THE PRUITT-IGOE MYTH: AN URBAN HISTORYMovie Reviews
Story: Documentary about the building and ultimate demolition of the St. Louis project that came to symbolize the failure of public housing in America. Cast:Jason Henry, Sylvester Brown, Robert Fishman, Joseph Heathcott, Brian King, Ruby Russell, Joyce Ladner, Ruby Russell, Valerie Sills, Jacqueline WilliamsDirector:Chad FreidrichsOpened:January 20, 2012On DVD:May 15, 2012From:First RunLength:1 hr. 23 min.
MAY 15, 2012
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History, Very Good Reviews (Doc) Limited
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History played in limited release to very good reviews. • Stephanie Merry wrote in the Washington Post, "Hindsight affords a dramatic irony so that viewers know how this story ends, and it's not well. But tragedies are still worth watching for the intricacies of the story..." • And Chris Faraone wrote in the Boston Phoenix, "St. Louis failed Pruitt-Igoe, and not the other way around." More Reviews Below...
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History Positive Reviews (11 Reviews, reviews below)
Rachel Saltz, New York Times: VERY GOOD "This history is too recent to seem dry, and the film gets an added emotional punch from interviews with former tenants, whose memories mix fondness with anger and loss."(Read the full review...) 250 words, 01/20/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...well-researched and iconoclastic... a cautionary tale, but what it cautions against is the lure of easy judgments derived from prejudices and ignorance of the facts."(Read the full review...) 709 words, 04/27/12
Sara Stewart, New York Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "...doesn't offer easy conclusions. It does raise the question of how, and why, this idealistic answer to overcrowding so quickly morphed into a symbol of inner-city crime and filth, and how big a part racism played..."(Read the full review...) 207 words, 01/20/12
Ernest Hardy, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "Given the ongoing shredding of the social safety net in America, the film's greatest service might be to remind us that programs and services for the poor have always had hostile enemies."(Read the full review...) 366 words, 01/18/12
KEY CITIES (2 Reviews)
Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "Hindsight affords a dramatic irony so that viewers know how this story ends, and it's not well. But tragedies are still worth watching for the intricacies of the story..."(Read the full review...) 541 words, 03/09/12
Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: MODERATE(cg) "...racism, suburbanization, inadequate funding for the project, the loss of urban manufacturing jobs -- make plain what a burden the project suffered under."(Read the full review...) 410 words, 04/06/12
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (4 Reviews)
Ernest Hardy, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "Given the ongoing shredding of the social safety net in America, the film's greatest service might be to remind us that programs and services for the poor have always had hostile enemies."(Read the full review...) 366 words, 01/18/12
Chris Faraone, Boston Phoenix: OUTSTANDING(cg) "The Pruitt-Igoe projects in St. Louis were supposed to be a means for poor farmers and field workers to find big-city opportunities.... St. Louis failed Pruitt-Igoe, and not the other way around."(Read the full review...) 158 words, 04/05/12
Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant: VERY GOOD(cg) "What Freidrichs has accomplished is a portrait of unknowability.... Rather than observing pride amid declining fortunes, we're witnesses to a surprisingly monotone 80 minutes of thumping unease."(Read the full review...) 830 words, 01/18/12
HIGHBROW PRESS (3 Reviews)
Rachel Saltz, New York Times: VERY GOOD "This history is too recent to seem dry, and the film gets an added emotional punch from interviews with former tenants, whose memories mix fondness with anger and loss."(Read the full review...) 250 words, 01/20/12
Mark Jenkins, NPR: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "The movie disappoints by not addressing the larger implications of the supposed myth... Nor does it consider other urban-renewal models... it is more elegy than analysis."(Read the full review...) 569 words, 01/19/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...well-researched and iconoclastic... a cautionary tale, but what it cautions against is the lure of easy judgments derived from prejudices and ignorance of the facts."(Read the full review...) 709 words, 04/27/12
MOVIE INDUSTRY (3 Reviews)
Robert Koehler, Daily Variety: EXCELLENT "...combines concise but thoroughgoing sociological-historical analysis and elegant cinematic resources in service of an uncommonly artful example of film journalism."(Read the full review...) 734 words, 03/10/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...well-researched and iconoclastic... a cautionary tale, but what it cautions against is the lure of easy judgments derived from prejudices and ignorance of the facts."(Read the full review...) 709 words, 04/27/12
Rachel Saltz, New York Times: VERY GOOD "This history is too recent to seem dry, and the film gets an added emotional punch from interviews with former tenants, whose memories mix fondness with anger and loss."(Read the full review...) 250 words, 01/20/12
11.3 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History's reviews are separated by an average 11.3 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History (11 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History's reviews cover 14.0% of potential readers (average is 68.2%). Volume:The film's reviews total 5,140 words involume (average is 19,979 words). Length:The film's reviews average 467 words in length (the norm is 512 words).
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History Coverage, Volume & Length (11 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 18 Days After Release (Norm is 0.2 Release)
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History's reviews on average broke 18 days after opening. Norm for this measure is 0.2 hours after. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History (11 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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