Having grown in Baton Rouge, La. most of my life and visited the State Capitol, as a kid on a school field trip, where Huey Long was shot, I was very interested in seeing Ken Burns' documentary Huey Long despite airing on WLPB (our local PBS affiliate) opposite CBS' Two and a Half Men and The New Adventures of Old Christine as well as NBC's Heroes (shows I usually watch or tape around this time). As with many of Burns' subsequent films, Huey Long explores the state governor and senator's life through many still photos of his and Louisiana's history in the early 20th century. There's also many talking heads of various citizens of Louisiana, rich and poor, pro- and anti-Long, including Long's son Senator Russell Long, and Robert Penn Warren, whose book "All the King's Men" was a thinly veiled bio of Governor Long. Many of Long's exciting speeches have also been preserved here. Balance is provided of Long's good and bad points. But without him, Louisiana might have been worse off without the new school textbooks for all the undereducated kids he helped provide or the paved roads and bridges he helped build. So for anyone interested in the life and career of one of the most colorful figures in both Louisiana and American politics, I highly recommend Ken Burns' Huey Long.
