Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
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Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery is a 1997 documentary film about the Lewis and Clark Expedition directed and co-produced by Ken Burns. The film, produced by Burns' Florentine Films for Washington, DC PBS station WETA-TV, first aired on PBS on November 4 and 5, 1997.
Contents
Part 1 of the film covers the expedition up to the headwaters of the Missouri River. Part 2 covers the meeting with the Shoshone, the treacherous crossing of the mountains, the downstream rush to reach the Pacific Ocean, and the ambitious explorations of the return trip.
The film, as with most of Burns' individual biography documentaries, is part of his American Lives film project, and is so credited in the copyright.
Summary
The following summary appeared in the 2001 PBS DVD Gold release of the film:
"Sent by President Thomas Jefferson to find the fabled Northwest Passage, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the most important expedition in American history -- a voyage of danger and discovery from St. Louis to the headwaters of the Missouri River, over the Continental Divide to the Pacific. It was the United States' first exploration of the West and one of the nation's most enduring adventures."
"This extraordinary film tells the remarkable story of the entire Corps of Discovery -- not just the two famous Captains, but the young army men, French-Canadian boatmen, Clark's African-American slave, and the Shoshone woman named Sacagawea, who brought along her infant son. Journey with them all, across a breath-taking landscape in an unforgettable experience that explores both the history -- and promise -- of America."
Cast
Cast information from IMDB.
The voice-over cast reading quotes from the people involved included:
Appearing as themselves:
Production
Funding for the film was provided by General Motors, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS viewers, the William T. Kemper Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and by the Montana Department of Commerce, whose voice-over in the original introduction draws a famous quote from a journal entry by Meriwether Lewis: "Montana, where 'scenes of visionary enchantment' can still be discovered".
Longtime Burns collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward served as Senior Creative Consultant.
Program advisors included Allen, Ambrose, Heat-Moon and Ronda. Program advisors not appearing on camera included Gary E. Moulton, Frank Muhly and Lynn Novick.
"Help along the way" preview tour
Ken Burns recalls in his Charlie Rose interview November 3, 1997 that primary film underwriter General Motors wanted to know how he wanted to celebrate their 10th anniversary of filmmaking together. He suggested, in keeping with the "help along the way" spirit of the expedition, a preview tour honoring the people of the cities along the trail who helped make the film possible.
As part of these events, their segment of the completed film was previewed prior to its airing on PBS. So for example, when the preview tour reached Great Falls that October, nearby resident and film contributor Stephen E. Ambrose joined Burns and Duncan and many of the reenactors of the month-long portage of the five falls of the Missouri River as the completed film segment about the portage was previewed.