Huey Long

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), July, 1995 by Robert S. Rothenberg

Direct Cinema Limited / 88 minutes $34.95

Ken Burns, riding on the wings of critical acclaim and huge audiences for his Public Broadcasting System series, "The Civil War" and "Baseball," has been acknowledged widely as the king of the documentary makers. Before these multi-episode blockbusters, though, he had a string of solid, engrossing films that are attracting renewed attention as his reputation spreads. This in-depth portrait of Huey Long, the politician who roared out of the backwoods of Louisiana during the Depression era and shook that state and the nation, is an outstanding example.

As is Burns' formulaic style, the screen is filled with "talking heads" commenting and reminiscing about the subject, interlaced with archival film footage and still photographs. The finished product is a multi-dimensional look at one of the most fascinating figures of the 1920s and 1930s.

Parlaying populist demagoguery, ruthlessness, and shrewd political insights, Long won the Louisiana gubernatorial election in 1928, then moved on to the Senate, but kept firm control of the statehouse even while in Washington. In a series of speeches across the country, his rallying cries of "Every man a king" and "Share the wealth" brought him support from a resentful, desperate underclass. While actively supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt, Long clearly was setting himself up for a run for the presidency, but was cut down by an assassin in 1935.

Among those interviewed for this excellent documentary, historian Arthur Schlessinger, Jr., author Robert Penn Warren (whose 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, All the King's Men, was a thinly disguised retelling of the Huey Long story), and Sen. Russell Long (D.-La.), Huey's son, offer the most informative insights. However, it is the simple testimony of the hardscrabble farmers of Louisiana that best demonstrates Huey Long's hold on those who regarded him as a savior.