Video Review

NEW (2009)

EW's GRADE
A

Details Rated: Unrated; Genre: Documentary; With: David Ogden Stiers; Distributor: PBS

The characters -- Hamilton, Whitman, Fitzgerald, Roosevelt, La Guardia, Moses -- are larger-than-life. The setting is mythic. The scope epic. Even the 14-hour running time whistles by like a No. 2 express train. But more than anything else, documentarian Ric Burns' sprawling history of New York City is goggle-eyed with love -- sweet, instructive, and wildly entertaining. For a New Yorker, it was the perfect thing to watch last week: With the vast story of the city laid in front of you, there is no way to conclude anything but that Gotham will rise again.

Originally posted Oct 12, 2001 Published in issue #620 Oct 12, 2001 Order article reprints
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