Times Of Harvey Milk, The: The Criterion Collection

By: David Bleiler
In-House Review - Dec 16 2010

This extraordinary, compelling portrait of the slain San Francisco supervisor won a much deserved Academy Award for Best Documentary. Few films pack such a powerful wallop as it documents the true-life story of Harvey Milk, a Castro Street camera shop owner who became the country's first openly gay elected official. His rise to power and success as a leader of minorities abruptly ended in 1978 when he and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, an anti-gay former colleague of Milk's on the Board of Supervisors and a former police officer. The film follows the searing episode of injustice as White is given a light sentence -- using the infamous "Twinkie defense" -- which sent thousands of outraged citizens into the streets of San Francisco.

By: Amos Lassen

"The Times of Harvey Milk"
The Criterion Collection
Amos Lassen
Criterion is rereleasing the wonderful documentary, "The Times of Harvey Milk" and no doubt is because of the success of the Hollywood production for which Sean Penn won an Oscar. But the movie is brilliant in its own right and it is so good to have it in a new remastered version. This is perhaps the best documentary I have ever seen and now it is available on blu ray. It follows Milk through his political career as the first openly gay city official and it not only looks at Milk, the man but the political and social landscape of the times. The film contains many interviews with Milk's friends and politicians and we get a sense of the man and the times in which he lived.
We see Milk the man as he campaigns for office and as a human rights advocate and what is so interesting is that even though Milk was killed in 1978, his influence is still felt. Robert Epstein directed this film and it one of the first documentaries to look at gay life in America. What is really exciting about the Criterion edition are the extras included:

Director-approved digital transfer, from the meticulous UCLA Film and Television Archive restoration, with DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray edition
Audio commentary featuring director Robert Epstein, coeditor Deborah Hoffmann, and photographer Daniel Nicoletta
New interview with documentary filmmaker and UC Berkeley professor Jon Else
New program about The Times of Harvey Milk and Gus Van Sant's "Milk", featuring Epstein, Van Sant, actor James Franco, and Milk friends Cleve Jones, Anne Kronenberg, and others.
Postscript containing interview clips not used in the film
Rare collection of audio and video recordings of Harvey Milk
Interview excerpts from Epstein's research tapes
Footage from the film's Castro Theatre premiere and the 1984 Academy Awards ceremony
Panel discussion on Supervisor Dan White's controversial trial
Excerpts from the twenty-fifth anniversary commemoration of Milk's and Mayor George Moscone's assassinations
Original theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic B. Ruby Rich, a tribute by Milk's nephew Stuart Milk, and a piece on the film's restoration by the UCLA Film and Television Archive's Ross Lipman