The documentary The Reagans: The Legacy Endures takes a close look at the 40th United States President and pulls no punches revealing the good, the bad and the ugly. Made using mostly news footage, the biography covers his election, the highlights of his Eight years in office and his departure. It’s a comprehensive view, although selective on the content, event or relationship with the state of the union, the film is inspirational and forthright.
The biography starts out with a short overview of Ronald Reagan’s early life and his marriage to Nancy Davis. It quickly turns to politics where we find him Governor of California and serving his terms of office. Getting to the meat of his political life, the film shows his first attempt to be nominated by the Republican Party with a loss to Gerald Ford. Not giving up, he gets the backing of the Party for the election of 1980 winning by a landslide against incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter.
From here we get into the heart of Reagan’s leadership of the most powerful country in the world. Pulling no punches writer and director Robert Kline (“Afghanistan and Beyond”) shows the attempt on Reagan’s life by John Hinckley Jr. while in office just over two months. Kline crafts Reagan’s terms showing his inauguration speech where he professes “We are a nation that has a government and not the other way around” and “The Federal Government did not create the States, the States created the Federal Government.”
Kline goes over Reagan’s views of creating a balanced budget, social security, terrorism (including Osama Bin Laden’s leadership of al Qaeda during the defense of Afghanistan against the Russians), Palestine versus Israel, immigration reform and control, establishing a Martin Luther King national holiday, raising the awareness of AIDS, the Viet Nam memorial, nuclear disarmament, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and yes even the Iran-Contra affair.
Some of the more personal moments in the film feature his love of his wife Nancy, his children, and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. It shows Nancy’s “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign and the establishment of a foundation.
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan
Writer and Director: Robert Kline
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 1 hr 31 min
Video Release Date: February 3, 2015
Language: English
Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Video: Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
Subtitles: None
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: RLJ Entertainment
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
