Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment
1963· 0h 52m
Documentary
Directed by Robert Drew, Richard Leacock, D. A. Pennebaker, Hope Ryden, James Lipscomb
6.9/ 10
Reviews
Where to watch
Criterion Channel
HBO MaxOverview
During a two-day period before and after the University of Alabama integration crisis, the film uses five camera crews to follow President John F. Kennedy, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, Alabama governor George Wallace, deputy attorney general Nicholas Katzenbach and the students Vivian Malone and James Hood. As Wallace has promised to personally block the two black students from enrolling in the university, the JFK administration discusses the best way to react to it, without rousing the crowd or making Wallace a martyr for the segregationist cause. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1999.
