Selling the American Way (1997)

Film details

Featuring

Michael Ontkean David Halberstam
Countries

Canada Japan USA
Year

1997
Type

Television

Alternative titles

America in the Fifties 2: Selling the American Way Alternative

Synopsis

Portrait of America in the 1950s, telling how booming prosperity and the advent of television ushered in a time of unparalleled consumer dreams and political deception. Describes how Madison Avenue advertising guru, Rosser Reeves perfected the art of using the new medium to sell it all to the American public - the good life, cigarettes, headache remedies, and presidents; how Richard Nixon applied slick new advertising techniques to save his political career; and how the CIA and other powers in Washington quickly learned to manipulate the medium to cover-up America's anti-democratic actions in Guatemala and Vietnam.

Cast & Credits

Cast
- - narrator
    
    Michael Ontkean
  - interviewee
    
    David Halberstam
Credits
- Unknown:
  - Director
    
    Alex Gibney
  - Series Director
    
    Tracy Dahlby
  - Series Director
    
    Alex Gibney
  - a production of The
    
    Fifties Inc.
  - Produced with the participation of
    
    Téléfilm Canada
  - Produced with the participation of
    
    Canal D
  - Produced in association with
    
    CTV Television Network
  - Produced in association with
    
    Alliance Equicap Corporation
  - With the participation of
    
    Inc PHE
  - With the participation of
    
    C.S. Associates
  - With the participation of
    
    Bungei-Shunju Co.
  - Executive Producer
    
    W. Paterson Ferns
  - Executive Producer
    
    Richard Heus
  - Producer
    
    Nancy Button
  - Associate Producer
    
    Marianne Kushmaniuk
  - Written by
    
    Alex Gibney
  - Director of Photography
    
    Michael Ellis
  - Director of Photography
    
    Michael Boland
  - Editor
    
    Steve Weslak
  - Original Music
    
    George Blondheim
  - Sound
    
    Alison Clark