Customer Reviews

Ken Burns America Collection - Huey Long

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One really is left wondering "what might have been" after watching this splendid documentary of one of the most compelling figures in 20th century US politics. I have my doubts that Huey Long could have wrestled the 1936 presidential nomination away from FDR (a far more adroit politician who knew as well as anyone how to marginalize his foes), but what would have the 1940 elections brought? Huey Long might never have had the national following to get the nomination, but he would have been a force to be reckoned with within the Democratic party.

How he reached this level of power is fascinating. Relatively unschooled but with political instincts second to none in Louisiana, Long could have written the book on the consolidation of power. The Long Machine is not unique --- there have been other statewide machines such as the Cameron Machine in Pennsylvania, for example --- but the swiftness with which Long's organization rose to power is unparalleled. Even more amazing was the fact that he had sizeable opposition within Louisiana who knew exactly what he was trying to do, and yet Long was still able to outmaneuver his foes!

Clearly it is pretty easy to paint Long as an utterly corrupt dictator, and not a few of the talking heads in this documentary do exactly that. I could have done without Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (evidently taking time off from being the official Camelot court historian and Kennedy apologist) self-righteously pronouncing judgement on Huey Long, even though Long deserved it --- but that is neither here nor there. The fact that Long was a thoroughly unsavory autocrat does not explain the popular appeal he had which lasts to this very day. Burns, to his eternal credit, devotes a not inconsequential amount film to interviews with ordinary people who recall all the wonderful things Huey Long did for the have-nots in the state. Look into their eyes --- you can see genuine affection for the man, decades after his death.

All of this leaves the viewer with no easy answers, which is fine with me. History is rarely a black-and-white proposition, and we should not pretend that it is so. Did the good deeds of the man excuse his corruption and hunger for power? What is the benefit of democracy if the have-nots always lose and suffer? Some countries have had the chance to choose tyranny because it least it meant that every citizen would have his or her basic needs met, and to them it was worth sacrificing civil liberties. It hasn't happened often in the US, but it did happen once upon a time in Louisiana. Ken Burns does a splendid job of telling the story.

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!

I saw this wonderful documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1986, so I was prepared when "The Civil War" appeared on PBS. I was already stoked by this splendid film. Anyone who uses Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" on the soundtrack in on the right track. Getting Robert Penn Warren before he died to talk about Long on film was also a stroke of genius. This is a must-purchase for history buffs or anyone else who loves good filmmaking.

This was an excellent portrait of Huey Long. Specifically, the documentary does very well in presenting both sides of Long from the people who loved him and the enemies who loathed him. Burns shows that while Huey used powers that often bordered on the dictatorial, he did a lot for his state during the Depression and was loved by the poor who had been ignored for years.

After watching it, I was most struck by the vicious hatred aristocrats and others had for the Kingfish. These people expressed glee at Long's assasination and noted that many of them had plotted to kill him on numerous occassions. The reason that this is so noteworthy is because Long is often savaged by historians (such as Arthur Schlesinger on the DVD who labeled Huey "sinister"), but they often fail to mention that Huey needed to be politically heavy-handed to deal with the similarly powerhungry artistocrats and machine politicians that had total control of Louisiana before the Kingfish was elevated to the governorship.

All in all an excellent look at Huey that I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in politics or history.

Engaging, repulsive, remarkable, corrupt, conniving, accomplished, effective, diversive and arrogant. If you recognize that all of those terms and a few hundred others have been used to describe the subject of this Ken Burns profile of Huey P. Long, you already know the Kingfish. This is an excellent documentary for those with an interest in Huey Long or for those merely curious about him. Burns presents a plethora of perspectives from a variety of people familiar with Long in differing ways. The Kingfish would have heavily edited Burns' version and might well have had him kidnapped to prevent its release. But that shrewd rascal would have loved his inclusion of the comments of "the poor people" who clearly loved Huey P. It becomes very clear that the former Louisiana governor and state senator was a dramatically polarizing personality whose individual ambitions were so intertwined with his determination to improve the lot of marginalized people along the backroads and bayous that simple assessment becomes impossible.

While we may be disappointed that Burns spends so little time with the assassination, we surely appreciate the rich tapestry of Long's career, personality and style. Burns does not attempt the conventions of simple explanation and consensus opinion; with Huey P. Long, that simply is not possible. What he does give us is a very comprehensive sampling of often conflicting perceptions from diverse characters, some of whom are quite colorful themselves.

This documentary ,which is one of Ken Burns earliest, is just a excellent look at Huey Long. Long was one of the most controversial figures in 20th century American politics and this documentary does him great justice. I only wish that the documentary could have been longer because their are so many great anecdotes about Long that are left out. I would highly recommend reading T. Harry Williams Pulitzer prize winning book 'Huey Long' along with this DVD. It's too bad the documentary couldn't have been at least double the present length.

Almost all of the people interviewed in this documentary are now gone so it was great that Burns was able to interview them in the '80s and hear people's impressions of Long and his many contradictions. They talk about Long like it was only yesterday not like fifty years had passed. The archival footage is just awesome. The footage is very clear and to see Long in the flesh actually talking really makes him come alive even more. This footage is worth the price of the DVD alone. You will hear Long's song 'Every Man a King' and this is very fascinating to see and hear. Also, the documentary begins with Long and his comparison between Democrats and Republicans and this is still hilarious and still so very true.

This documentary is very fair and shows both Long's dark side and all of the achievements he did for Louisiana. Long ,love him or hate him, is one of the most fascinating political characters that this nation has ever produced. The story as told by Burns is gripping and excellent. You will revisit a time when politicians ,by either legal or illegal means, actually got things done. You will shake your head at the shenanigans of Long and his cronies and you will wonder at what a strange, wonderful history our country has.

Highly recommended!

A+++

'The Kingfish gonna save this land'*

*From Randy Newman and his excellent song on Huey Long- 'Kingfish'

This video is just the ticket if you want a brief but thorough overview of the life and times of Huey Long, a larger than life politician whose life was cut short by an assassins bullet.

America's memory of Huey Long owes a lot to two films: this 1985 documentary by Ken Burns, and Robert Rossen's 1949 movie, "All The King's Men." Both the documentary and the movie portray a hero of the common people, who rises to be dictator of his state, then falls to an assassin's bullet. Yet there are large differences.

The movie was inspired by Robert Penn Warren's novel of the same title, which in turn was inspired by Long's career (a fact that Warren famously and unconvincingly denied). The movie's hero (named Willie Stark) is very bright, but a hick - a redneck - by birth and childhood circumstances. His political career only catches fire when he learns to hammer his audiences with the tough sternness of a hick pounding fellow-hicks.

In contrast, Huey Long, in the documentary, is born to a hardworking, middle-class family, which sent most of its offspring to college, at a time when only one in twenty American children had that privilege. Huey was an accomplished debater in high school, and a persuasive salesman in his first full-time job. After just a year in Law School, he passed the bar, and soon was elected, at age 24, to the Louisiana Railroad Commission.

The movie confines Stark's political career to governor and boss of his state, and his policies primarily to state-sponsored public works, e.g., highways, public education, hospital care. The documentary adds Long's years as United States Senator, crusader for the redistribution of Americans' wealth, and probable candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in 1936.

The documentary includes colorful excerpts from Long's speeches, crusading against economic inequality: "4% of the American people own 85% of the wealth of America," while "70% of the people of America don't own enough to pay the debts they owe." "The Lord has answered the prayer, he has called the barbecue. Come to my feast, he says to 125 million American people. He has invited Americans to his feast, but Morgan, Rockefeller, and Mellon and Baruch have walked up and took 85% of the victuals off the table. Now, how ya gonna feed the balance of the people? What are Morgan, Rockefeller, Mellon and Baruch gonna do with all that grub? They cain't eat it, they cain't wear the clothes, they cain't live in the houses. Give `em a yacht! Give `em a palace! Send `em to Reno & give `em a new wife if they want, if that's what they want. But when they've got everything on God's living earth that they can eat, and they can wear and they can live in, and all their children can wear, and live in, and eat, and all their children's children can use, we gotta call Mr. Morgan and Mr. Rockefeller and Mr. Mellon back, and say: Come back heah, put back on this table heah what you took away from heah, the stuff you don't need; leave something for the American people to consume."

The documentary notes the tremendous public response to Long's crusade, but fails to take seriously his plan for redistributing American wealth. The plan is not described; its merits, pro and con, are not weighed. This failure is my reason for giving Burns' work four, rather than five stars. I won't try here to discuss the merits of the plan, but its main provisions -- very large taxes and subsidies -- are stated below. I found them in a slim book of Long's speeches, entitled "Kingfish to America: Share Our Wealth," edited by Henry Christman,1985, and available on Amazon.

By taxing savings and property, the wealth of the very rich would be reduced, so that "no one would own more than 3 or 4 million dollars." Income would also be taxed, to "limit the total anyone could earn or inherit in one year to $1 million." [These 1934 limits were actually less severe than they sound in 2009. Due to inflation, one million 1934 dollars would equal over 15.4 million 2009 dollars, and four million 1934 dollars would equal over 61 million 2009 dollars.]

The money thus gained was estimated to provide every needy family in America with "a home and the comforts of home, including such common conveniences as a radio and an automobile, free of debt." The government would "guarantee food and clothing and employment for everyone who should work, by shortening the hours of labor to thirty hours per week, and to eleven months per year." Education would be free for every child, not just through high school, but on through college and vocational education. Everyone over 60 years old, whose income was less than $1,000 per year, or whose net worth was less than $10,000, would receive a pension sufficient to support them in comfortable circumstances.

My grandmother was born on the day Huey was elected governor and is in this video as the only woman named after Huey P. Long. This is indicative of the impression this man made on the Louisiana voter- a better propagandist you'd be hard pressed to find. Even without my bias towards the content, this is one of the finest documentaries I have seen, as one would expect from Ken Burns.

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.