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Category:    Home > Reviews > Documentary > Travel > History > Geography > On The Road With Charles Kuralt - Set 1 (Acorn Media DVD)

On The Road With Charles Kuralt - Set 1 (Acorn Media DVD)

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: B     Episodes: A+



In a time of tumult and acrimony, Charles Kuralt brought what was still great about America into people's homes, reminding people that the country had not completely lost its way.  The late 1960's and early 1970's marked a time of political and social strife in America, but Charles Kuralt's On the Road chose to tell stories of small-town America.  They were positive stories about the sort of people, characters really, you might meet at the local diner, or your church, or anywhere the limelight wasn't.

The episodes in this set present the stories of men and women who help others, and watching them can't help but make you feel good about being human.  Kuralt himself masterfully interviews these folksy souls, sometimes coaxing out of them their reasons for their good deeds, and in other instances revealing a bit of small-town quaintness that makes them all the more endearing.  The piece on the Golden Gate Bridge workers reveals a ready courage in the men who dared so much to build what some called impossible, but also shows the fear and desperation of the Depression-era economic times the structure was built under.  Those who made the bridge had to be courageous; if their nerve failed hundreds stood ready to take their place.  Perhaps less grandiose was the piece on the 80-year-old cook who made free and low-cost meals for anyone in need.  Kuralt's gently probing questions reveal a woman who takes tremendous joy in helping others, and asks nothing in return.

Eighteen warm-hearted, quirky episodes grace this boxed set, each one filled with the kind of characters who might have stepped right out of a Norman Rockwell painting, their stories made all the more touching because they are real.  Although the picture and sound clarity both lack the chops of a top-flight production, the quality of this wonderful show still shines through.  Extras include a biography of Kuralt, updates on some of the stories covered by the show, and a special feature entitled "About On the Road."

Whether he's exploring old trains, road-side retreats, or the story of a humble old man who supplies bicycles to needy kids, Kuralt approaches his interviews, and each story, with the same care and concern.  He was the poet-laureate of itinerant journalists, a complex man whose own personal demons never got in the way of telling the wonderful stories he and his crew encountered while On the Road.


-   Scott Pyle


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