Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: Pbs (Direct)
• VHS Release Date: November 14, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000051SH8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,968 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fine First Video Volume; An Almost as Good Second, December 29, 2002

By 

A. H. Lynde "ahlynde" (Ewa Beach, HI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rockefellers - The American Experience [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Ron Chernow's epic "Titan", all 771 pages of it, was a fascinating look into the early oil business and the character of its king, John D. Rockefeller. (Recommended reading). A sympathetic portrait, the great man came across as a hard-driven, Christian family man. In the days of sharp business practices, perhaps he was not to be overly faulted for his ruthless practices. He was put on earth, he averred, to make money to God's glory and so he did: a cool billion. Chernow by no means whitewashed the man or Standard Oil; he was straightforward on the excesses and depredations of the Gilded Age virtually invented by Rockefeller.

All of these are here in this PBS production in rare film and photos, bringing to life the man, the business, and the burgeoning post-Civil War prosperity. Volume one is a delight, an insight into extraordinary luxury (a Rockefeller's marriage to an Aldrich opens the film), inredible poverty in Pennsylvania mines, the high-jinks of "high finance", i.e. anti-trust. When we see John D. riding bicycles with his children, he endears. Yet in Ida Tarbell's attacks, he becomes (ferociously hairless on the cover of her magazine) the most hated man in America. The second volume is not quite up to the first. John D. leaves untold riches to his dutiful only son, who suffers lifelong migraines giving it away, while doing monumental good. He settles brutal strikes and takes interest in emerging philanthropies. The Rockefeller grandsons ("the brothers") and later generations leave, well, things to be desired and there are some tragic endings for some of the seemingly blessed grandsons. Still, a gutsy construction in 1930 of Rockefeller Center, various governorships (and a Vice Presidency), financial wizardry, and the ever-present duty to public service all count for something. This is a very absorbing film, and a fine complement to Chernow's "Titan" or an often scintillating viewing in its own right.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and balanced information on an important family, July 22, 2001

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rockefellers - The American Experience [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I saw this after I had read Chernow's Titan. This is a very balanced treatment of four generations of Rockefellers. John D. Sr. is shown from his roots and how his attitudes and practices were formed. John D. Junior is given wonderful treatment and, I think, his life's triumph of vindicating the family name is supported beautifully.

John D Junior's sons, The Brothers generation, are also shown with from their childhood to the present and all that they went through in dealing with their legacy and ambitions.

The brother's children, the Cousin's generation, are treated as a group because of their sheer number and because they are less unified in their goals for their lives and the approach to their legacy. One thing I never understood was why John D. Rockefeller IV is a DEMOCRAT Senator. From this series, I think I now know.

2.0 out of 5 stars Weak attempt, though well made; filmed, to exonerate a criminal family!, June 29, 2006

By 

Ricahrd A. Salzer (Chesapeake, Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Rockefellers - The American Experience [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Read Gary Allen's book for the definitive
treatment of this criminal family, who is
still at it! Ninety Year old Dav Rocke-
feller was just at Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's
Bildeberg Meeting [see: Jim Tucker's Bil-
derberg Diary, also!}