Product Details

• Actors: Robert F. Kennedy, Ralph Abernathy, Willy Brandt, Fannie Chaney, James Chaney
• Format: Black & White, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Mpi Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 25, 1997
• Run Time: 50 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301666461
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #320,620 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars some good selections from a great extemp speaker, February 18, 2000

By 

John Barnes (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Speeches of Kennedy, Robert [VHS] (VHS Tape)

RFK was at his best when he was spontaneous; there probably wasn't a better off-the-cuff speaker in this century. In this collection, you get three big chunks of his best extemporaneous work (2 from the Senate campaign and one from the presidential campaign), _plus_ possibly the best extemp speech of the last 50 years in American public speaking -- his impromptu eulogy for Martin Luther King (Indianapolis 1968) which is shown uncut.

His prepared speeches always sounded like a failed attempt to sound like his older brother, and they're just not as memorable as when he spoke without notes or script. Nonetheless, if you're looking for very effective use of the Sincere Mode in delivery, or for a good sampling of liberal rhetoric from the 1960s, these are excellent examples. Most of the major scripted speeches are represented here by sizable (5-10 min) excerpts, except, for some odd reason, the ones from his time as attorney general.

The characteristic "speeches of" flaws show up here and there. Two of the prepared speeches are overlaid with "nostalgia footage" of the 1960s, allowing the baby boomers to remember when, but not allowing anybody interested in public speaking to study delivery or platform manner. And although RFK did speak briefly -- and movingly -- at his brother John's funeral, instead of that speech, there's a montage of JFK funeral footage with a funeral march under it. This is almost redeemed, however, by an excellent selection from Robert Kennedy's address to the 1964 convention (sort of a second eulogy).

If you collect speeches, this one's a good buy, especially for the MLK eulogy and for the address to students at Columbia. If you're interested in history, especially if you want this one for classroom use, watch out for chronology -- it's not in historical order at all, and there are few subtitles to give you any guidance. All in all, one of the better jobs by the Speeches Collection people.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GOOD SOURCE OF INFORMATION, August 3, 2000

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Speeches of Kennedy, Robert [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Robert Kennedy was a very effective speaker. In listening to him and in reading his works, he certainly gave the impression that he spoke straight from experience and direct feeling. From all accounts of those who knew him personally, he was consistently described as a "gut reactionary," "a man who understood direct action and consequences" and "impulsive." Indeed, from all readings and descriptions of the man one can see the veracity of those statements. I remember as a child when I watched his campaign thinking, "he really means what he's telling people. He really cares. If he's president, the [Vietnam] war will be over." My mother used to say that Robert Kennedy was "a man who cares about people" and used that statement to convince others to vote for him. My personal recollections of watching the senator in action among crowds was one of, "people want to listen to him because he cares about them." Most adult readers will appreciate his use of classical literature to shape his speeches -- it is a true testament to his intelligence and willingness to meet personal goals to self educate himself as an adult in the classics. That is something I truly respect and this aspect comes through in this book. It is an excellent collection of his speeches and readers will certainly get a sense of the man who would most likely be president in 1968.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Source of Information, December 27, 2004

By 

Henry Cooper ""Still One Me"" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Speeches of Kennedy, Robert [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Robert F. Kennedy is such a good speaker and a great activist. 'Cuz he preaches about the nation that is happening in our lives and the country we live. The reason why I'm reviewing this right now 'cuz this is a must-have to read over your history a little bit. 'Cuz I grew up behind the documentaries and cultures of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy or Jacqueline Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and so on and on.

People would take take the advice to learn more about this man than they do everything else. I'ma ask you to take advice to read more about him, write more about him, type about him, learn more about him or whatever. 'Cuz this is the one that changed my life completely.

'Cause he tells it all right here from when he started as Senator of the United States, how his brother JFK got shot, how America and Civil Rights was tearing apart, Martin Luther King got assassinated, and the day that he got shot while winning the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles between 1968 (same year that MLK died).

I know it's still my favorite tho but anyway look forward of adding into my collection along with other documentaries I grew aside me and now.

May RFK lives on in our hearts, minds and dreams. R.I.P.