Ken Burns

Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip (2003)

Cast: Tom Hanks Keith David   

Tags: Vehicles & Transportation Social History History Biography 

Length: 146min

This Ken Burns documentary is a vivid celebration of pioneering "automobilist" Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson. In 1903, Jackson accepted a 50-dollar bet to drive from San Francisco to New York City in his 20-horsepower Winton touring car, the Vermont....

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Ken Burns' Mark Twain, Part 2 (2001)

Tags: Biography History Language & Literature 

Length: 110min

The newest project from the master of documentaries deals with the life of author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), one of America's most beloved writers and historical characters from the 19th century. Ken Burns worked for nearly three years and drew from...

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Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2004)

Cast: Ken Burns Eli Wallach Billy Bob Thornton George Plimpton Derek Jacobi Samuel L. Jackson   

Tags: Sports Race & Ethnicity Sports & Recreation Social History History Biography 

Length: 213min

Experience legendary boxer Jack Johnson's remarkable struggle both in and out of the ring in documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' two-part look at the career of one of the sports world's most remarkable athletes. From his childhood in Galveston, TX, as...

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The 50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs (2000)

Tags: History Military & War Social History 

Length: 300min

PBS home video documents the bitter 50-year war between the Israelis and Arabs. This program begins with the 1947 decision of the U.N. to partition Palestine. In 1948 and 1967, Arab armies were defeated as Israel struggled for statehood. The film...

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Ken Burns' Mark Twain, Part 1 (2001)

Cast: Kevin Conway Arthur Miller Hal Holbrook   

Tags: Biography History Language & Literature 

Length: 110min

The newest project from the master of documentaries deals with the life of author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), one of America's most beloved writers and historical characters from the 19th century. Ken Burns worked for nearly three years and drew from...

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Ken Burns' Jazz, Episode 6: Swing - The Velocity of Celebration, 1937-1939 (2000)

Tags: Biography History Social History Music History Music 

Length: 120min

Episode six of Ken Burns's series -- covering 1937 to 1939 -- finds swing fans decrying the commercialization of big band jazz. Soon, an exciting new swing sound, infused with the blues and centered around improvisation, is reinvigorating jazz...

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Ken Burns' Jazz, Episode 8: Risk, 1945-1946 (2000)

Tags: Biography History Social History Music History Music 

Length: 120min

Episode eight -- 1945 to 1955 -- of Ken Burns' series finds jazz musicians reflecting the prosperity and tension of the postwar years in their music. Charlie "Bird" Parker garners legions of devoted followers who imitate not only his brilliant...

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Ken Burns' Jazz, Episode 5: Swing - Pure Pleasure, 1935-1937 (2000)

Tags: Biography History Social History Music History Music 

Length: 120min

Episode five of Ken Burns' series deals with jazz during the increasingly bleak Great Depression from 1935 to 1937. Swing music is now the most popular music of the time. Young fans flock to dance halls to swing their troubles away. Bandleaders such...

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Ken Burns' Jazz, Episode 7: Dedicated to Chaos, 1940-1945 (2000)

Tags: Music History Social History History Biography Music 

Length: 120min

The seventh part of Ken Burns' series covers the years 1940 to 1945 and finds jazz at the center of battles at home and abroad during World War II. Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw enlist in the armed forces and take their bands overseas to entertain the...

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