The '60s

This mini-series did an excellent job of portraying the sixties, with a minimum of exaggeration and a fairly even-handed presentation of the differing sides. It did far better than Forrest Gump in this respect. I have shown it to my children, so that they can see this historical period more vividly than just by reading a book in school. I thought it was extremely well done, and I can't understand why there is so little information given for it (cast, crew, etc.). It would be nice to know who played what...

As a 17 year old who gets to always hear about the 60s second-hand this movie "took" me to the 60s. I really liked that all the kids in the Herily (sp?) family encompassed many of the kids of that time. One was a Vietnam vet, one an activist against the war, and one a hippie who ends up at Haight-Ashbury and the Hog Farm. From what I have heard this movie is very accurate and even noted the date and year of an event. The black family was great and the idea that they participated in the sit-ins and Freedom marches, and then to live in Watts, LA during the Watts riots was a great idea. I thought the climax was a great mixture of events that took place in 1965. I know there were a lot of stereotypes, but how else would we learn about the 60s with out a movie that encompassed all the feelings, looks, and ideas of the time. I loved the music but was upset that only one song was on there by The Beatles. Obviously, they forgot what an impact the Beatles had on the American culture and leaving it out was a mistake. All the other music was GREAT and I love the song by Bob Dylan and Joan Osbourne. All in all this movie was great. And I hate that people say there was too much romance and love, but hey, it was the 60s. Sex and drugs was a prominent thing in that era. You can't forget it. I give it a 9.5/10, for leaving the Beatles out.

I caught this movie on TV last night, I don't usually enjoy this particular kind of movie, but I was bored so I figured I'd sit through it.

Now I've seen other comments on how the movie doesn't show the era correctly, that it's not historically correct, and since I wasn't alive yet during the 60s, and my European education didn't touch the subject of american history much, I can't comment on that.

However, when you get past the idea of this movie having to be a historical document of the 60s, and see that it's actually just simply a story, not a history lesson, about a group of people during this period of time, you'll see that this story is actually quite enjoyable.

I expected a mediocre history movie, I got a great movie about love, principles and family. It made my evening.

I never actually thought anything could make me understand the police brutality that occurred during the Democratic Convention in 1968 in Chicago, but this one sure comes close. The awful human beings that rioted in the public parks, with their whining and their complaining and their drug use and violence seemed richly deserving of the things they got.

If this movie is worth anything, it's instructive as to how history can be distorted to suit a particular kind of political and cultural agenda. It is very sympathetic to those for which little sympathy is deserved. It suits those who actually make these movies to try and justify the things that they largely did during the past, even thought the rest of the country didn't.

The heroes of the movie end up being the villains, and those who grew up in luxury and refused responsibility or respect end up being the applauded. It's utterly mystifying.

The characters involved here are cardboard, with high school drama dropouts as their creators. It's undeniably hard to create a movie that can depict and entire decade and its spirit, but this one not only fails, but seems like it's not even trying. Play some sixties rock music, show a menagerie of hippies, a melange of pot smoke, and a montage of video clips from a truly tortuous time.

Take the advice of the insightful reviewer previously and read up on what happened during this time, the real events, the real issues. Bobby Kennedy wasn't a saint (he's actually the one who ordered Martin Luther King to be bugged while he entertained prostitutes), and Barry Goldwater wasn't the devil, nor the reverse--but it's hardly the way the makers of this swill would have people believe.

Oh well - this series is crap, i mean, absolutely. They should have been awarded for worst script, worst acting, worst interpretation of history, worst use of stereotypes, worst use of a fake mustache in an attempt to duplicate the Tom Cruise of the 4th July - but, miracle!, making him walk - worst cinematography, worst art directing, worst costumes, worst editing, worst leftism (i mean, this is how you lived your '68? You shoulda stayed home! C'mon dude, where's the politics), worst use of Bob Dylan clips (clips from the seventies in a sixties movie?). If you wanna be a die-hard nostalgic hippie substantially not caring about most of the political facets of it, if you can't read a book or you'd fall asleep, if you hate documentaries, if Woodstock to you is a little yellow bird, if you want to see some 80s haircuts misplaced in time, well this might be for you. I mean, Hair was a musical, a fantastic movie, it was not intended to be a portrait of a generation - but hell, it was 1000 times more realistic than this. Hey, if all the people in the USA during the sixties were dumb as the characters of this crap i think at least somebody had a good reason to fly to Vietnam: not hearing anything anymore from dummies country! I guess the sixties were definitely better than this, but, i mean, what was the worst year in the whole history? The less interesting year of all time? I don't know, but put that year in the hands of a medium-level director and he'll do something more enjoyable. Shame on whoever worked on this - none of you did a good job!