Prohibition
PBS (2011)
Documentary
In Collection
#10436
0*
Seen ItYes
IMDB   8.1
6 hr 0 mins USA / English
DVD  Region 1   NR
Adam Arkin
Peter Coyote Narrator
Philip Bosco
Patricia Clarkson Carrie Nation
Kevin Conway
Blythe Danner
Tom Hanks
Jeremy Irons
John Lithgow HL Mencken
Josh Lucas
Carolyn McCormick
Scott Campbell F. Scott Fitzgerald
Frances Sternhagen
Sam Waterston
Paul Giamatti George Remus
Director
Ken Burns
Lynn Novick
Producer Ken Burns
Lynn Novick
Writer Geoffrey C. Ward
Cinematography Allen Moore
Buddy Squires
Musician Wynton Marsalis


When it comes to making full coverage documentaries, you can't beat the work of Ken Burns. "Prohibition" is another fine illustration of that.

This five and one half hour mini-series, shown in three parts on PBS and available on DVD, never bogs down. That's pretty amazing right there. I would think it difficult to have that kind of running time and not have at least a couple spots where the story gets boring. It never does, and is a tribute to Ken's film making ability.

"Prohibition" describes how we got there, what it did to our country, and why the 18th Amendment, banning booze, became the only Amendment to be repealed. It was doomed to fail from the start, but nobody saw it at the beginning. It almost single-handedly brought about organized crime in America, a problem that has yet to be repealed.

Ken Burns covers it all very well, and his good name in these documentary efforts never fails to bring in the big names for voice-over work. In this case, Tom Hanks, Patricia Clarkson, Adam Arkin, Jeremy Irons, John Lithgow, etc., etc..

(Although it was never mentioned, I couldn't help but think of the parallels to modern day marijuana laws. When you have a product that millions of Americans want and you make it illegal, the money from that product goes to gangs that provide it, and with that, all the violence that goes along with those gangs. You can't legislate morality, as the 18th Amendment surely showed. And pot is much less harmful than alcohol.)

Another great job by Ken Burns.
Edition Details
No. of Disks/Tapes 1