The Men Who Built America

2012
8.5| 0h30m| TV-PG| en
Synopsis

Influential builders, dreamers and believers whose feats transformed the United States, a nation decaying from the inside after the Civil War, into the greatest economic and technological superpower the world had ever seen. The Men Who Built America is the story of a nation at the crossroads and of the people who catapulted it to prosperity.

Director

Producted By

Stephen David Entertainment

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Also starring Einar Gunn

Reviews

Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!
Protraph Lack of good storyline.
Hulkeasexo it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.
Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
sleepyhat A big disclaimer missing from this film, that is "Based on true events". It gives wrong impression to audiences who are familiar with the history of the underlying intent for inserting erroneous info. Is it just bad info? Or is there an alternate motive to feed wrong info to audiences not intimate with history judging from the remarks made by the modern influential men?Since this film was distributed via History Channel, the inaccurate info take away 5 points. If it was simply someone's attempt to make drama based on true events, this score would have been higher.This film cannot even be regarded as historical documentary. At best, a recount of PERSONAL perspectives, understanding and ideals of some history. It would probably be more enjoyable if it tried to learn from Elon Musk version of MARS TV show.However, if the intent is to spread personal view, belief and agenda into audiences who don't care much about history, this may be the piece to create alternate reality for them.
dallasryan I was expecting the usual type series you get for series' like this which is the usual 'they are good, but it's kind of boring and hammy'. Not at all the case on this one. First of all, very interesting. I learned so much that I had no clue about before. The acting is actually pretty good, but what really drives this series home is the terrific narration, the fantastic editing, and the magnificent sound and music that ties along with it.This series is proof that if you have some patience, talent and money to put into the production, the possibilities are then limitless. And this production understands the great importance and power of a well thought out sound and music to play in the background. At times you feel like you're watching different mafia families go at it with each other. That you're watching the high powered cartels dish it out and it absorbs you in to where you don't want to stop watching. This is a brilliant series to watch and I was very pleasantly surprised by it.
Donal Cullen A bio of the 5 men who built America would have been more interesting had they concentrated on the men themselves instead of the vast sums of money they made. And the interviews with modern money makers simply made it a greed is good promotion. To hear time after time that these men were not about the money is simply stupefying as that is what it was all about. And in order to show how powerful these men were they were given a monetary figure to show it and then another to show how much they would be worth now. It seems to me that the modern "captains of industry" (Jesus what a self promoting piece of shite that term is) hanker back to a time of these moguls could trample over every right and every law just to make money. It seems like they are still trying to get back to those time with the export of industry to countries like Pakistan and others who little or no workers rights and pay their workers the same wages Rockerfeller and their ilk did in their time. One of the most disgusting things about these modern moneymakers is the way they admire the underhand things of the past. Take the time when these moguls threatened to shut down their factories and put their workers on the breadline if they did not vote for McKinley.Seem to remember Thrump and others saying the same thing if Obama got elected. They refer to the scramble to make money as a game. A game played with workers rights, votes and indeed their very lives. And they want to get back to this time. A time when the Wall Street gurriers can wreck what they want and watch from mansions on high as the rest of us drown in the floods that follow. History does repeat itself unless we learn from the mistakes and praising these men for greed is simply playing into the hands of those who want to go back to the time of JP Morgan, Carnaghie and the rest.
gkeith_1 I have a history degree. My favorite period is the Gilded Age/Progressive Era, and these men fell into that category. Too bad there are no women.Slams: just a small part of the backlash against these "great"men is shown. There were strikes and depressions. Some of those have been covered. These super rich men "ate cake" (named after a famous woman) while their employees starved or were forced to work ungodly schedules in the man-killing factories.The Johnstown flood show depicted a lot of devastation and human heartbreak. Meanwhile, the biggies just went on partying.I wondered why the Andrew Carnegie name on lots of our libraries. Turns out he was trying to assuage all his cruelty against society, e.g. his "robber-baron-ness".I do think the actor who played Andrew is very handsome, and the one who portrayed JP Morgan is fairly good looking also. Vanderbilt looked kind of gross. Frick was the incarnate monster. I am glad the guy beat him up. Too bad Frick did not meet his maker.Morgan Sr. was an old scrooge, but posthumously proved to be correct in his financial predictions. He said Pierpoint was pretty dumb to back electric light.Westinghouse was depicted as a moron. Edison IRL was known for some shady deals, one of which was trying to get credit for the invention of the telephone away from Alexander Graham Bell.Edison was also friends with Harvey Firestone and Henry Ford. Will that be covered her? Just saw a GE commercial on TV last night, remembering in this show how Morgan got Edison to give up his name in favor of General Electric Company.This series is more about the financiers than the famous inventors. It takes money to fund people's imaginings and wildest dreams. Sometimes the dream financing is a true bust, but without dreamers where would we be today? Too bad the dreamers and financiers were not always the same person.Turns out the Gilded Age means a layer of fake gold on the outside, masking nothingness on the inside. Supposedly these great men came from nowhere, determined to make it in the great nation of capitalism and post-Civil War optimism. Were they educated? When the money was pulled out from under them, they tended to collapse.