Learning that a movie of Harvey Milk, starring Sean Penn, is set to release November 2008, I decided to revisit this film and add it to my collection. I vaguely remember seeing THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK documentary about five years ago when I was working on my senior thesis project on the history of the gay rights movement.Seeing it again, I'm reminded of how much Milk did to change the landscape--or at least start the ball rolling here in California--about people's attitudes and beliefs about gay men and women. Elected to one of the seats on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, Milk became the second or third openly gay person elected to a political position in America, and the first in California. He was instrumental in helping to defeat the 1978 Proposition 6 "Briggs Initiative" that would have made it mandatory to fire any gay teachers and anyone working in the public school system who supported gay rights.The documentary premiered in 1984 and ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Told mostly through news footage and interviews with people who knew and worked with Harvey Milk, THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK paints a tender portrait of a man who was not just on the side of homosexuals, because he was gay himself, but on the side of people. Anyway, the documentary is very well presented and I see why it won the Oscar.Digitally restored, inspirational and moving, THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK DVD should be part of every LGBT person's library, actually everyone's library, and is a great primer for those who want a brush up before the movie "Milk" opens in theaters. Sadly, many of the prejudices that Milk was fighting against in 1977 we're still fighting against today in 2008.There are two DVDs that come in this collector's edition set. The first DVD has the documentary and the second DVD is loaded with extras:==================== BONUS 2nd DVD EXTRAS =======================1985 ACADEMY AWARDS--Kathleen Turner (V.I. Warshawski, Serial Mom (Collector's Edition))announces the nominees and winner, presenting the Oscar to producers Rob Epstein and Richard SchmiechenPREMIERE AT CASTRO THEATER--Home movie of Vito Russo(The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies) inside the theater introducing the film, Epstein (producer) speaks afterward and presents the people in the film2002 DIRECTOR'S GUILD LOS ANGELES-- 16-minutes-- Q&A with film maker/producer Rob Epstein and Tom Ammiano who was in the filmDAN WHITE UPDATE--3:51-minutes-- footage of White and verdict and information on White's sentence and suicideALTERNATE ENDING--2:40-minutesONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY--3:15-minutes--Diane Feinstein speech made during the one year anniversary of the double murder================= 25th ANNIVERSARY EXTRAS (all on DVD 2) =================DAN WHITE CASE REVISTED--46:30-minutes--2003 panel with attorney Jim Hammer(former SF prosecutor/Fox News Legal Analyst), and Dan White's defense team Doug Schmidt and Steve Scherr discussing the crime, the verdict, and how the law and attitude about gays has changed since thenHARRY BRIT SPEECH--9:45-minutes--remembrance speech made by Britt who was Milk's successorCHRIS MOSCONE SPEECH--6:56-minutes--Son of slain mayor George Moscone talks about the man his father wasSTUART MILK SPEECH--5:45-minutes--Milk's nephew talks about his uncleCANDLELIGHT MEMORIAL--7:18-minutes--home video of memorial with speakers Gina Moscone (daughter) and Tom AmmianoSTILL PHOTO GALLERY--photos from behind the scenesTHEATRICAL TRAILER