Customer Reviews

Kent State [VHS]

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

 

 

I had the pleasure of being in this movie. I had just graduated highschool. I didn't really know anything. Not about Kent State, not about movie making. My eyes were opened to both.

One has to realize, this is a Docu-Drama, not a documentary. Liberties have to be taken to present a story. I wasn't in Kent so I can't say what, if any, liberties were taken. However, I can tell you that looking at photos of Kent State and being on the campus of Gadsden State Junior College, the two campuses were similar. And since the Kent State officials would not let them film there, I think they did an excellent job in recreating that campus. Also remember, no one has ever been convicted or even charged for anything that happened that day. No one really knows what happened. This movie is based on piecing together all of the eyewitness accounts.

The scenes in which I took part were during that final bloody confrontation. And I tell you what, the emotions ran high during the filming of those scences. We may not have been in Kent 10 years earlier, but it sure feel like it. It was truly an experience of a lifetime. However, we all walked away alive, unlike those 4 young souls who were cut down seemingly at random.

This movie depicts a time in our history that we should never forget....and never let happen again.

Having attended SUNY-New Paltz during the 70's, I know first hand what demonstrations are all about: why they start; how they're organized; how they're conducted; what the results are; and how they are perceived by the citizens and by the media.

When I saw this on TV in 1981, I was deeply moved like many viewers....but for reasons beyond the usual. My first reaction was 'This will never be rerun on network TV; it hit too close to home in it's condemnation of the real forces behind the tragedy that happened there'. It was one of the very few TV movies that actually told some real truths and didn't sugarcoat the hard realities.

It is not without its flaws, but watch it to see what happened at KSU and watch it to see how, though VERY rare, mainstream TV movies can occasionally hit home....and the fact it was not rerun and is basically out of print...maybe too close to home.

Some 30+ years later, I'm still amazed that this film ever ran on network TV ... though I'm not amazed that it's gone out of print & is unavailable on DVD, even made-to-order DVD. Given the current temper of the times, the ugly truth is not welcome in America, whether about the recent past or the present.

As previous reviewers have noted, some small liberties have been taken in the name of dramatic licence. Such is the nature of the docudrama, which strives to present a strong & smooth narrative, while remaining faithful to the essence of the facts. That said, this is an honest attempt to portray the events at Kent State, and it largely succeeds.

Younger viewers may think there's too much dramatic exaggeration & believe that such things couldn't really happen. I direct them to the fine documentary "Kent State: The Day the War Came Home" for further proof that, for all intents & purposes, the state-sanctioned murder of dissenting citizens was allowed to go unpunished.

This film is desperately in need of a DVD release. Still, if more people could see it, what would they think? I'm afraid that too many would cheer on the actions of the National Guard, or at the very least make feeble excuses for their crimes. In a country where any citizen can now be accused of terrorism & held indefinitely without trial or any legal rights, the killing of a few protestors would probably be considered well-deserved.

Highly recommended!

Until lately this video really gets to the heart of the matter in a wonderfully effective manner. However, recent revelations regarding a shooter who was an FBI informant, has led to a re-interpretation of the events and calls for a truth commission to re-open the events and to get to the truth of this tragedy.

I am a high school history teacher. I occasionally show the last 40 minutes of Kent State to my U.S. History and American Studies classes. That is the part of the film that is most faithful to the historical record as I understand it, and it is one of the most powerful sequences I have ever viewed on network television. My students' responses to the video have often included tears, and always the question WHY? No one goes away unmoved.

That said, I think much of the rest of the film is questionable. While portions accurately convey anti-Vietnam street action, the video has a lot of inaccuracies and sometimes betrays its roots as a TV mini-series. For instance, in an attempt to win as wide an audience as possible, Kent State jettisons most of the political background of the antiwar movement and focusses on the generational conflict. (No one watched it anyway; it rated about 70th out of approximately 75 shows during the week it was first shown in February, 1981. No doubt this was because the subject's a downer.)

I am nonplussed by the vehemence of the review below. While I did not attend KSU itself, I participated in antiwar protests at the University of Iowa, and the crowd scenes in the video are faithful to what I remember. Given that Kent State was filmed in Alabama, I thought the producers did a creditable job in recreating the look of the KSU campus. (Which I have visited many times.) Kent State books by William Gordon and James Michener both mention stabbings by the National Guard, and Michener's talks about a motor cycle gang. (Of course, the books could be inaccurate, but it's not as if the film's producers made these incidents up out of their heads.)

In sum, the closing sequence of Kent State is moving, first-rate television, as well as a powerful teaching tool. Despite the flaws in the rest of the film, the end makes the video more than worth the price of admission.

Personally, I was very interested in viewing this video. I was at Kent State before, during, and after, the time of the shootings (1968-1975). I am VERY familiar with the University and the City of Kent. As a student, I was at the Commons on May 4th, during the time of the shootings.

This video depicts a university and a town that neither resembles, nor honors, either Kent State University or the city. FACTS: There were no motorcycle gangs in Kent. Co-ed dormatories were not introduced until 1971-72. The video places a lake in the middle of the Commons area where the rallies took place. (There is no lake on the Kent State campus.) The R.O.T.C. building was not burned down by the citizens of Kent.

The video also shows students being stabbed as they ran from the National Guard. There was never a report of anyone being stabbed in real life.

I can remember attending closed meetings addressed by out-of-state S.D.S. leaders. (There was no mention of outside influences in the video.) As for the depiction of the radicals... Ellen Barkin doesn't change ANY of her clothes during the entire length of the video. That's 4 full days! We may have been radical, and buzzed, but we periodically bathed, and changed clothes.

This movie will appeal to history buffs that are interested in seeing how actual and significant events can be altered by the media to satify the self-served. A docu-drama should have SOME historically integrity; this video has none.

"Kent State" will also be of interest to those who actually witnessed the events that took place during those balmy days in May of 1970. A few beers, a bowl of popcorn, and a whole lot of laughs.

Two Peace-Signs DOWN for this movie.

I was an extra in the crowd and worked for a week on this movie. it gives personal info on the soon to be dead students. it was a pleasure to work for Donny and Marie Osmond's Company and the movie, for it's time, is GREAT !!!
[BRING IT TO DVD !!!]
thanks, Leslie/Lesorge Music/publisher/musician/part-time professional actor

Personally, I was very interested in viewing this video. I was at Kent State before, during, and after, the time of the shootings (1968-1975). I am VERY familiar with the University and the City of Kent. As a student, I was at the Commons on May 4th, during the time of the shootings.

This video depicts a university and a town that neither resembles, nor honors, either Kent State University or the city. FACTS: There were no motorcycle gangs in Kent. Co-ed dormatories were not introduced until 1971-72. The video places a lake in the middle of the Commons area where the rallies took place. (There is no lake on the Kent State campus.) The R.O.T.C. building was not burned down by the citizens of Kent.

The video also shows students being stabbed as they ran from the National Guard. There was never a report of anyone being stabbed in real life.

I can remember attending closed meetings addressed by out-of-state S.D.S. leaders. (There was no mention of outside influences in the video.) As for the depiction of the radicals... Ellen Barkin doesn't change ANY of her clothes during the entire length of the video. That's 4 full days! We may have been radical, and buzzed, but we periodically bathed, and changed clothes.

This movie will appeal to history buffs that are interested in seeing how actual and significant events can be altered by the media to satify the self-served. A docu-drama should have SOME historical integrity; this video has none.

"Kent State" will also be of interest to those who actually witnessed the events that took place during those balmy days in May of 1970. A few beers, a bowl of popcorn, and a whole lot of laughs.

Two Peace-Signs DOWN for this movie.