Customer Reviews

Teddy Roosevelt - An American Lion

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TR is like America's favorite uncle - sure he was President but wow was he cool. I saw this new, sweeping biography on cable and immediately pre-ordered it. Technically innovative and thoroughly accurate, it presents a moving portrait of a man you can't help but like. Stunning in the use of camera angles, dissolves, pans, edits and re-creations, the action is riveting. Rare film clips abound, perfectly edited. We see, for example, TR chopping down a tree, galloping on horseback, flashing his famous grin; troops landing and horses swimming onto the Cuban shore for the Spanish-American War; TR in "his" Panama clambering, clad in white suit, onto a giant bulldozer. And much more indeed.

The stills are also revealing: his father's honest face ("the best man I ever knew"); Alice, his lovely first wife (dead on the same "cursed" day as his mother: "the light has gone out of my life"); his comely childhood sweetheart and wife, Edith; TR in a dandy's cowboy outfit complete with Tiffany knife; his favorite son Quentin, later to die in the Great War, with head cocked lovingly on TR's shoulder. Richard Dreyfuss as TR proves the value of a good actor's voice and Edward Hermann's narration is richly textured. Presidents Bush II and Clinton, numerous TR descendants, and scholars galore are nicely picked and interwoven into the narrative. Though TR was the first American to win the Nobel Prize (settling the Russo-Japanese War) and the only president to earn the Medal of Honor (charging up San Juan into a hail of bullets), these awards seem almost incidental to his simple humanity. We are left wondering if there are men like him today, warts and all. But we are grateful for what one writer calls "this largest of American characters". (Also recommended: McCullough's classic "Mornings on Horseback"; Morris' Pulitzer-winning "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" and his meticulous second volume, "Theodore Rex").

Theodore Roosevelt--lover of the limelight, ambitious to the extreme at times, pain in the rear for anyone who got in his way or opposed him--externally, this man doesn't seem like much of an American icon. Yet icon he is, for he stands for everything the ideal American should: Ambition, the drive to do what it takes to accomplish your dreams, the courage to stand up to the bully (in his case, big business) who no one else will stand up to. Call him what you will, Roosevelt was an incredible man.

This documentary is beautifully done. Richard Dreyfuss is perfect as the voice of Teddy--I couldn't imagine a better match. Clips of video, photographs, and splendid views of gorgeous scenery make this documentary pleasing to the eye, and superb editing and dubbing, coupled with relevant commentary and quotes from Teddy himself make it enjoyable to listen to as well. These features combine to make Teddy a REAL person, with insecurities and fears to match his ambitions and acheivements, and serve to endear him to almost any viewer.

I have studied almost nothing on Theodore Roosevelt, so I can't really comment on how accurate this is. It is possible (it wouldn't be the first time) that the History Channel is a little hazy on some of the facts, but for all I know this film is accurate. This is definitely one of the best new documentaries I have seen in a long time.

"Teddy Roosevelt: An American Lion" is an interesting and entertaining look at Theodore Roosevelt. Disc One talks about Roosevelt's life from 1858 to 1901. Disc Two talks about Roosevelt's life from 1901 to 1919. "Teddy Roosevelt:An American Lion" talks about everything that happened in Roosevelt's life, and the most interesting parts are where you learn about Roosevelt's work in President Benjamin Harrison's cabinet and where you learn about Roosevelt's relationships with Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft. Former President Bill Clinton is in "Teddy Roosevelt:An American Lion" and discusses things that happened during Roosevelt's administration and the impact Roosevelt had on him. "Teddy Roosevelt:An American Lion" is an awesome DVD,and even if you're not a fan of Theodore Roosevelt, this is a must have for all TR/History buffs.

This is an extremely well made and interesting documentary. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't had the time to read Edmund Morris' biography.

I have read no less than six books about TR. This DVD is a great compliment to any TR biography. Very good presentation. The thing I found a little humorous were the interviews with Bill Clinton. If TR had been around now-a-days Clinton would surely be absolutely against him. I got a little chuckle out of that, maybe it was just me. A very good buy. Highly enjoyable.

If there was a single president that you had to choose that embodies the American spirit, I think that most people would select Theodore Roosevelt. If you're not sure that you'd pick TR, or just don't know that much about TR, this DVD would be a great place to start. I decided to get it precisely because I didn't know much about him and didn't want to start with a dense tome. TR was a man of ambition, of energy, of strongly held views, a man who had many great successes and tragedies in his life. He certainly had his flaws, he could be narrow minded and stubborn at times, and he made many mistakes, but he dreamed big, fought for what he thought was important, and never gave up.

The greatest strength of this DVD is that it presents a picture of TR as a man, not just as a president. I got the sense while watching this that I understood the man. There is some discussion of his policies, and his role in the great events of the day, but this DVD about the man, not politics or policy. You'll learn about TR's family life, the ups and downs along his way to the presidency, his successes and failures as president. TR's reaction to his son's death in combat over France during WWI is particularly poignant - he doesn't view war with such visions of glory. This DVD inspired me to learn more about TR, definitely worth a look.

TR, what a great president! We need a TR today!The DVD was very informative and you will learn a lot

What can be said about TR? He was a conservative who pushed for reforms. He was warmonger who won the Nobel Peace prize. He was a hunter that pushed for protection of the environment. After watching this video, I have nothing but respect and admiration for the man. TR didn't create or push policies that benefited his party or his friends, he created and signed policies that benefited the American people.

Yes, he made mistakes but TR never stopped trying to do the right thing for us. His legacy is still with us: Whenever you put a burger on the grill and don't die from it...thank TR. Whenever you turn on your faucet to drink water that's not infected...thank TR. Whenever you visit Grand Canyon and enjoy its beauty...thank TR.

The only complaint I have about this DVD is it doesn't go into full details about TR's Civil Rights record. TR wasn't perfect, but he was MUCH better than most presidents and had a very close relationship with two black men that worked for his family.

In polls, TR is ranked in the top 5 (Lincoln, FDR, and Washington are ranked higher) as our greatest presidents. However, we need a TR more than we need any other president...he was special, no one could bully him and most importantly, he believed in us (the American people).

A number of American bourgeois political figures, usually presidential, come to epitomize the era that they live in. For example one thinks of Washington as founder of the American bourgeois republic, Jackson as the advocate of the rough-Hew democratic element that built the country and drove it westward, and Lincoln as its war time preserver and extender. The subject of this review, early 20th century President Theodore Roosevelt, readily brings to mind that period when the American republic went from being something of a backwater democratic experiment, an important one to be sure, but still outside of the main currents of world affairs to the first nibbling of its current imperial status. Needless to say that symbols of eras do not have the final say in what their era was about but certainly the life of old Teddy came as close as it could to that end.

If most people were asked one thing about Teddy Roosevelt that one thing would probably be his experiences as leader of the eclectic army unit, "The Roughriders" , that fought in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, a war that closed out the 19th century and ushered in the new age of inter-imperial rivalries. That however, as this three plus hours production, at times painfully demonstrates, is only a small part of the personal story of the man. As usual in this type of documentary production a good number of "talking head" commentators, including Teddy scholars, historians of the "robber baron" era, surviving relatives, and other specialists give their take on the meaning of the man, his influence on history and his role in the creation of the American imperial state.

And what was that role? Part One of this two part production centers on Teddy early sickly childhood, his struggle for health, and his intellectual and physical pursuits. It then moves on to his college career at Harvard, his marriages and family life and all the other sidelights that give substance to these visual biographies. The key though, given his patrician class background, is his magnet-like attachment to the political rough and tumble, first in local New York Republican state politics and then later as campaigner and official in various national Republican administrations in the late 19th century. This segment finishes up with Roosevelt's above-mentioned war adventure in Cuba that he did so much to encourage, his time as New York Governor, as accidental American Vice President and equally accidental President after McKinley's assassination.

Part two centers on his presidency which included his fight against the trusts, his fight to save the Western lands for the future, his role in international diplomacy, his creation of a strong navy that he had started earlier in his career as a Navy Department official, and his acknowledged indifference, although not hostility, to the fate of black people in this country at a time when "Jim Crow" was gripping the South (and got reflected by <em>de facto</em> segregation in the North as well). The remainder of the documentary details his post-presidential years including his run as the "Bull Moose" candidate in 1912, his support to Wilson's war efforts and his last years away from the center of attention. All in all well done, with many good photographs and film clips from the period plus a spirited Teddy narration by actor Richard Dreyfuss. For the Teddy aficionado probably not enough but for the novice a very good primer of what it was like to stand at the head of the American Republic at the dawn of the imperium.

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