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DVD: Crisis - Behind a Presidential Commitment
Plus bonus short, Faces Of November (Docurama)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Tales of Camelot: The reality show. Many of us have read books about the inner workings of the Kennedy Administration and their many adventures in the world of pressure cooker politics, but Robert Drew's film, Crisis, lets us pull up a chair and plunk down next to Bobby Kennedy during one of their most storied battles.
It was June of 1963, and schools were being racially integrated all over the country. In Alabama, Governor George Wallace had announced that he would personally block the entrance of the University of Alabama to prevent the first two black students, James Hood and Vivian Malone, from entering and registering. What a guy. Drew had endeared himself to the Kennedys when he made an earlier film, Primary (watch for a review of the new DVD version of that film soon), and because of that he managed to get an all access pass to film this entire crisis, including staff meetings. One crew stayed in Washington, spending most of their time in Bobby's office, which is where the action was. JFK is really only seen a few times. In this particular story, the answer to the question "who da man?" is "Bobby... Bobby's da man." During an intense meeting, however, the camera lens was in the direct line of fire of Jack's eyes and let's just say it's clear you wouldn't have wanted to displease the man by, say, letting a racist grandstander make a fool of the administration. Another camera crew was down in 'bama following ol' Wallace around as old white women shook his hand and thanked him for the fine thing he was doing, while another crew was following Bobby's Deputy Attorney General, Nicholas Katzenbach and his crew as they arrived near the school and plotted with Bobby via telephone.
All of this was tense and exciting, but there was a very human story going on as well, one followed by the fourth camera crew. Vivian Malone and James Hood got camera time, but if the locals, who eventually saw this film on television, were expecting angry militants they went away disappointed. Just kids who wanted to go to school. Kids with more poise and bravery than I have, that's for sure. They made that walk, and all damned if it wasn't of the most dramatic scenes you could take in. What was Bobby's strategy to make Wallace appear a "second rate" figure? What decision involving the National Guard gave both brothers headaches? How could we possibly have come through that whole thing with the country in one piece? If you haven't been a particularly good student of history, pick this up and find out. If you already know the details, wait till you see it happening before your eyes.
[Note: DVD contains a short bonus film, Faces of November, also by Drew, which is a narratorless montage of scenes from the funeral of John F. Kennedy, who was gunned down just five months after the Alabama University crisis.]
© 2004 - DJ Johnson