Political Documentary -Vietnam

1974 - Hearts and Minds
Directed by Peter Davis; produced by Peter Davis, Bert Schneider.
Examines the American consciousness that led to involvement in Vietnam. Includes interviews with General William Westmoreland, Robert Kennedy, former Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford, Senator William Fulbright, Walt Rostow, and Daniel Ellsberg as well as American Vietnam veterans and Vietnamese leaders. Presidents Eisenhower, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon are show in rare footage


THERE ARE at least two reasons to watch "Hearts and Minds," a 1974 documentary about Vietnam. How about this for starters? It''s one of the best documentaries ever made, a superb film about the thoughts and feelings of the era, the whole festering, spirited animus of it.


It''s a flatout, stumpifying miracle - a kind of remarkable and warped credit due to the wilful amnesia of the American citizenry, if not most of Europe - that the lessons of Vietnam remained in the public brainpan for so short a time.

Documentary on Vietnam lauded at Cannes.


CANNES, France (S&S) � Columbia Pictures seems to be hedging on an earlier agreement to distribute "Hearts and Minds," a controversial documentary on Vietnam.

The American studio''s London man, Bob Beerman, who had earlier been helpful in arranging interviews with film personalities involved in milder Columbia products, adopted a "hands-off" policy when asked to set-up an appointment with "Hearts and Minds" producer-director Peter Davis.

Despite the fact that Columbia''s trademark flashed on the screen preceding the "Hearts and Minds" premiere showing at the Cannes Film Festival here, Beerman said it was still not certain that the firm would distribute the film.

"They''re not doing anything for the film here," noted a disgruntled Davis, who pointed out that the distribution deal for his documentary had been firm before Columbia''s new regime took office.

If Columbia backs off from the film, it shouldn''t be any problem for the 37-year-old film maker to find another distributor.

The film � selected to be screened during the festival''s noncompetitive but prestigious Critics Week � received raves from the international assembly.

"I feel very strongly about the experience of making this movie, and I don''t intend to walk away from it until it is at least made available for the public to see," said Davis.

The nearly two-hour color film is a moving, thought-provoking review of American involvement in the Vietnamese conflict.

"It''s a movie about the war," Davis said. "It''s neither pro- nor anti-American. It is an attempt to understand what we have done and what we have become.

"It is more psychological than political," he continued, "and it is not a chronology of the war so much as a study of people''s feelings."

To accomplish this, Davis conducted exclusive interviews on film with top U.S. policy makers of the Vietnam era, including Clark Clifford, Walt Rostow, Army Gen. William C. Westmoreland and Sen. William Fuibright.

Additionally, there are conversations with then Col. George S. Patton III, former Marine Corps air ace Randy Floyd, Daniel Ellsberg and a former Navy prisoner of war.

Davis and his camera crews traveled throughout North and South Vietnam during the winter of 1972. To help detail and dramatize the attitudes that prevailed before and during the involvement, Davis and his crews also searched the United States for people and situations to illuminate the effects of the war on America and its resonances in the lives of Americans.

"We used a lot of newsreel footage, actual battle scenes and stock footage," said Davis, a former CBS news correspondent and cameraman.

Controversy is nothing new to Davis, who made the award-winning TV documentary, "The Selling of the Pentagon" in 1971.

In addition to a best-documentary Emmy, the 1971 documentary won the writer-director such literary prizes as the Saturday Review, George Polk, Writers Guild of America and George Peabody awards.

"The Selling of the Pentagon" took a probing look at how government public relations staffs helped promote the armed forces to the Congress and the American public.

It resulted in a skirmish between Davis and then Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, as well as two congressional committees and the Pentagon.

Davis says he doesn''t intentionally set out to do controversial stories. "However, if you feel intensely about your subject matter and research it without leaving any stone unturned, I suppose occasionally you''re going to offend people, at least those who have a stake in the status quo, and that''s what creates the controversy," he said.

During his stint with CBS news, Davis helped produce shows dealing with student rebellion, mental health, homosexuality, Italian art, the drug scene and the 196.7 Middle Eastern war.

"In 1961, I had my first interesting job, working on a series entitled ''FDR,'' " Davis said. "Part of my job was to interview the late President''s friends, colleagues and enemies. That helped me gain valuable experience as an interviewer."

He was associate-producer and cowriter of the highly acclaimed TV documentary "Hunger in America," which focused attention on the fact that there were some 10 million hungry Americans.

"I thought it was a very great problem for! a country as rich as ours to have that many of its people going hungry," he said.

"Hunger in a poor country like India is a tragedy, but in a rich nation like the United States it''s a scandal. TV can''t do much about tragedy, but it can do something about scandal."

He later wrote and produced "Heritage of Slavery" and "The Battle of East St. Louis," documentaries. "The interesting thing about all these shows is that they''ve always been educational to me," he said.

Davis graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1957. Following an Army hitch, he was discharged a specialist five at Camp Kilmer, N.J., in 1959.

Born into a family of writers in Los Angeles, Davis started out as a copy boy on the New York Times.

His parents are author Tess Slesinger and Hollywood screenwriter Frank Davis, whose credits include "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," "The Story of Will Rogers" and "Ten Tall Men."

Davis is married to his "most severe critic," novelist Johanna Davis. The couple have two sons, Timmy,10, and Nicholas, 9.

"Hearts and Minds" was two years in the making. It is Davis''s first theatrical release. It''s also one of the best movies yet to deal with the Vietnamese war.

As to whether the documentary stacks the cards against American policy, only those knowledgeable in all the facts are qualified to judge.

All that a movie reviewer can say with assurance is that "Hearts and Minds" is a fascinating film that weaves all the strands of a sprawling, multifaceted, complex event into a cohesive and absorbing whole.


from - http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=126&article=19069&archive=true

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