While Ken Burns was getting his feet wet in the documentary film industry, he created this hour-long tidbit on the BROOKLYN BRIDGE. Relying on David McCullough's wonderful book, "THE GREAT BRIDGE" (see my review), Burns deftly takes the viewer down the long arduous road the builders and engineers had to take--over fourteen years--to get the bridge off the drawing board and into the East River.



The names of the protagonists and antagonist who either supported or stole from the coffers of the Brooklyn Bridge are familiar: John Roebling, Washington and Emily Roebling, Henry Cruse Murphy, William Kingsley, Boss Tweed, etc. And it's the story of these men and women--and their respective intrigues--that keep the film moving, as do the photographs of the various stages in the bridge's rise. Burns does a great job in keeping a liveliness to this aspect of the story. Then, in typical late 70s/early 80s fashion, the director turns his camera to the people of his time to get their impressions of the bridge. A common, though somewhat effective, technique to move from the historical elements of the subject, and show its relevance to "today's" world. It is an annoying and dated technique but it didn't bother me as much as it did some other reviewers. This is still a solid documentary--as solid as the bridge itself.



Rocco Dormarunno

Author of The Five Points