Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment
Directed by	Robert Drew
Produced by	Robert Drew Gregory Shuker
Starring	John F. Kennedy George Wallace Robert F. Kennedy Vivian Malone James Hood Nicholas Katzenbach
Cinematography	Gregory Shuker
Studio	ABC News Drew Associates
Release date(s)	October 21, 1963
Running time	52 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment is a 1963 cinéma vérité documentary film directed by Robert Drew. The film centers on the University of Alabama integration crisis of June 1963. Drew and the other filmmakers, such as D. A. Pennebaker and Richard Leacock, were given access to all the key areas, including John F. Kennedy's Oval Office in the White House and the homes of Robert F. Kennedy and George Wallace. The film first aired on ABC four months after the incident.^[1]

Plot

During a two-day period before and after the University of Alabama integration crisis, the film uses four camera crews to follow President John F. Kennedy, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, Alabama governor George Wallace, deputy attorney general Nicholas Katzenbach and the students Vivian Malone and James Hood. As Wallace has promised to personally block the two black students from enrolling in the university, the JFK administration discusses the best way to react to it, without rousing the crowd or making Wallace a martyr for the segregationist cause.

They come up with a plan to quickly federalize the Alabama National Guard and return later the same day, if Wallace indeed refuses to step out of the way despite the court order. The plan works; Wallace steps aside under orders from General Henry V. Graham, but is given the chance to save face and leave before the students enter the building. President Kennedy later gives a speech on equality on national television, and a third black student, Dave McGlathery, enrolls without incident.

Reception

Although opinions on Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment were sharply divided after the October 1963 broadcast,^[2] it is now considered among the landmark films of cinéma vérité, or direct cinema.^[3] Peter von Bagh rated it ahead of Drew's earlier work Primary, considering it the most touching and intimate portrait of the Kennedy brothers on film.^[3] Fred Kaplan wrote on The New York Times that "though we now know the story’s ending — the students were finally let in — the suspense is gripping." He dubbed it "the first movie that Barack Obama should watch in the White House screening room."^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Kaplan, Fred (January 16, 2009). "When the Kennedys Took on Wallace Over Integration". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/movies/homevideo/18kapl.html. Retrieved November 1, 2011. 
2. ^ O'Connell, P. J. (2010). Robert Drew and the Development of Cinema Verite in America. Southern Illinois University Press. p. 184. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Kriisi" (in Finnish). YLE Teema. May 26, 2010. http://teema.yle.fi/ohjelmat/juttuarkisto/208-kriisi. Retrieved November 1, 2011. 

External links

• Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment at the Internet Movie Database