Peter Davis
Directing
Biography
Peter Frank Davis (born January 2, 1937) is an American documentary filmmaker, journalist, and author best known for Hearts and Minds (1974), his Academy Award–winning film examining American involvement in the Vietnam War. Born in Santa Monica, California, to screenwriters Frank Davis and Tess Slesinger, Davis graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1957 and began his career in journalism, working briefly for The New York Times before moving into television documentary production. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Davis worked at CBS News, where he produced and directed investigative documentaries on subjects including poverty, racism, student unrest, and U.S. military policy. His 1971 film The Selling of the Pentagon won a Peabody Award. After leaving CBS, he directed Hearts and Minds, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and became a landmark work of Vietnam War–era filmmaking. Davis later created the Middletown series for PBS, produced the Emmy-winning film JACK (1993) with his son Nick Davis, and continued to write and produce nonfiction work. He is also the author of several books, including Hometown, Where Is Nicaragua?, and If You Came This Way.
Known For
Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.
Hearts and Minds
Six-part documentary on the city of Muncie, Indiana - nicknamed "Middletown" after a study in the 1920s deemed it representative of middle America. The series finds that amid the great ...
Middletown
Based on the autobiography of Brooke Hayward, daughter of famous Broadway producer Leland Hayward and actress Margaret Sullavan, who grows up in the glamorous, cruel and emotionally unstable world of her parents.
Haywire
"The Selling of the Pentagon" was an important documentary aired in primetime on CBS on 23 February 1971. The aim of this film, produced by Peter Davis, was to examine the increasing utilization and cost to the taxpayers of public relations activities by the military-industrial complex in order to shape public opinion in favor of the military.
The Selling of the Pentagon
Old footage of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
Jack: The Last Kennedy Film
Focusing on the wedding arrangements of David and Elaine, each of whom is divorced, SECOND TIME AROUND presents the complexities of contemporary marriage in the United States.