Double Feature!

1964 DOCUMENTARY
U.S. documentary. There have been many documentaries about the sixties and many others about sixties youth protest, popular culture and the generation gap, but this documentary, which examines one year...1964, offers the clearest, most coherent and linear timeline and puts into perspective the importance of the year 1964. The year 1968 has typically been given more prominence in terms of cultural shift and political change, but this documentary illuminates the historical significance of 1964.

1964 was the year of LBJ's Great Society, the Civil Rights Act; rise of Vietnam in American's consciousness, Barry Goldwater's campaign for the presidency, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, student protests, birth of Women's equality, the year that Americans learned smoking was bad for their health and Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali; the year that cities across the country erupted in violence and Americans tried to make sense of the assassination JFK.

In youth and popular culture, music and TV are examined. Martha and the Vandellas song, "Dancing in the Street" is discussed—the cities mentioned Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, Chicago, Detroit, etc., all have large black populations—and from the civil rights perspective the song was saying, "summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street." Bob Dylan's, "The Times They Are A Changin" and Sam Cooke's, "A Change Is Gonna Come" were much more than popular songs. New Fall TV shows like "the Addams Family" and "the Munsters" were metaphorically suggesting that the neighborhood was changing and that people were going to have to get used to living next door to "different" kinds of people. The TV show, "Bewitched" was a metaphor for women's power and self-development beyond simply being a housewife.

Hearing from historians and biographers puts things into perspective, but the testimony from people who lived through 1964 makes it clear how people actually felt. One civil rights organizer, Dave Dennis, recalls the moment when he moved from calling for peaceful change to calling for change at any price. It's powerful, and the fact that there is film to document his moment of change is fascinating.

Plus this bonus selection...

NEWSREELS 1964
U.S. newsreels. "Moon Shot." Ranger space ship hits the moon but the cameras fail. "New York World's Fair." Everyone is counting the days until the fair opens to the public.

1964 DOCUMENTARY on DVD

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