Railroads, oil, steel and electricity have all been harnessed in less than 50 years, but the face of America is changing and will never be the same.Railroads, oil, steel and electricity have all been harnessed in less than 50 years, but the face of America is changing and will never be the same.Railroads, oil, steel and electricity have all been harnessed in less than 50 years, but the face of America is changing and will never be the same.
Photos
- Narrator
- (voice)
- Self - Worker
- (credit only)
- Self - Business Magnate
- (as Ron Perelman)
- Self - U.S. Senator
- (as John D. Rockefeller IV)
Storyline
Did you know
- GoofsThere are many trains shown, but they are all drawn by European locomotives, which looked much different than American ones.
- Quotes
Old John D Rockefeller: "When I came into the oil industry, there was chaos. I brought order. I took a small second- rate, inefficient market and built an industry.It was done the way it was, because that's the way it had to be done. No one complained when I brought light into every home, no one complained when I provided thousands of jobs or millions of dollars from exports. Oil is what this country runs on. You call it monopoly, I call it enterprise. Now, you tell me why am I here." Old John D Rockefeller
Episode 4 has to do with transportation and benevolence. Much of the show is about a new-comer, Henry Ford as well as the attack on Rockefeller's monopoly by the government. While the show seems to show that Teddy Roosevelt was the one who was responsible, the suit to break up Standard Oil was initiated the year AFTER Roosevelt left office. Oops.
In addition, much of the show is about the contest between Carnegie and Rockefeller to give away their fortunes (perhaps to help them buy their ways out of hell). Their benevolence seemed fascinating in light of the many people they hurt--though oddly the show never talked about this.
Overall, I found this to be a very disappointing episode. While I generally liked the series, this one seemed a bit shabby in light of the mistakes and sequential errors. In particular, while the show seemed to talk about things as they occurred throughout history, they often occurred at all different times. For example, they talked about Henry Ford and his Model T--then talked about the building of the Panama Canal (which began first).
- planktonrules
- Jun 16, 2015
Details
- Runtime45 minutes
- Color