AllMovie

Millions of dead fish float on top of a polluted river with abandoned cars and industrial waste strewn along its shores. This shocking footage from a 1966 TV special -- The Majestic, Polluted Hudson -- is shown at the beginning of The Hudson Riverkeepers, a documentary presented by Outside Magazine. The rest of the program tells the more encouraging story of the task undertaken by local residents who love the Hudson -- people whose families had long made a living from fishing in its waters -- to reclaim the river and clean it up. Interviews with individual "river keepers" help to tell the story from firsthand perspective: James Cronin (who goes out in a little boat to confront the oil tankers) says that the struggle to save the river from the acts and accidents of corporate industry is like the story of "David and Goliath." Robert Kennedy Jr. (the group's chief prosecuting attorney and son of assassinated politician Robert F. Kennedy) says he feels he is carrying on his father's legacy through the Riverkeepers' work.