The Jacksons - An American Dream (The Complete Miniseries)

Starring:Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Angela Bassett, Holly Robinson Peete, Margaret Avery, Alex Burrall, Jermaine Jackson II, Bumper Robinson, Floyd Roger Myers Jr., Monica Calhoun, Jason Weaver, Ãngel Vargas, Terrence Howard, Lanei Chapman, Elizabeth Narvaez, Billy Dee Williams, Vanessa L. Williams, Monica Allison, Danielle Nicolet, Finis Henderson III, Grady Harrell
Director: Karen Arthur
Studio: Motown
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

The miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream begins in the 1940s, when Joseph Jackson (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) and Katherine (Angela Bassett) meet and fall in love, and ends in the 1980s, when their sons reunite for the 1983 Victory Tour that brought them back together as the Jacksons. During the first part, "The Early Years," the couple starts a family, and although times are tough, Joseph still finds time to play music on the side. When he discovers that his sons have inherited the same talent, the Jackson 5 are born. They sign with Motown and start churning out the gold records. The second part, "The Success Years," begins in 1970 at the peak of their fame, but by 1976, the hits have started to dry up. If the acting is uneven and the story somewhat sanitized, Bassett is affecting, and the series includes Emmy-winning choreography and a combination of original and re-created material, ranging from "I Want You Back" (1969) to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" (from 1982's multi-platinum Thriller). --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

This movie is the greatest.....even if u aren't an MJ fan.......2007-05-15

This movie is so long, but it is so entertaining!! The acting is great and so is the music. Even if you don't like Michael Jackson, this movie will still entertain you

Hilton-Jacobs steals the movie.......2007-04-29

Very good mini series/movie. Lawrence Hilton Jacobs as Joe Jackson was very underrated , his role as Joe Jackson rivals Laraunce Fishburns as Ike Turner. I think it is funny that years later Angela Basset who plays the mother in this movie plays Tina Turner with Fishburn. I wonder how she compares the 2 performances. If this was a wide release movie and not a tv mini series Hilton-Jacobs would of been nominated for a Oscar.

Basset is just ok in this movie. She is completely overwhelmed by Hilton-Jacobs and the people who play Micheal. And she is really a annoying character. She sits around and cries when her husband is abusing the kids. I am sure if she had left this man years earlier the chldren would of not had been as mess up as they are. Being that Jermaine co writes this movie it is a interesting portrait he paints of his mother. Who is a sympathetic character but at the same time a weak mother. Katherine only leaves when she over hears Joe and his girlfriend on the phone, but she stayed when he was beating and abusing the kids. You hear her yelling at Joe every once in a while but she does. It was a interesting scene when she is on the phone with Joe again mad at something and you look around the dinner table and fans are sitting there eatng dinner with the mother and the other kids. Very weird.
Margret Avery who plays her mother looks more like her sister, then her mother particulary when Katherine is a adult with children.
Another intersting point about Jermaine writing this is the way he portrays his relationship to Hazel Gordy. We all knew at the time it had nothing to do with love and she was considered a very plain looking woman. It was a joke and a very opportunistic move on his part. But in this movie you would of thought this was Romeo and Juliet romance. I have to respect that Jermaine did not tear her down. Good for him.

The various performers playing the Jacksons through the years were very good but none had much to do except the the actors who played Michael who were very good. The one who played him as a adult was spot on, it was very tragic that he died soon after the movie was made. To me the one who played the second to last Michael really looked and moved like him when he was on the stage. Remember this movie is suppose to be about the original Jacksons, the ones in the hall of fame, the ones that blew the socks off of everyone when they first came on the scene, not Janet, who I thnk Michael sings for, I swear.

I like the way they touch on the various rivals of the Jackson Five like the Osmonds. There a few of them like the Sylvers. None of these rivals came close to Michael. The had a few hits but that was about it.

I remember Michael when he first came on the scene. We are the same age. There has never been anyone who was like him as a child and teenage performer. And no one since. Even now I am amazed when I see him in old footage and hear his voice. I cry looking at them because of how sad it is to see how he has fallen in the last 15 years. Prince and him are the same age look at Prince now and look at Michael. A sad story. This movie will show you when he was in his prime and it does a good job of it.

Jacksons the American Dream.......2007-04-10

It is and was a classic movie. The product was in great condition and got to the addressee in a timely manner. I will definitely consider Amazon first when ordering online.

Entertaining and well acted family bio.......2007-02-09

Joe Jackson had dreams as a young man. He wanted to be a boxer and musician and go to California. But he got his girlfriend, Katherine, pregnant and he did the honorable thing--he married her. He tabled his dreams for his family, working in the steel mills of Gary, Indiana, to put foood on the table. A religious and principled man (the Jacksons were Jehovah Witnesses), he took family seriously and since he didn't believe in birth control or abortion, he had a lot of kids--9 altogether. On occasion he was brutal--but if any of you are parents, can you imagine how brutal you might get having 10 people depending on you?

Gossip and badmouthing from the kids paint Joe Jackson as a tyrant--and he may have some very large flaws--but one thing is very clear: he never abandoned his family. He transformed his dreams to fit the talent of his children and took all of them out of a probable bleak destiny in Gary to the height of world recognition. I'm amazed by that, frankly.

This movie is definitely worth watching for many reasons. Though poor, this was a close knit family smothered in love and support by both parents. Angela Bassett is touching as usual, all mothery and love, but able to stand up to Joe when he gets a little too tough with the boys. Her children are still devoted to her. Lawrence Tillman as Joe Jackson gives a multi-dimensioned father. Proud of his children, a stern taskmaster, a visionary--as much a visionary as Berry Gordy--a family man who is complex and flawed. I loved the scene at the Apollo where he embraces Michael and gets off to his children performing Twist and Shout. We also see the music business during the Motown Age and the inner workings of Berry Gordy's Motown at the height of its success. Now Billy Dee Williams gives Gordy way too much sex appeal...but I enjoyed the charm anyway.

The boy who played preteen Michael was simply adorable and highly talented as singer and dancer. His singing of Kansas City and Twist and Shout in the first half had me moving. The second half, when the family is breaking up as Michael's star ascends was somewhat painful. The father loses control over his creation, Hollywood values destroy family unity, Katherine suffers from empty nest. But what an achievement.

I loved the fact that this is 4 hours long--it's like a good book you don't want to end. No doubt this story will be retold in fuller detail, but I suspect that story would take 8 hours. I'm looking forward to it.

GREAT DVD!.......2007-01-25

I have been looking for this film on video since i was a little kid. thanks Amazon.com for finally providing it.

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