The famed Buffalo Springfield anthem and promo sums it up in just seconds: “There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear,” sings Stephen Stills in almost a hushed tone. “There’s a man with a gun over there, telling me I got to beware.” “For What It’s Worth” captures the heart and soul of the ‘60s, and now, so will Malibu’s Tom Hanks in a 10-part CNN series.
What happened in the ‘60s? A better question might be, what didn’t happen in the ‘60s? From JFK to MLK, RFK, assassinations, Vietnam, anti-war demonstrations, The Beatles, Woodstock and women’s lib, it was “the decade that changed everything.” It reflects on turning points that no baby boomer could possibly forget.
Right down to the Whisky a Go Go, mod fashion, the Cold War and civil rights, it seems like a slew of pivotal events began 50 years ago.
Now, award-winning producers Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog are trying to recapture that history for a new generation. “From protests to war, human rights, The Beatles, innovative technologies and politics, the 1960s were an extraordinary era of consequential cultural and global change,” says Jeff Zucker of CNN Worldwide. “We are so pleased to partner with Tom and Gary to bring this very special series to our audience.”
It will also be a moment of nostalgia for those who were there.
Woodstock nation member and former flower child Terry O’Rourke remembers it all as if it were yesterday. The longtime Malibu resident describes how he pitched a tent near the “Hog Farm” and woke up the next day with 250,000 new friends.
“It was pretty exciting,” he recalls. “You grow up in these neighborhood pockets, and all of a sudden, you meet all these people and have a connection.” Terry almost didn’t miss a moment of the greatest rock show on earth. “I saw just about everybody— Richie Havens, Santana; Crosby, Stills and Nash; Joe Cocker and The Who.
“Nobody had an agenda. We just had people who gathered to hear great music.”
It reflects a different mentality—“Peace, love and understanding.” “Make love not war.”
“People were passionate,” Terry says. “And the music permeated into politics and the environment.”
The Tom Hanks series covers it all. It includes television coming of age, the world on the brink, the British Invasion, the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam, the long March to Freedom, the Space Race—right down to sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. It features everyone from Gloria Steinem to Morley Safer to Tom Wolfe and even the Smothers Brothers.
“The Sixties” debuts May 29.