to "talking heads" giving their opinions and perspectives on Eisenhower---most of whom had never met the man. I'm sure there are miles of newsreel film and hundreds of photographs of Eisenhower available, especially during WWII and his presidency, which would have made this biography a far more interesting and complete portrayal of the extraordinary man that he was. Om spite of this shortcoming, however, it does have some favorable points which make it worthwhile viewing.

I'm not sure if it is indeed Tom Selleck narrating but it sure sounds like him. That notwithstanding, this is probably the best documentary on Ike Eisenhower that exists. If you want to know Ike as the man, watch this documentary. Also the movie 'Ike: Countdown to D-Day' with Tom Selleck is very good. Brilliant documentary.

Eisenhower was perhaps the greatest military leader our country has ever had next to MacArthur. The 5-star General is a little lacklusterly portrayed in this- not enough violent scenes, but that's something that I'm into and really like, but history buffs would find it to be very informative.

Rarely does one get to watch such a litany of sycophants and hangers on butt kissing one of the most ineffectual leaders this country has known. Tom Brokaw in true marble mouth fashion being paid to talk like a plate of beans negotiating its way out of a cows digestive system. Family members desperately trying to perpetuate the myth and presumably the family business as well. Dwight D Eisenhower was a meaked mouth farm hand who's staggering military incompetence added 6 months to the length of the war. When one asks who allowed Anne Frank to die. Dwight D Eisenhower is in the answer. Always a 100 miles behind the front lines with Kay Somersby trying to inflate his " flaccid" ego, poor gel giving her all for - - - - all. As for the much vaunted military industrial complex speech, (courageously made at the end of his term one should add) who was the yes man who allowed the Russians to take Berlin, who's incompetent military decisions allowed the Russians to take control of the very heart of central Europe so paving the way for the very need to have such a complex. None other than the very best little filing clerk Douglas McArthur ever had. Dwight D Eisenhower. Neither for something or against something unless it got you out of the way of his golf game.None of these issues are addressed in the DVD making it so much fluff. Why do we allow these bubble gum DVD's to skim over real historical issues ? He's been dead for 43 years. What are we scarred of?

Being the big General in Europe in World War II was enough to get Eisenhower two terms. He played golf while the nation dug bomb shelters. Grade-schoolers ducked under their desks in drills as if they would shield them from hydrogen bombs. Elvis Presley fathered modern music and the Sexual Revolution. Eisenhower's chief contribution was the Interstate Highway System. Interstates changed everything. Even numbers like I-40 run east and west. Odd numbers like I-65 run north and south.