Uncommon Friends of the 20th Century is a 1999 documentary film on Florida businessman James D. Newton and the relationships he enjoyed with five key historic figures: Thomas A. Edison, Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and Alexis Carrel. The film, which was directed by first-time filmmaker John Biffar and narrated by Walter Cronkite, included interviews with Newton (who was 94 years old at the time of production), archival footage and dramatic re-enactments.
The film had a brief theatrical release, and reviews were mostly negative. Lawrence Van Gelder, writing in The New York Times, called the film “a weak broth of biography, spiritual uplift and environmental concerns” and added “its generally uncritical and sometimes apologetic posture (Lindbergh's acceptance of a Nazi medal) and its failure to distinguish between its authentic film images and its re-enactments of events.” Nico Baumbach, writing in The Village Voice, stated that Newton’s “anecdotes are so unspecific that his ostensible authority, the premise of the film, feels like a put-on.”
Uncommon Friends of the 20th Century was broadcast on public television in 2000. To date, the film has not been available as a commercial DVD release. However, copies of the film can be purchased from the Uncommon Friends Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by James D. Newton that provides educational scholarships to business students.
Famous quotes containing the words uncommon and/or friends:
“The inspired scribbler always has the gift for gossip in our common usage ... he or she can always inspire the commonplace with an uncommon flavor, and transform trivialities by some original grace or sympathy or humor or affection.”
—Elizabeth Drew (18871965)
“[T]here is no situation so deplorable ... as that of a gentlewoman in real poverty.... Birth, family, and education become misfortunes when we cannot attain some means of supporting ourselves in the station they throw us into. Our friends and former acquaintances look on it as a disgrace to own us.... If we were to attempt getting our living by any trade, people in that station would think we were endeavoring to take their bread out of their mouths.”
—Sarah Fielding (17101768)