VAN SUSTEREN: "Ronald Reagan, a Rendezvous with Destiny." That is the name of a brand new documentary produced by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista. You can get the DVD at GingrichProductions.com.

Earlier the speaker and Callista went "On the Record" about their new film and the legacy of our 40th president.

VAN SUSTEREN: It's nice to see both of you. All right, Callista, was this your idea for this movie.

CALLISTA GINGRICH: We came to this idea together, actually. We both love Ronald Reagan, and we wanted to have a documentary where we could show people the inspiration of Ronald Reagan and how he changed not only our nation, but the world.

VAN SUSTEREN: Mr. Speaker, did you learn anything from the movie, doing the movie that you didn't know about the former president before you started?

NEWT GINGRICH, (R) FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I learned a number of things, even though I campaigned with him in the 70s and then worked when I was a congressman in the 80s.

I think one of the most fun things that we did was go up to the ranch, which is really very different. And he spent a full year on the ranch.

VAN SUSTEREN: You mean if you added up the time?

NEWT GINGRICH: Yes. If you added all the time, he was there for the equivalent of a full year, and he and Nancy had this little place that is very homey and very -- it is not very overwhelming.

VAN SUSTEREN: There is one point where you're standing in the ranch inside this small room. Was that inside the ranch?

CALLISTA GINGRICH: Yes. The ranch is really very modest, and it has a lot of unique ranch decor. For example, in his bathroom, his shower head was the liberty bell.

VAN SUSTEREN: It's fun to watch the movie, because you go back to the old clips, and you also go to the clips during the course of his presidency.

But what I found most intriguing is you traveled the world for this. It's extraordinary. This took you all over the world.

CALLISTA GINGRICH: We did travel a lot. We started, of course, at the Reagan library, and then we went to the Reagan ranch just north of Santa Barbara.

And then, in June, we went to Normandy, and we taped at Pt. Tahod(ph), where the army rangers scaled the cliff.

VAN SUSTEREN: And a great speech. That's probably one of Reagan's best speeches, I think.

NEWT GINGRICH: Did you get a tear at the moment in the movie where he is reading the letter from the girl about her father.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I will never forget what you went through dad, nor would I let anyone else again, dad. I will always be proud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAN SUSTEREN: It was extraordinary.

NEWT GINGRICH: He gets a tear.

VAN SUSTEREN: Yes, he gets a tear.

NEWT GINGRICH: It's really very powerful.

And then we went, Callista is half Polish, and so we ended up in Danse(ph), Poland.

CALLISTA GINGRICH: We taped at the Lenin shipyards where the solidarity movement began.

And then we traveled to Prague, and we interviewed President Vaclav Haval in Prague, Czech Republic.

VAN SUSTEREN: It was interesting to listen to the different people you talked to. I think even Sam Donaldson talked about how people underestimated him, and that was one of the strengths that he had, that he was underestimated.

NEWT GINGRICH: I think that's right, and I think it was partly much like Eisenhower, something that he worked at. He wanted people to think that he was this pleasant, that he easy going, that things just happened to happen.

CALLISTA GINGRICH: But he always exceeded expectations.

NEWT GINGRICH: And I think, when you look back, he really did have a general plan. He arrived seeking three great breakthroughs, and he achieved all three--he reunited the American economy by cutting taxes and regulations, he renewed the American civic culture--people were proud to be Americans again--and he defeated the Soviet Empire, which disappeared.

We sat one night recently and watched the whole movie for the first time, all but brought together by Dave Bossie and Citizens United, who did a great job, and Kevin Nablock(ph), who directed.

And the first time we saw the whole film, at the end of 90 minutes, it was kind of overwhelming, because you can talk about Reagan, but he is like a great athlete or a great ballerina. Watching him on a screen is just, I think -- I do not know if you had that experience--

VAN SUSTEREN: I love the speeches. "Tear down that wall" is the other classic one associated with Reagan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAGAN: Tear down this wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH: Can you imagine anyone other politician delivering that line with the power he delivered it with?

VAN SUSTEREN: What do you think President Reagan if he were with us now, what would he be saying about what's going on in the world? What's your thought?

NEWT GINGRICH: Here is one of the things I learned from making it. The movie really helped me a lot and helped re-center my own thinking.

I think Reagan would say there are first principles. The Poles when they were trying to break free from the communists, one of their slogans was "two plus two equals four." And what they meant by that is that if state tells you that two plus two equals three, the state's lying.

And Reagan, I think, would say to us tonight that you can't have all of this government spending, you can't turn all this power over to bureaucrats, you can't trust politicians with this amount of money, and if you really want to get this economy going again, you have to cut out the regulations that don't work, quit giving money to crooks, and dramatically reduce spending and cut taxes so you can be the most competitive place in world.

And I think that he would have zero doubt that what we're trying to do in the stimulus package is utterly destructive and doomed to fail, and he would have a totally different track.

And it is kind of eerie to look at the mess that Jimmy Carter made of the late 70s-22 percent interest rates, 13 percent inflation, deepest recession since the Great Depression(sic). And then look at Reagan come in with this clear, vivid future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAN SUSTEREN: Up next, your favorite segment, "The Best of the Rest."