Truly Dreadful Film

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Found this series on Netflix and was totally fascinated by it, especially seeing I am an Australian where we never had any prohibition laws. To me, Prohibition was something that happened in the 20's and 30's, and included gangsters, mobsters and cops shooting each other and stealing their liquor, however the characters that lead up to Prohibition in the late 1800's and early 1900's are fascinating. I found this series to be another great documentary and I recommend it, 8/10

Documentarian Ken Burns creates a three-part five and a half hour series on the subject of prohibition. The first part sets up the alcohol culture and the rise of the temperance movements which coincided with women's suffrage. The fight for prohibition takes on the anti-immigrant sentiment. This part is the most fascinating for me and where I learned the most. The other two parts handle the enforcement and eventual repeal. Those parts are done by everybody who does gangsters and booze running. There are still some fun new tidbits but this documentary series feels front-loaded. This certainly has the Ken Burns style and his attention to good story telling. He continues to be a great asset to any history class in America.

This is the latest documentary series from Ken Burns--the docu-god for Public Broadcasting. Not surprisingly, with his amazing reputation for perfection, he was able to once again get many of America's top actors to provide their voice talents to the shows--such as Tom Hanks, Sam Waterston and Blythe Danner. And, like so many PBS documentaries, Peter Coyote narrates more than capably.The miniseries consists of three episodes. The first is about the background leading to Prohibition--the temperance movement and problems with alcohol over-consumption. It also ends with the implementation of the Constitutional Amendment. Part Two is about the practical aspects of the law. The difficulty in enforcement is due to a lack of widespread support, loopholes in the law as well as the way the law actually ENCOURAGED the growth of organized crime. Part Three is about the rising dislike of the law that led to its repeal.Overall, it's yet another very good series by Ken Burn and is among the best shows you can find on the topic. Well worth your time--and it manages to make an educational show fun...of sorts.

You know, it's OBVIOUS, that this was done by PBS. Within the first 5 minutes the term spousal RAPE is used! Hey I came here to learn about prohibition, sheesh! All the people contributing in the first episode are all liberals. I mean can we get some freaking balance in this stuff with PBS? They hurt themselves by being so liberal. Cases in point. They talk about all the political sides who supported temperance but they never use the word "liberal" and never use the word "communist" I mean you know what part I am talking about when they say "progressive" and "radical".Also, the old drunk looking dude makes the sly comment that now Jesus would be put in jail for turning water into wine. Hey smart guy, Jesus did not SELL the wine. Why did they have to go there? Looking at the credits while typing this John Lithgow, Tom Hanks, Sam Waterston, this program is loaded with liberals, are there any non liberal contributors in this? Look up Noah Feldman's wiki page, he is in most of this episode as a commentator expert, that guy is a poster child leading elitist liberal.For full disclosure, I am a drinker, non evangelical, and I happen to live in a Muslim country thats dry and break it's laws in much hazard to myself because I want a drink. I'm only putting this review out here to raise the case that PBS is not the unbiased network it has always said it is. It would serve it's own purposes better if it was truly open minded. Stop with the NPR "all things considered" treatment, talking down to us, you wont convince us that you are correct anymore. Interesting material, definitely done to entertain a liberal viewership which I guess is all PBS has left, it's a shame that all things were NOT considered. 6 of 10, I learned that the bible thumpers got us an income tax in an alliance with "progressives".I have about zero trust that this series will cover all bases or just focus on the lower class's drinks like beer. Lets see where they go with wine and hard liquor which the rich enjoy now. They mention Kennedy's (JFK) grandfather but lets see them mention his father Joe Sr, frankly I cannot see how they could NOT mention him, but it IS PBS so anything is possible when liberals write their own history.