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STUDIO: A&E Home Video
MSRP: $24.95
RATED: NR
RUNNING TIME: 94 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Brokaw's perspective on the culture of the 1960's
• Additional interviews

The Pitch

"If you can remember the '60s, you weren't there." - Dennis Hopper

The Humans

Tom Brokaw plus numerous guests.
 
The Nutshell

Tom Brokaw covers the events and people that made the year 1968 one of the most memorable of the sixties.

The Lowdown

Tom Brokaw is one of the most respected news reporter in the business and one of the few working today who was over in Vietnam covering the war. For the last few years he has been involved in documentaries involving World War II with his first major documentary, The Greatest Generation (2005), receiving critical acclaim. 1968 was one of the most chaotic years of the decade, besides the war the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy brought even more unrest, and along with the highly publicized riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 1968 looked to be a year that was going to be best remembered as one of the most violent periods of the decade, overshadowing the comforting message of peace, love and understanding (don't forget the flowers in your hair).

Drawing from his own experiences Tom and interviewing several people who lived through various events of 1968 including Vietnam veterans, war protestors, musicians, and politicians. The end result is a commendable documentary that attempts to showcase a year by spending too much time on just a couple of incidents which causes other note worthy events to get little to no coverage. The assassinations of Kennedy and King plus the Vietnam War get the most coverage and that is not what I am complaining about. It is what Tom does with the time spent on these topics that took me out of the film. One situation has a veteran and a protestor meeting face to face and airing their differences, and I understand where Tom was going here but for this documentary it is the wrong platform. The main objective of a documentary should be to educate first and foremost, and if you can throw in some comments from people who actually lived through it all the better. The last thing that should be presented though is two people sitting down and doing nothing to further the documentary in providing some insight into a situation when there has already been footage shown of protestors and servicemen who did not agree with them.

Spending valuable time on certain things from 1968 takes away from other events, although not as lively or controversial, such as in the entertainment world that were worth spending some quality time on as well (time was spent on a couple of movies but it felt rushed (oh, this movie was released in May - 10 seconds later - here some more coverage about Richard Nixon). For instance, there were plenty of films that deserved more coverage than what they got such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Planet of the Apes. There were also some albums released that made 1968 an interesting year as far as diversity such as, Wheels Of Fire (Cream), Cheap Thrills (Janis Joplin), Electric Ladyland (Jimi Hendrix), At Folsom Prison (Johnny Cash), plus albums by Stevie Wonder, Frank Zappa, and Simon and Garfunkel.

Other areas that should have been giving time were books and Broadway plays going on at the time. If you are going to promote a documentary by stating it was the year that changed everything it would be nice to see more topics covered. Of course Tom has a limited amount of time and this is where the History Channel should have allowed another hour, with a year like 1968 Tom would have filled that time without a problem.

The nice thing about 1968 with Tom Brokaw is it would be a terrific introduction to someone just now old enough to understand the complexities of the sixties and you are wanting to help get them started. This documentary works best if you look at it as just a highlight reel of 1968.

Note: This feature does not come with the music that was played during the television broadcast. The filmmakers could not secure the rights to use music for DVD release.

The Package

The extras are decent at best but they all feel rushed. The additional interviews (with Arlo Guthrie and Jon Stewart) and Brokaw's perspective are brief and appear to be parts of interviews that were cut out in the feature presentation. In other words there is nothing here to warrant checking out unless you think Brokaw is too sexy to resist.

7.0 out of 10