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One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern (2005)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 18
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 3

No consensus yet.

Average Rating: 5.9/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 2

No consensus yet.

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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 750

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Movie Info

In the spring and summer of 1972, George McGovern, a Democratic senator from South Dakota, achieved the seemingly impossible. Backed by a motley collection of Prairie populists, old-school liberals, and young people disenchanted with the war in Vietnam, McGovern overwhelmed longtime party favorites such as Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie to win the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States. However, McGovern's triumph proved to be short-lived; after his initial running

Unrated, 2 hr. 3 min.

Documentary, Special Interest

Directed By: Stephen Vittoria

In Theaters: Sep 16, 2005 Wide

On DVD: Apr 18, 2006

First Run Features

Cast

Critic Reviews for One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern

All Critics (18) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (5) | DVD (2)

... largely succeeds.

November 23, 2005 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times

| Comment

Kenneth Turan

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

The film builds a strong argument in favor of his quixotic idealism and the compassionate optimism that propels him against seemingly invincible social ills even today at age 83.

October 20, 2005 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

| Comment

Colin Covert

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

It's a deeply flawed film but also an important one; if it does nothing else it should bring this decent and courageous prairie populist, whose very name has become a patently unfair term of abuse, before at least a few members of a new generation.

September 16, 2005 Full Review Source: Salon.com

| Comment

Andrew O'Hehir

Salon.com

Top Critic

Parallels to the current day are plain to see, so Vittoria's insistence on juxtaposing images of contemporary politicians and an angry narration only undercut the power of his otherwise absorbing presentation.

September 16, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Daily News

| Comment

Elizabeth Weitzman

New York Daily News

Top Critic

A wan but well-researched apotheosis of the former senator from South Dakota.

September 16, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Ned Martel

New York Times

Top Critic

Exactly the sort of starry-eyed, bullet-spraying hyperbole that drains credibility from any brand of political discourse.

September 13, 2005 Full Review Source: Village Voice

| Comment

Michael Atkinson

Village Voice

Top Critic

[A] surprisingly thorough film.

November 17, 2005 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly

| Comment

Steven Mikulan

L.A. Weekly

An effort to secure former Sen. George McGovern's place in history, and it does a pretty good job.

October 20, 2005 Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press

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Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)

St. Paul Pioneer Press

Just too hagiographic to engage anyone but the most nostalgic follower of the 1972 campaign.

October 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Journal International

| Comment

Eric Monder

Film Journal International

This is an excellent time to remind ourselves of this story. Another McGovern would have been a good thing to have the last five years.

September 22, 2005 Full Review Source: Offoffoff

| Comment

Joshua Tanzer

Offoffoff

In terms of recapturing the time that was, One Bright Shining Moment is rather effective -- although it feels to be revealing that time from certain distance.

September 16, 2005 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine

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Kim Williamson

Boxoffice Magazine

[Goes] a long way to rehabilitating this unfairly maligned candidate.

September 16, 2005 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

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Ken Fox

TV Guide's Movie Guide

If you're a history-politics buff, you're gonna want to seize this Moment.

September 16, 2005 Full Review Source: E! Online

| Comment

E! Online

The documentary will appeal to those who like their political commentary with unbridled bite.

September 16, 2005 Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com

| Comment

Kent Turner

Film-Forward.com

"The Establishment... has led us into the stupidest and cruelest war in all history. That war is political disaster - a terrible cancer eating away at the soul of our nation."

September 11, 2005 Full Review | Comment

Brandon Judell

New York Theatre Wire Source: New York Theatre Wire

A Politics 101 view of a presidential candidate whose victory might have made America an object lesson in decency.

September 1, 2005 Full Review Source: Compuserve

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Harvey S. Karten

Compuserve

The interviews with him are worth the price of admission.

August 11, 2005 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor

| Comment

David Sterritt

Christian Science Monitor

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern

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I would not have automatically guessed it, but this is not what you would call an objective documentary. Of course I did guess pretty quickly that objectivity was not the purpose of this documentary, given the immediate injection of very subjective commentary by Amy Goodman -- whom, as the founder of Democracy Now!,

February 17, 2008

Lanning : )

Super Reviewer

Narrated by Amy Goodman, "One Bright Shining Moment" is a documentary about former United States Senator and 1972 Democratic Nominee George McGovern, focusing on his antiwar politics. His 1972 campaign was seen as a ray of hope for a more participatory democracy.(McGovern headed a commission following the 1968

January 12, 2007