 The '60s
Fan Review by Mari, Jan. 2000
The story of their families is the story of America.
OTHER TITLES: THE SIXTIES (Alternate USA title); THE '60s IN AMERICA (Europe and Asia)
TV14 for violence, drug use and a couple of sexual scenes
I really loved this NBC miniseries tribute to the decade that changed America forever. To give a feel for what this decade was like, "The '60s" takes us for a colorful, musical ride through milestones like the early residual '50s phase, the Civil Rights Movement, the assasination of JFK, the Beat/Mod phase (which began with the 1964 the British musical invasion of the Beatles), the Vietnam War and the activism that resulted from it, the Black Panthers and the counterculture. To give us a look at what it might have been like within the private walls of a household, The '60s presents as a story of two families who are only connected by this decade's events: The Herlihys of Chicago, a white middle-class Catholic family and the Taylors of Greenwood, Mississippi, a black Baptist family involved in the early Civil Rights Movement which had extended from the '50s into the '60s under the guidance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The story begins thus: Bill Herlihy (Bill Smitrovich) is a hard working barber. His wife Mary (Annie Corley) takes care of the house and of their three children: The oldest, Brian (Jerry O'Connell), the middle Michael (Josh Hamilton) and the youngest, a daughter, Katie (Julia Stiles). The '60s was a decade that began with relative quiet and peace, with the exception of the Civil Rights Movement. But soon, the death of President John Kennedy paved the way for the United States' involvement with SouthEast Asia and the War in Vietnam, and the Herlihy's household is turned upside down by Brian's departure to fight in the War and by the rebellion of Bill Herlihy's other two children: Michael joins the Anti-War Student Movement and meets two activists bordering on radicalism: Sarah Weinstock (Jordana Brewster) and Kenny Klein (Jeremy Sisto); and Katie becomes pregnant and runs away to San Francisco to live with the hippies and Flower Children. Inferiorated by these developments, Herlihy disowns them both. Mary Herlihy is struggling to find her own sense of self-definition while trying to maintain peace within her house.
Meanwhile, the Rev. Taylor and his family have suffered assaults during the Woolworth's Sit In and have faced the firehoses and attack dogs in Birminghan along with Dr. King. When racists torch his Greenwood, MS, church, the family picks up and moves to Watts, Los Angeles. The Reverend has a private struggle too: To prevent his son Emmett from growing bitter and hateful in these hard times. When his father is shot and killed during the senseless violence of the 1965 Watts Riot, Emmett must continue the struggle alone, and finds purpose in becoming a member of the Black Panther Party, under the leadership of Fred Hampton (David Alan Grier).
In spite of pans from many critics, THE '60s struck many a member of the Baby Boom audience as dead on in its re-creation of Woodstock, the Haight-Ashbury scene, the Civil Rights Marches, and the many protests and take-overs at universities and colleges all around the nation.
Another thing I really loved about THE '60s was the thorough character development. I was sad that Mrs. Taylor (Kimberly Scott) wasn't further developed, but what little you see of her is a brave, compassionate woman who stood in the front of the march through Greenwood, MS, unafraid of getting assaulted with a baseball bat, tearless yet not unfeeling as she sees her husband, the Reverend, get hit in the face by a racist white. Bill Herlihy was the picture of '50s conservativism, unable to relate to or understand the liberal mindset his children have adopted. Annie Corley gave Mary a well developed character as well, not a June Cleaver type intended only to fill a space on the set.
Jerry O'Connell was amazing as he was slowly, over the course of three years fighting in Asia, transformed from an innocent just out of high school, eager to please Dad (who was a marine as well) to a haunted, traumatized vet with no innocence left to speak of.
Julia Stiles was praise-worthy as Katie who also loses her innocence and becomes an adult way too soon, homeless and penniless in San Francisco.
Jeremy Sisto as Kenny Klein is startling, beginning as a young collegiate democrat who is disgusted with the War and determined to see it come to an end and slowly, over the course of five years as an activist, is transformed into a drug-crazed radical who doesn't get to see the end of the War after all. And the central character seems to be Michael, played by Josh Hamilton. Through the years remains a gentle, almost innocent, peace-loving protestor who disapproves of Sarah and Kenny's anti-war tactics but is determined to see the end of the War too.
The Far Out and Groovy Cast:
Josh Hamilton as MICHAEL HERLIHY
Julia Stiles as KATIE HERLIHY
Jordana Brewster as SARAH WEINSTOCK
Jeremy Sisto as KENNY KLEIN
Jerry O'Connell as BRIAN HERLIHY
Bill Smitrovich as MR. HERLIHY
Annie Corley as MRS. HERLIHY
Charles Dutton as REV. TAYLOR
Kimberly Scott as MRS. TAYLOR
Leonard Roberts as EMMETT TAYLOR
Directed by Mark Piznarski
Original air date: 02/08/99 on NBC
Distributed in USA by TriMark Video
Song: Carry On/Questions by Crosby Stills and Nash
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