Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4702 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-28
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 240 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Another reliably well-crafted, generally engrossing documentary from Ken Burns, Lewis & Clark employs the director's now-familiar approach to his subjects, from its elegant juxtaposition of period illustrations and portraits against newly filmed footage of historic sites to Burns's repertory of accomplished actors to provide gravitas for quotes from the key figures. Granted the formula has become familiar enough to allow parody, but Burns knows how to invest his historical investigations with movement and drama, making this four-hour journey a worthwhile trip.

As narrated by Hal Holbrook, Dayton Duncan's script explicates the agenda presented by Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, placing it in the context of the young country's gamble in Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase, and the expedition's goals for opening the West. While preserving the heroic scale of the undertaking, Burns also finds time to delve into the politics of the venture and the disparate personalities of the two explorers; in particular, Duncan and Burns look at the career of Lewis, the presidential protégé, his moody demeanor, and his untimely death. The film also looks beyond its titular leaders to examine the personalities of their corps of soldiers, their boatmen, and the Indians they met and depended on, most notably their female Shosone guide, Sacagawea. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

Visual support to the Lewis & Clark expedition
An excellent companion almost essential to to the Lewis & Clark journals and other books on the Journey of the Corps of Discovery.

Ken Burns is the best
As someone who's working on a novel about western 19th century America, this documentary is amazing. The questions it leaves us with are one's of wonder--how did they survive? They traipsed across the country in a boat, in horseback, and by foot. And back. They survived weather at -38 degrees; climbed mountains only to find more mountains, traversed deserts only to find more deserts. And through it all only two people died. In this day of GPS systems, luxury cars, cell phones, and motor homes that are motels on wheels, we can only view Lewis and Clark's journey as one of toughness, grit, and faith not found today. Ken Burns captures it all.

Lewis & Clark, The Corps of Discovery
Excellent, Awesome photography. Narration very well done and the historians made the story come alive.