Movie Reviews

RFK. Dir. by David Grubin. Prod. by David Grubin and Sarah Colt. WGBH Education Foundation and David Grubin Productions, 2004. 120 mins. (PBS Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314-1698; 800-344-3337; <shop@pbs.org>; <http://shop.pbs.org/education/> [Sept. 12, 2005])
Assessments of Robert Kennedy have gone through numerous ebbs and flows since his tragic death at the moment of his triumph in the California Democratic primary on June 6, 1968. From Jack Newfield's first retrospective account (Robert Kennedy, 1969) through the work of Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (Robert Kennedy and His Times, 1978) and Evan Thomas (Robert Kennedy, 2000), a picture of the man has solidified that underscores his early ruthless loyalty to his brother and his subsequent role as a pivotal character in the evolution of presidential politics and modern liberalism. Much in David Grubin's recent video biography is familiar to scholars. Yet to place Kennedy's ideological and personal journey in perspective for newer generations remains an important challenge, especially for those seeking to understand the changing fate of progressive values in the last third of the twentieth century— as well as their future course.	1
Robert F. Kennedy gives a thumbs-up to supporters in Indiana in May 1968, a month before he was shot. Courtesy American Experience/Bloomington Herald-Times, Bloomington, Indiana.
Grubin's biography is a smooth, captivating, and competent work examining RFK's unique path from great wealth, privilege, and power to a role as one of the century's great spokesmen for the poor and dispossessed. Kennedy shifted from being an aide to Sen. Joseph McCarthy to being the combative foe of organized crime to being one of the most powerful attorneys general in the nation's history.	2
Robert Kennedy began his political career in 1952 by taking over the failing senatorial campaign of his brother John F. Kennedy, serving as his "ruthless" manager. His loyalty to JFK and his impatience with—even arrogance toward—the gradual pace of politics were to mark his career from beginning to end.	3
What becomes pivotal in Grubin's production is the overwhelming impact of the assassination of President Kennedy on the psyche of RFK. With the help of his brother's widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, Robert began to read Greek tragedy and gain a broader perspective on human suffering. In the few years after his own election to the U.S. Senate from New York in 1964, he gradually sought to build a new coalition for the Democratic party at a time of great drama in the civil rights movement and growing opposition to the war in Vietnam. RFK vigorously and creatively combated poverty rather than ignoring it as so many politicians had done before. RFK, we learn, had not been comfortable with black people in his early days but eventually came to be lionized by many for his sensitivity to their plight. He recognized a need for changes in the American power structure to improve economic opportunities for African Americans.	. . .