Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)

Synopsis: Utilizing the same cinema verité style as his groundbreaking documentary PRIMARY, award-winning filmmaker Robert Drew once again turned to John F. Kennedy as the subject of his film CRISIS. In June... Utilizing the same cinema verité style as his groundbreaking documentary PRIMARY, award-winning filmmaker Robert Drew once again turned to John F. Kennedy as the subject of his film CRISIS. In June of 1963, President Kennedy faced one of the most explosive conflicts of his administration: despite a federal court order, Alabama Governor George Wallace vowed to personally prevent two black students from entering the all-white University of Alabama. Happy with Drew's work on PRIMARY, Kennedy allowed the filmmaker and his team of cameramen--Richard Leacock, James Lipscomb, D.A. Pennebaker, and Hope Ryden--to enter the White House and record the presidential crisis as it unfolded. With multiple hand-held cameras, unprecedented access to the Oval Office, and intimate footage of JFK and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, CRISIS remains the first and only film to ever capture a U.S. President making critical, last-minute decisions during a crisis. The program also includes Drew's highly acclaimed film FACES OF NOVEMBER, which captures the reactions of Americans in mourning after the assassination of Kennedy on November 22, 1963. [More]

Producer: Gregory Shuker