The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The first must-see film of the year.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Times of Harvey Milk, The (1984) **** (out of 4) Terrific documentary about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to the San Francisco council. The documentary covers Milk's early days, his move to San Fran and his eventual attempts at running for an elected office. This story was eventually told by Gun Van Sant and Sean Penn in the Oscar-winning MILK and while I saw that feature before this one I must say that this documentary is a masterpiece and packs a lot of the drama that the feature was missing. The main feature's Oscar-winning performance is certainly something special but on the whole I think this documentary is about as flawless as you can get. What works so remarkably well is that director Rob Epstein manages to build up more drama than most feature films can do and what's even more amazing is how well structured the film is. This documentary really does feel as if you're watching an actual film because the director knows how to build up the story using new interviews with those who knew Milk, archival footage of Milk speaking and then we get information about what exactly was going on in San Francisco during this period. The documentary really brings Milk to life and I think even the most bitter and mean-spirited people probably would have to smile at some of the things Milk did. There's a terrific debate sequence about child molesters and the way Milk handles this was just remarkable to watch. The documentary also does a fantastic job building up Dan White, the fireman turned politician who would eventually assassinate Milk and the Mayor. THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK won the Best Documentary Oscar and it certainly deserved it. Not many people know the story of Harvey Milk but if they do want to hear it then there's no question this is the place to start. Even those who don't care about the story should check this out just to see how a great documentary should be done.

The Academy Awards celebrate the film works of many and often, the category that brings about much bitterness is Best Documentary. This category has been so dominated by films concerning World War 2 and it's very long shadows, anything about recent events, such as "The Thin Blue Line" or "Crumb", don't always have a fair chance at being nominated, much less winning.It's to the credit of all involved here that they help us learn more about Harvey Milk and the world before and after his assassination. Murdered minutes after Dan White fatally shot San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, Milk became the most visible example since the late Martin Luther King of a progressive figure almost certainly living each day as if it were his last. The climate of hate never truly ceases, it just moves at night and waits for the moment to destroy yet another person who bravely won't shut up and accept their oppression with a smile.Rob Epstein gives us the authentic footage featuring deathly quiet moments of grief from a candlelight procession thousands took part in after Milk died and the counterpoint, rioting in the streets after the ridiculously light sentence White was given became public knowledge. They're both equally poignant and two sides of the same psychosocial coin. For a jury to call what White did "manslaughter" was really lighting a fuse that wouldn't be put out until the inevitable explosion occurred.Human rights are not a top priority the world over and the abuses so many suffer with no recourse for justice are our 21st century mission to take on. Harvey Milk sacrificed for the next generation to have an easier life than him and his contemporaries. Now is the time to watch this great film and acknowledge his impact and legacy.

After watching this video in one of my classes, I think Harvey Milk was a remarkable man and I'm very admire his enthusiasm. He helped a lot of people who were afraid to speak out their opinions and thoughts, also he didn't care about that he was a gay supervisor and what others criticize him. I was touched by his spirit and courage, also I think no one can do as he did. A successful supervisor must have to catch people's mind and gain their trust, he also did it and donate himself to bring advantages to citizen. I think although finally he he had murdered, but it's no doubt that he is a remarkable man and I wish his spirit and contributions will last forever!

Harvey Milk was too good to be true, too unaffected as a debater, too approving of silliness, too capable of laughing at himself, too serious about equality, too angry about inequality, to endure on this plain of existence as a leader. Time has thanked his bravery in running for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and becoming California's first openly gay public official. Why was that so brave? Because that conquest may well have been at his own peril.Rob Epstein's Oscar-winning documentary illustrates the life and death of not only Milk but odd one out Mayor George Moscone, who both were killed by Dan White, one of Milk's fellow supervisors. It also depicts the political and social atmosphere in San Francisco, which throughout the 1960s and '70s began to be a magnet for emergent quantities of gays owing to its customarily accommodating viewpoint. Milk was one of them, and in old photographs we see him in his beatnik days before he ultimately shaved and opened a camera store in the Castro District. It was from Castro that Milk ran for office and was beaten three times before at long last winning in the same election that placed the first man of Chinese extraction, the first black woman, and the first declared feminist on the board. Milk was a virtuoso self- promoter, and this Harvey Fierstein-narrated opus embraces first-rate TV news footage showing him campaigning on such matters as people not picking up their dogs' poop, and stepping, with accurate measure, into a tactically located pile of such at the culmination of the interview.There is a whole heap of great footage of Milk, Moscone, and White, who disliked gay people. It is interspersed with later interviews with many of Milk's loyal comrades, including a seasoned leftist who confesses that he was bigoted against gays until he met Milk and began to appreciate the political concerns implicated. There is immeasurably touching, volume- speaking footage of the two demonstrations motivated by the deaths of Milk and Moscone: a noiseless, candle-lit procession of 45,000 people on the night of their deaths, and an outraged night of rioting when White got what a compassionate sentence.This is an enthralling piece, as the light it casts on a decade in the life of a great American city and on the lives of Milk and Moscone, who made it a better, and unquestionably more appealing, location to live.