Rating: 
Summary: Nearly Perfect
Review: I saw this wonderful documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1986, so I was prepared when "The Civil War" appeared on PBS. I was already stoked by this splendid film. Anyone who uses Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" on the soundtrack in on the right track. Getting Robert Penn Warren before he died to talk about Long on film was also a stroke of genius. This is a must-purchase for history buffs or anyone else who loves good filmmaking.
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling description of an aspiring dictator
Review: It is ironic that the person who singularly held the most political power in this country was not a giant like Washington, Jefferson or Lincoln. The dubious holder of this title was a rabble rousing political genius from Louisiana. At one time, he held so much power that not even the public school janitors in Louisiana could be appointed without his approval. He is the closest thing to Adolf Hitler that this country has ever produced, and his power was peaking at the same time that Hitler was rising to power in Germany. In watching the tape, you see some of the wild gestures and pounding rhetoric that were so characteristic of Hitler. Like all dictators, Long tolerated no opposition and until his assassination, had a real chance of being elected president in 1936 on a third party ticket.
In general, when I watch a tape, it is done in brief segments. That was not the case with this one. I was so fascinated with the story that I watched it straight through. There are those that say that our political apparatus is such that it is impossible for anyone to ever assume dictatorial powers. I believe that, but not as strongly as I did before watching this tape. There is no question that he would have run for President in 1936 and given the economic problems, could have beaten Franklin Roosevelt. Given that scenario, he would have had a mandate to assume dictatorial powers, which is what he would have needed to govern the country. Given that his policies had Louisiana on the verge of internal war, that could have been the case across the country.
When people discuss dark episodes in the political history of the United States, they invariably talk about the communist hunting incompetent, Joe McCarthy. However, that is unfortunate, because McCarthy was third-rate compared to Long. He was in fact the greatest internal threat to democracy that this nation has ever faced. You cannot consider yourself educated in the political history of the United States without learning about Huey Long and this tape will fill that gap.
Rating:
Summary: Old Huey was something else!
Review: My grandmother was born on the day Huey was elected governor and is in this video as the only woman named after Huey P. Long. This is indicative of the impression this man made on the Louisiana voter- a better propagandist you'd be hard pressed to find. Even without my bias towards the content, this is one of the finest documentaries I have seen, as one would expect from Ken Burns.
Rating:
Summary: Old Huey was something else!
Review: My grandmother was born on the day Huey was elected governor and is in this video as the only woman named after Huey P. Long. This is indicative of the impression this man made on the Louisiana voter- a better propagandist you'd be hard pressed to find. Even without my bias towards the content, this is one of the finest documentaries I have seen, as one would expect from Ken Burns.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, revealing documentary of the Kingfish
Review: This was an excellent portrait of Huey Long. Specifically, the documentary does very well in presenting both sides of Long from the people who loved him and the enemies who loathed him. Burns shows that while Huey used powers that often bordered on the dictatorial, he did a lot for his state during the Depression and was loved by the poor who had been ignored for years. After watching it, I was most struck by the vicious hatred aristocrats and others had for the Kingfish. These people expressed glee at Long's assasination and noted that many of them had plotted to kill him on numerous occassions. The reason that this is so noteworthy is because Long is often savaged by historians (such as Arthur Schlesinger on the DVD who labeled Huey "sinister"), but they often fail to mention that Huey needed to be politically heavy-handed to deal with the similarly powerhungry artistocrats and machine politicians that had total control of Louisiana before the Kingfish was elevated to the governorship. All in all an excellent look at Huey that I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in politics or history.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, revealing documentary of the Kingfish
Review: This was an excellent portrait of Huey Long. Specifically, the documentary does very well in presenting both sides of Long from the people who loved him and the enemies who loathed him. Burns shows that while Huey used powers that often bordered on the dictatorial, he did a lot for his state during the Depression and was loved by the poor who had been ignored for years. After watching it, I was most struck by the vicious hatred aristocrats and others had for the Kingfish. These people expressed glee at Long's assasination and noted that many of them had plotted to kill him on numerous occassions. The reason that this is so noteworthy is because Long is often savaged by historians (such as Arthur Schlesinger on the DVD who labeled Huey "sinister"), but they often fail to mention that Huey needed to be politically heavy-handed to deal with the similarly powerhungry artistocrats and machine politicians that had total control of Louisiana before the Kingfish was elevated to the governorship. All in all an excellent look at Huey that I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in politics or history.
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