John D Junior's sons, The Brothers generation, are also shown with from their childhood to the present and all that they went through in dealing with their legacy and ambitions.
The brother's children, the Cousin's generation, are treated as a group because of their sheer number and because they are less unified in their goals for their lives and the approach to their legacy. One thing I never understood was why John D. Rockefeller IV is a DEMOCRAT Senator. From this series, I think I now know.
All of these are here in this PBS production in rare film and photos, bringing to life the man, the business, and the burgeoning post-Civil War prosperity. Volume one is a delight, an insight into extraordinary luxury (a Rockefeller's marriage to an Aldrich opens the film), inredible poverty in Pennsylvania mines, the high-jinks of "high finance", i.e. anti-trust. When we see John D. riding bicycles with his children, he endears. Yet in Ida Tarbell's attacks, he becomes (ferociously hairless on the cover of her magazine) the most hated man in America. The second volume is not quite up to the first. John D. leaves untold riches to his dutiful only son, who suffers lifelong migraines giving it away, while doing monumental good. He settles brutal strikes and takes interest in emerging philanthropies. The Rockefeller grandsons ("the brothers") and later generations leave, well, things to be desired and there are some tragic endings for some of the seemingly blessed grandsons. Still, a gutsy construction in 1930 of Rockefeller Center, various governorships (and a Vice Presidency), financial wizardry, and the ever-present duty to public service all count for something. This is a very absorbing film, and a fine complement to Chernow's "Titan" or an often scintillating viewing in its own right.
