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Customer Reviews of The Rockefellers - The American Experience

A Fine First Video Volume; An Almost as Good Second
Ron Chernow's epic "Titan", all 771 pages of it, was a fascinating look into the early oil business and the character of its king, John D. Rockefeller. (Recommended reading). A sympathetic portrait, the great man came across as a hard-driven, Christian family man. In the days of sharp business practices, perhaps he was not to be overly faulted for his ruthless practices. He was put on earth, he averred, to make money to God's glory and so he did: a cool billion. Chernow by no means whitewashed the man or Standard Oil; he was straightforward on the excesses and depredations of the Gilded Age virtually invented by Rockefeller.

All of these are here in this PBS production in rare film and photos, bringing to life the man, the business, and the burgeoning post-Civil War prosperity. Volume one is a delight, an insight into extraordinary luxury (a Rockefeller's marriage to an Aldrich opens the film), inredible poverty in Pennsylvania mines, the high-jinks of "high finance", i.e. anti-trust. When we see John D. riding bicycles with his children, he endears. Yet in Ida Tarbell's attacks, he becomes (ferociously hairless on the cover of her magazine) the most hated man in America. The second volume is not quite up to the first. John D. leaves untold riches to his dutiful only son, who suffers lifelong migraines giving it away, while doing monumental good. He settles brutal strikes and takes interest in emerging philanthropies. The Rockefeller grandsons ("the brothers") and later generations leave, well, things to be desired and there are some tragic endings for some of the seemingly blessed grandsons. Still, a gutsy construction in 1930 of Rockefeller Center, various governorships (and a Vice Presidency), financial wizardry, and the ever-present duty to public service all count for something. This is a very absorbing film, and a fine complement to Chernow's "Titan" or an often scintillating viewing in its own right.

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Interesting and balanced information on an important family
I saw this after I had read Chernow's Titan. This is a very balanced treatment of four generations of Rockefellers. John D. Sr. is shown from his roots and how his attitudes and practices were formed. John D. Junior is given wonderful treatment and, I think, his life's triumph of vindicating the family name is supported beautifully.

John D Junior's sons, The Brothers generation, are also shown with from their childhood to the present and all that they went through in dealing with their legacy and ambitions.

The brother's children, the Cousin's generation, are treated as a group because of their sheer number and because they are less unified in their goals for their lives and the approach to their legacy. One thing I never understood was why John D. Rockefeller IV is a DEMOCRAT Senator. From this series, I think I now know.

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real american power
no family has ever had the kind of power to match the Rockefeller's. This great film brilliantly shows how they managed to not only attain this wealth and power but hold on to it.