Film & Documentaries

1968. Talk about a benchmark year in the world of film history. This year introduced classics like director George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, a film that would be remade countless times over the next few decades. Who can forget iconoclast Stanley Kubrick's dazzling and memorable 2001: A Space Odyssey, the sexy sci-fi classic Barbarella, and the timeless satanic horror film Rosemary's Baby. The top grossing films in 1968 included: The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Bonnie and Clyde, Planet of the Apes, and Yours, Mine, and Ours. Moviegoers were introduced to a new style of visually stringent social commentary dubbed cinéma-vérité, a genre without rules or boundaries that truly captured the spirit of the 60's. Seminal films such as Frederick Wiseman's High School, Agnes Varda's Black Panthers, Santiago Alvarez's LBJ, and the Maysles' Salesman all stirred the psyche of moviegoers everywhere and inspired documentary filmmaking to break boundaries ever since. The 60's introduced us to new genres, and new stars were born while the creativity and innovation of a decade culminated in a box office explosion.

Films Released in 1968

Videos from the ISS Collection

Dateline 1968: Czechoslovakia
23 minutes, 1989 CC4210
The Eagle and the Bear series - Reviews twentieth century Czech history and focuses on the roles played by Thomas and Jan Masaryk, Alexander Dubcek, Joseph Stalin, Edward Benes, and Leonid Brezhnev. Examines the optimistic period of liberalization known as Prague Spring. Also looks at the events that led to the eventual suppression of democracy in Czechoslovakia and its submission to Soviet interests.

Dateline: 1989, Prague
23 minutes, 1990 CC4413
The Eagle and the Bear series - Traces the history of Czechoslovakia from the Soviet-led invasion of 1968 to the election of Vaclav Havel in 1989. Explores how a series of student protests evolved into a revolution that changed the face of Czechoslovakia.

The Election - How votes are packaged
16 minutes, 1970 CB2088
Making of the President Voter Education Series - Utilizes the 1968 presidential campaign to explain how a president would be chosen should three candidates run and none receive a majority of electoral votes. Shows some of the weaknesses of our present electoral system. Presents Nixon, Humphrey, and Wallace and their political platforms.

Evolution of a yogi with Ram Dass
28 minutes, 1970 CC5601
Shows the transformation of Richard Alpert, former professor of psychology at Harvard who was removed for LSD experimentation, from hippie to Hindu holy man, Ram Dass. Shows him, shortly after his return from India in 1969, with a large group outdoors, lecturing, dancing, singing, demonstrating breath control and various asanas as methods of meditation with the goal of altering one's state of consciousness, and achieving yoga - union with god.

Eyes on the Prize II: America at the racial crossroad, no. 6: a nation of law? (1968-71)
60 minutes, 1990 CC4121
Examines the government's response to dissent from the Black Panther Party in Chicago to rebelling inmates at Attica Correctional Facility. Chronicles the FBI's covert program to disrupt and neutralize selected black organizations. Explores the call for "law and order" as a campaign issue and as government policy. Documents the activities of an FBI informant while infiltrating the Black Panther Party.

King: Montgomery to Memphis
103 minutes, 1970 CB3972
Captures the power and passion generated by Martin Luther King Jr. Follows his career from 1955 to 1968 through excerpts from speeches and interviews. Illustrates how, many years after his tragic death, King's voice still speaks to the problems of present-day America.

Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg
83 minutes, 1992 KC0827
Chronicles the life of Allen Ginsberg, with illuminating commentary from his family, friends, and contemporaries. Begins with his family life and a discussion of his mother's mental instability, continues with his life in New York with William Burrows, Jack Keroac and others. Traces his development from the beat poet of the fifties to the hippie guru of the sixties and the continued poet/protestor of the seventies, to the poet/reflector of the eighties. Includes commentary and poetry reading by Ginsberg, and deals openly and reflectively with his homosexuality and drug use.

1968: The year that shaped a generation
56 minutes, 1998 CC5791
Uses interviews, narration, and film footage to explore the events of 1968 and the impact of the year's events on American life. Discusses Vietnam and the anti-war movement; the civil rights movement; student revolts in the U.S. and France; the Democratic National Convention; the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy; the 1968 presidential campaign and elections; events in Prague and the Mexico City student massacre which affected American students' political consciousness. Includes interviews with Walter Cronkite, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Senator Tom Hayden, Barbara Ehrenreich, Carlos Fuentes, and Pat Buchanan.

The Primaries, part 1: Challenge to a President
20 minutes, 1970 CB2086
Making of the President Voter Education Series - Compares the differences of the 1968 primaries to campaigns of previous years. Argues that the failure to retain old methods of campaigning was due to television and the growing unrest about the Vietnam War. Shows Johnson announcing his plans for de-escalating the war and his decision not to seek re-election and follows the campaigns of McCarthy, Nixon, Romney, and Robert Kennedy.

The Revolving Door
Black and white/Monochrome; sound; 30 minutes, 1968 CB2053
Presents a case against our present system of punishing criminal offenders. Shows how detention in jails supports idleness, destroys human dignity, and serves to educate first offenders in the ways of crime. Suggests a system of corrective rehabilitation based on vocational and psychological guidance and respect for human dignity.

Russian Right Stuff: the Dark Side of the Moon
58 minutes, 1991 AC0074
Nova Series - Details the Russian race to the moon and the Soviet space program in general. Uses both interviews with Soviet cosmonauts and footage of the time to document the space program's achievements and failures. Shows, for the first time, the M-1 moon rocket that was to carry the USSR to the moon in late 1968 to early 1969. Shows several minutes of rare footage from the first man in space to the station program (Salyut).

Shakespeares in the Alley; Respect
60 minutes, 1995 RC1750
Rock & Roll Series - Shakespeares in the Alley looks at the towering influences of Bob Dylan and the Beatles on rock and roll and at the brief but influential flowering of "folk rock" inspired by the Dylan/Beatles axis in the mid 60's. Footage of Dylan and the Fab Four and interviews with Beatles producer George Martin, key Dylan session musician Al Kooper, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary, Roger McQuinn and David Cosby of the Byrds and poet Allen Ginsberg. Respect chronicles the transformation of black gospel music into a defining sound for all Americans as well as soul music's role in the simultaneous quest for African American equality in the 60's. On hand to tell the tale: Berry Gordy Jr., Ray Charles, Martha Reeves, Mary Wilson, Booker T and the MG's, Wilson Pickett, Maxine Powell of the Motown "Charm School," Motown choreographer Cholly Atkins, and many more. Journeys from Detroit's Motown Records to Stax Records in Memphis. Last stop: the FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where Aretha Franklin, a Detroit preacher's daughter, made musical magic.

The Times They are A-Changin'
60 minutes, n.d. RC1881
Provides an overview of the development of America's musical heritage by examining the "roots" of existing popular music like blues, country, folk, and bluegrass. Documents the electrification of music leading to a revival of the blues led by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Describes the Newport Folk Festival and its mixture of traditional roots music with socially-conscious folk singers. Chronicles Bob Dylan's transition to electric and the controversy that ensued. Highlights such influential musicians as the Staple Singers, the Weavers, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Doc Watson. Includes commentary by James Cotton, Edwin Hawkins and many others.

The Vietnam War with Walter Cronkite, no. 1: Tet!
61 minutes, 1985 CC3786
Documents the 1968 Tet Offensive with newsreel footage and commentary by Walter Cronkite. Chronicles the battles that occurred starting on the lunar new year when the Vietcong invaded more than one hundred cities across South Vietnam during the most sacred of Vietnamese holidays, a time when more than half of the South Vietnamese forces were on leave. Focuses on the continued attacks on Saigon, the destruction of the ancient imperial city of Hue, and the two-and-a-half month siege at the Marine outpost of Khe Sanh. Identifies the Tet offensive as the most important event of the Vietnam War because it changed the way the American people looked at the war and therefore it changed the war itself. Analyzes briefly the ramifications on the 1968 American presidential election.

The Vietnam War with Walter Cronkite, no. 3: Fire from the sky
64 minutes, 1985 CC4812
Explores the American air war in Vietnam from 1965 to 1972 as reported by CBS News correspondents. Covers the complex target selection process in Operation Rolling Thunder, a major air offensive that was curtailed and then halted by Lyndon Johnson in 1968. Discusses controversial aspects of the bombing, which was resumed on a larger scale by order of Richard Nixon. Explains the effects of the available arsenal of destruction, including among others Agent Orange, flechettes, napalm bombs, and large dispensers filled with bomblets. Identifies the role of helicopters in extensive rescue operations to retrieve the wounded. Concludes that pilots rarely saw the targets or the results of their bombings and, as a result, air power was not well suited to fight a guerrilla war.

War and Peace in the Nuclear Age, no. 6: The Education of Robert McNamara
60 minutes, 1989 CC3826
Explores the changes in both force, structure and nuclear strategy implemented under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara from 1960 to 1968. Chronicles how the dawn of the missile age challenged existing assumptions about warfare, defense, and military strategy and led to radical changes in McNarmara's own views about nuclear weapons and American nuclear policy during this period.

Why Man Creates
Color; sound; 25 minutes, 1968 CC2196
Examines our creative nature through an historical overview of human accomplishments, the origination of new ideas, the creative process, and aesthetic criticism. Visualizes the birth of new ideas and the social reactions to them. Offers as an answer to the question, "Why does man create?" the idea that people must leave a mark which proclaims their existence and their unique identities.