Crisis

Documentary, Political

James Lipscomb
John F. Kennedy	Himself
Robert F. Kennedy	Himself

Producer

Gregory Shuker

One of the most astonishing confrontations in American politics.

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Committment is the first and only film ever shot candidly of a President making decisions during a crisis. It came about after President Kennedy screened Robert Drew's film Primary, and asked Drew what he wanted to do next. "Make a film on a President in crisis," Drew said. Three years later, Drew was doing just that.

Crisis is the most intimate and engaging film of John and Bobby Kennedy ever made. In June of 1963, the President and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, faced one of the gravest racial confrontations of the 20th century. Despite a federal court order, Alabama Governor George Wallace vowed he would personally bar the door to the all-white University of Alabama to prevent two black students from enrolling at the school. With a revolutionary new filmmaking style that allowed for multiple hand-held cameras, award-winning filmmaker Robert Drew and his four-team crew were at work recording the crisis as it unfolded, capturing the story from all sides up until its dramatic climax. With unprecedented access inside the oval office and rare footage of John and Bobby making critical, last minute decisions, Crisis is an astonishing and suspenseful film classic. The DVD also includes Drew's highly acclaimed film Faces of November, winner of the first prize at the Venice Film Festival. With a nation in mourning, Faces of November captures the impact of the death of President Kennedy, as reflected in the faces of Americans who came to Washington to honor their slain leader.