Product Details

• Actors: Alfre Woodard, Gordon Parks
• Directors: Craig Rice
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• DVD Release Date: January 24, 2006
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BNXD4G
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #51,032 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A true twentieth century Renaissance man, Gordon Parks is one of the most prolific and diverse artists in America today. A preeminent photographer, poet, novelist, composer and filmmaker, Parks's artisitc vision knows no boundaries. This candid portrait of the artist is a journey throught the watershed moments on America's social history, punctuated by Parks' seminal works and his unique ability to follow his instincts to the most fascinating and challenging places in the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Half Past Amazing, March 9, 2006

By	Odysseus - See all my reviews

This is quite a look into the amazing life and art of Gordon Parks, an American Treasure.
Like the works of Parks, this documentary is beautifully filmed and narrated. And by the time the film ends, you wish it would just go on and on. Just the way you feel about the amazing life of Gordon Parks.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing look into the life of an Extraordinary Artist. . ., October 21, 2008

By	Danniray99 "Danniray" (Expatriate in Germany) - See all my reviews

This documentary on the life and times of the prolific and uncannily gifted photographer, novelist, filmmaker, musician and painter Gordon Parks is never less than absorbing. The film stretches across two centuries as it traces his life and career from abject poverty in Kansas city, circa 1912 (the year of his birth), to his astonishing and unprecedented rise (in the late 40's, 50's and 60's) as a top photographer for Vogue, Life and other magazines, to his later years as a filmmaker and composer, through 2006 (the year of his death). That Parks was the product of illiterate Black sharecroppers is all the more riveting! Aside from prominent photographs, footage and voice-overs of Parks himself, "Half Past Autumn" features Parks'children and ex-wives, as well as celebrities and lifelong friends like record-mogul Russell Simmons and Gloria Vanderbilt--all of whom provide thoughtful, considerate anecdotes. Though Parks' subject matter widely varied (for a crucial time in his career he quickly garnered coveted assignments to places as far-flung as Paris and Brazil), his biggest claim to fame were his heart-stopping photographs of the Southern civil rights movement in the 1960's for Life magazine. In general, the power of his photos was such that no text needed to explain them. In still after still, you are astonished by his innate ability to capture and convey the very essence and beauty (however savage) of an image--whether that image is of families entrapped in poverty; a high fashion model; a glitzy society doyenne; or a cleaning woman resigned to her fate (his iconic photo "American Gothic," shows a Black maid posed in front of a draping American flag, staring down the camera as she holds an upended mop in one hand and a broom in the other).

Parks' other prominent interests included writing and filmmaking (he wrote, produced and directed the highly-acclaimed movie "The Learning Tree"). Sandwiched between his photography, writing and filmmaking was yet another tremendous gift for composing music. He was an untutored, respectably-skilled pianist with an abiding interest in classical music. In short, "Half Past Autumn" is a succinct epitaph of one the greatest American rennaissance men of the 20th century!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Half Past Autumn - The Life and Works of Gordon Parks, April 5, 2009

By	C. Curry (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Awesome. Gordon Parks is a quiet and little known American Icon. One that should never be forgotten.