Customer Reviews

Primary

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

 

 

Robert Drew's "Primary" (1960) is a fascinating "You Are There" film, as we follow "Campaign '60" Presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Hubert H. Humphrey all across the state of Wisconsin as the two White House hopefuls wield their all-too-apparent campaign skills during a series of wet and gloomy days just prior to the Wisconsin Presidential Primary.

Drew's camera is very often literally right smack in the face of the candidates as they chat with ordinary folk on the small-town streets, while shaking too many hands to count, trying to woo voters.

The "sync sound" camera utilized by Mr. Drew (and crew) was innovative for its time, giving the viewer the ability to hear, as well as see, the candidates up close and personal. Although, it appears the limited success of this "new-fangled" sync-sound technology is evident throughout this 53-minute black-and-white "Cinema Verite" production, with several portions of the film's "Live sound" not exactly meshing perfectly with the lips we see moving on screen. Occasionally, the sound is a few beats behind the video being shot. But, considering the newness of this type of "Live" filming of subjects, I'd say it was an excellent job done by the Robert Drew team of filmmakers.

Off-screen narration is kept to a minimum during the film, with the emphasis obviously being on letting the camera run and letting whatever happens...happen.

There's even a "scene" in the film where JFK's brother, Robert F. Kennedy, shows up "on the stump", helping out with his brother's efforts in this very important Primary. We're also treated to a very funny moment as RFK is being introduced to the waiting crowd of Kennedy supporters, when the person responsible for Bobby's intro announces him as "John Kennedy's son"! This gaffe elicited a nice roar of laughter from the crowd, plus (due to Mr. Drew's ever-present live microphone being focused on Jack Kennedy throughout the shoot), we hear JFK's spontaneously-funny response. "Son???", utters JFK, seemingly taken aback (but in his usual charming and witty way) by the announcer's honest error.

Video quality here is not exactly perfect. Grain and "noise" are present throughout, but it's certainly not terrible-looking either. Keeping in mind the decades-old age of this film, I'd say this is a very nice DVD representation of the original material (probably pretty close to what it looked like in its original state in 1960).

This DVD (part of "The Robert Drew Collection" of programs on Digital Disc) contains some nice bonus features, in addition to the excellent nearly hour-long main program. "Primary Originators" was taped in (mostly) 2000 and features members of Drew's "team" discussing and commenting on "Primary" and various other filmmaking subjects. The beginning of this feature also shows some clips of Robert Drew, circa 1962. The running time for this bonus is 27 minutes.

And then there's "30/15" (meaning: "30 Years In 15 Minutes"), a 1993-produced fifteen-minute short film, which features highlights of various Robert Drew films.

There's also a commentary track with Mr. Drew and one of his photographers, Richard Leacock.

Some informative text screens are included on the DVD as well, giving us some background info on Robert Drew.

This DVD's Menus are easily navigated and very simple in nature, without musical or animated transitions. Nice menu structure, IMO.

If you ever feel like stepping into a time machine marked "early 1960", then save yourself the expense of building one and just pop in this program. It will immediately transport any viewer back to the "Good Ol' Days" of nineteen hundred & sixty, when a yet-to-turn-43-year-old Senator from Massachusetts named Jack Kennedy was near the beginning of his arduous and hard-fought struggle for the Presidency. A struggle which would (seven months after this film was produced) prove to be a successful one for JFK, landing him in the White House as the 35th President of the United States.

"Primary" is a trip down memory lane well worth taking.

This is an interesting Robert Drew documentary of the final days of the 1960 Democratic primary in Wisconsin, between Minn. Senator Hubert Humphrey and Sen. Kennedy. The packaging and most commentary focuses on JFK, but actually there is fairly equal coverage of both campaigns, and I think it's a disservice to Humphrey to ignore that.

It was, of course, a very interesting election year, with Kennedy's eventual razor-thin victory over Nixon in the general campaign. New campaign techniques, especially the mass appeal of television, were evolving along with the tried and true machine politics and stumping. You see quite a bit of that here in PRIMARY.

This Wisconsin primary was very much a toss-up at the time, as well as strategically important for the nomination, so you see the candidates working quite hard to get out and connect with voters. Kennedy fans will love to see JFK working the crowds (one shot has five or six young women literally sprinting down a sidewalk to him) as well as election night with his wife and staff waiting for the results to come in. Jackie Kennedy also figures prominently. At one stump stop before a Polish crowd, right before election night, there is some great editing of Jackie's brief remarks to the crowd, with shots of her hands nervously playing behind her back. They did something similar with Kennedy as well. Kennedy's Catholicism was still a big issue, yet to be neutralized, which many will find interesting.

However, I think the portions devoted to Humphrey, the "orator of the dawn," are equally interesting. Lyndon Johnson once said that Humphrey prepared for a major address "by taking a deep breath." Probably the best segment of the entire documentary is Humphrey talking to a group of less than thirty farmers; he had an extraordinary ability to connect concrete, national political issues to the interests of the voter. While not too familiar with this primary fight beyond this documentary, I got the sense that Humphrey was making a strategic mistake by spending so much time with rural voters in the final week, which he should already have solidified, instead of reaching out to urban constituencies and cutting into Kennedy's appeal there. Wisconsin was basically his back yard, and he shouldn't have lost that state.

One of the more interesting sequences is on voting day, where Drew takes us through quick snatches of Wisconsinites opinions of the candidates over quick shots of the legs and shoes of voters in the booth. You get the sense of a wide variety of people participating from the different styles and evident economic standing and the accompanying anonymity, which is a subtle commentary on democracy.

The approach of this documentary was technically and structurally revolutionary at the time. That also means that it's often confusing and difficult to watch. Virtually no narration accompanies it, no music apart from the crowds singing the awful campaign songs, and the editing focuses strictly on the two candidates interacting with voters. Thus, little historical context is provided for those wanting it, and there is virtually no insight into the internal operation of the campaign. The sound editing is often jumbled, so by no means expect to make out everything people are saying, but the camera work is probably better than ought to be expected.

Thus, PRIMARY is more a historical document of a particular and interesting political moment. It doesn't function to illuminate and explain an era for you. Little the candidates do or say are individually important, but it gives you the flavor of the politics of the time.

I saw the VHS version of this, which didn't have any extras. If the DVD has an English subtitle track, that would be useful to watch it with.

Robert Drew's "Primary" is a classic "you-are-there" documentary about the hard-fought 1960 Democratic presidential primary in Wisconsin. The primary featured two attractive liberal Senators - the wealthy, charismatic John F. Kennedy of Massachussetts, and the folksy, down-home Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. Both candidates gave Drew and his film crew unprecendented access to the inner workings of their campaigns. Filmed entirely in black-and-white, the video has little narration - instead you spend roughly fifty minutes following each candidate as he campaigns around the state, and then watching each candidate as they listen to the voting results on election night. I had seen many clips from this video in other documentaries on JFK's life and career, so it was nice to finally see the entire video. Humphrey is seen campaigning to farmers and country folk in western Wisconsin - his main base of support. Riding in a bus with an "Over the Hump with Humphrey" sign plastered on the front, he jokes with farmers, appears on a TV "question-and-answer" show, and talks with his bus driver while his campaign manager snoozes in the back. Kennedy is seen wooing voters in Milwaukee and other cities in eastern Wisconsin, where Polish voters sing (horribly off-key) JFK's campaign song "High Hopes". He and his wife Jackie then shake the hands of each voter there, and you can clearly see the hold that JFK had on female voters, as most of those shaking hands are younger women who cast an adoring look on Kennedy as he smiles and asks for their support. From the beginning of this video you can tell that Kennedy is going to win the Wisconsin primary (JFK beat Humphrey 56-44%, thus beginning his string of election victories that would run through the general election in November 1960, where he defeated Vice-President Nixon). JFK's campaign was much better-financed, better-organized, and more professional than Humphrey's, and Kennedy had workers helping him in every precinct in Wisconsin. Humphrey's campaign, on the other hand, comes across in this video as a jolly, endearing but also bumbling operation - Humphrey often shows up to greet just two or three voters in a town, while Kennedy is seen shaking hands with hundreds of people at a time. To be sure, this video will ONLY be of interest to people who are interested in politics, the Kennedys, or Humphrey. Anyone else will probably fall asleep watching it. However, for a political "junkie" this video will be a delight - and it will also provide a nostalgic "snapshot" of the beginnings of the Kennedy "mystique" and "camelot". Recommended!

This is a classic from the famed Robert Drew and shows JFK and Hubert Humphrey, 'unplugged'. I very much like the behind-the-scenes footage and off-the-cuff remarks. Well done.
Vince Palamara-JFK/ Secret Service expert (History Channel, author of two books, in over 30 other author's books, etc.)
Pittsburgh, PA

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Well if Im the first reviewer for this after all the years amazon have had it on,
I dont think a blu-ray is very likely. Which is too bad because the importance of
this film in the history of documentary cannot be overstated. It is sad that the
only available copy is this murky transfer. Even sadder to see that Robert Drew has
his name on it, he should have been ashamed to let this go out in this condition.

Robert Drew's groundbreaking PRIMARY (New Video Group) is a fascinating, up-close cinema verité chronicle of Kennedy's 1960 Wisconsin presidential primary run against Hubert Humphrey. See a youthful JFK capured forever. fascinating with its wit, scheming and charisma. A haunting look back at what was.

I would've given this documentary four stars, except I didn't like it. It was great seeing the footage of Kennedy. And showing Humphrey seeking out people to shake their hands as opposed to Kennedy who was mobbed with young autograph seekers, was a fabulous vignette that encapsulates the fascination with and popularity of Kennedy. But for a 53 minute documentary, it still played too long. So that brings us down to three stars. Still forgivable. But what is not forgivable is a documentarian that tries to outshine his/her subject. Robert Drew does just that. And it's not in the actual footage of the film. It's in the production of this DVD. Throughout the film there is a rather conspicuous "RD" in the bottom right corner of the screen. It obviously stands for Robert Drew, the filmmaker, and it was never in the original film. It's so utterly obtrusive and egotistical, and an unprofessional move for someone who purports to portray the objective truth. It looks ridiculous, and I have never seen anything like it on DVD or VHS. It is only seen on tv where every station feels it necessary to put their self-conscious logo in the corner as if we might not know what the heck we're watching. But I've never heard of a filmmaker so in love with himself that he felt it necessary to intrude on the image in such a pathetically insecure way. Quite the contrary, most self-respecting filmmakers would never allow such an egregious self-promotion at the expense of the integrity of the film and image. I mean could you imagine Martin Scorsese putting an "MS" in the corner of the screen on his DVD release of Taxi Driver. Aside from the fact that people might think the film is benefitting multiple sclerosis research, it would be a ridiculous way to "sign" the film. Some people might say, who cares, you hardly notice it (but it truly is conspicuous), but look at it this way. Robert Drew's making a DVD. They say, "Robby, what do you think of the DVD so far?" He says, "It's great, but do you think it'd be possible to put my giant initials in the corner through the whole thing?" They say, "Sure, but isn't that kind of tacky. I mean most people just want to see the film you made and the footage of John F. Kennedy, not your lame initials." And he says, "True, but nobody knows who I am. The initials are in. And I want to pimp my company in the special features section, too. And I also want a giant bio on me and I want a big section on my 'statement,' whatever that means." And of course they did all that too. Interesting shots of Kennedy, and an interesting study of an American filmmaker who can't get enough of himself.

I heard about 'Primary' on NPR. I rented it with the impression that it would be a very candid documentary about the 1960 Democratic primary. The candidness, I was told, was on account of it the being the first time video cameras followed candidates on the campaign trail. The show talked about the movie being a glimpse into a time where candidates were not self-censored as much and were more themselves on the campaign trail.

But, the hosts' talk of seeing Humphrey's "common touch" or him "railing against the eastern media," and their talk of Kennedy and his "youth appeal" are just hype and over-selling. It looked no different than a modern campaign (same pandering, etc.) except that the candidates were different and the people at the rallies wore different styles of clothing. Of everything that I disliked about the movie, it was that NPR hyped it up to be something it wasn't.

I'm not a student of documentary filmmaking, so I can't say whether this was a truly groundbreaking movie. But as for its entertainment value, I can say that I do watch documentaries, and this was one of the worst I've ever seen. There was no overarching narrative that tied everything together and gave the movie any kind of momentum; so you felt like you were just sitting there for an hour, not going anywhere. The images were shown entirely out of context, with little narration.

If you want to see film of Kennedy or Humphrey, or of people in little Wisconsin towns from 1960, this movie may be for you. But if you're looking to spend an hour of your life watching an interesting documentary about campaigns before the advent of youtube and the 24-hour news cycle, then I suggest you look elsewhere.

I looked forward to watching this dvd. However, it is a bit boring, even for political junkies. It was one of the first political documentaries, and so has real historical value. However, it could have used a modern commentator to put everything into context. The film relies too heavily on long scenes focussing on the candidates maybe saying something, maybe not, and what they do say is not always worth the time.