Into the West (1 Viewer)

[Mister Dave]

As I've already alluded to in the South Land Miniatures thread, I've been watching this Steven Spielberg Dreamworks miniseries this weekend and have enjoyed it very much. Have finished episodes 1-4 courtesy of Netflix and looking forward to the last installment(s) later in the week once disc 3 arrives in the mail. This series covers a lot of ground. From a military history perspective alone the Grattan incident, the Sand Creek massacre, the Fetterman incident, and the Washita incident have all been included in the production. I would highly recommend this series to anybody with interest in this historical era.

One bit of comic relief comes in the last few minutes of episode 2 when a really nicely done and busy scene with a lot of extras milling around includes a dude with a yellow parka, jeans and white baseball cap who appears at the back and to the side of the shot leaning against a table having an animated conversation with somebody off-screen. See if you can spot it.

MD

 

[Mister Dave]

Hmmmmm. It seems I am talking to myself here. Is there really that little interst in this subject matter? I find that hard to believe. Well, anyway....episode 5 and 6 have arrived, and episode 5 is in the books as they say. Brief coverage of LBH. Nothing too earth shattering in terms of detail. Looking forward to episode 6 and suspect this will include some Wounded Knee material.

Ciao,
MD

 

[marco55]

No Dave your not talking to yourself.I have Into the West but have not watched it yet.
Mark

 

[Mister Dave]

No Dave your not talking to yourself.I have Into the West but have not watched it yet.
Mark

Well thank goodness Mark, because as you may know, talking to ones self may be taken as a sign of psychosis.

MD

 

[maddadicus]

I watched most of the series and thought it historically, too PC. That is just my opinion..Michael

 

[marco55]

Dave,Talking to yourself isn't bad.It's when you answer yourself you have problems.
Mark

 

[Mister Dave]

I watched most of the series and thought it historically, too PC. That is just my opinion..Michael

I can vouch for this sentiment to some degree. On the other hand, I am loving the scenery and the Native American characters in particular.

MD

 

[Mister Dave]

Dave,Talking to yourself isn't bad.It's when you answer yourself you have problems.
Mark

Ah, but there's the rub, because technically I did answer myself. Shoot, I knew I was crazy.

MD

 

[trooper]

Having a conversation with yourself is OK Dave, but watch it when you start Emailing yourself, or, even worse, texting.

 

[kogu]

Hi Mr. Dave,
you are not alone as far as interest is concerned about "The West".
After your post I just bought the "Into the West" DVD Set and will have to wait for delivery.
Looking forward to watch it.
Konrad

 

[joesgis]

"Having a conversation with yourself is OK Dave, but watch it when you start Emailing yourself, or, even worse, texting." That's hilarious trooper!! I'm sitting here nearly laughing out loud, and I'm not in the best mood as a drunk teenager crashed into my car as it sat parked and unoccupied just a few hours ago. The car was less than a year away from being paid off, and it was the first car I had ever purchased brand new. The damage is substantial. The girl hit at least six other cars as she pinballed her way down the street. My car took the first shot, and it is quite depressing. Anyways, I did not intend to bring it up, but it helps illustrate how funny what you said was, because to make a guy laugh in my current state, it must be pretty **** funny!

Mister Dave, I'm currently enjoying the wonders of Deadwood, and perhaps will give Into the West a try next. But I worry about things produced w/ political correctness in mind; I prefer reality, "warts and all". Oh, and again, don't worry about talking to yourself, admitting it is the frist step to recovery LOL!!!!

 

[Rob]

Having a conversation with yourself is OK Dave, but watch it when you start Emailing yourself, or, even worse, texting.

Or sending yourself Christmas cards!

Rob

 

[UKReb]

Dave

I'm not surprised-and neither should you be-that you felt you were talking to yourself after all just look at the subject title not the most popular in interesting many on this forum in either the historical facts or collecting the figures representing the era. I'm now used to it-The West; ACW; the Alamo; Custer et al gets very limited input from any of the guys on here which at one time did surprise me especially as the majority of members are American themselves which in itself is a paradox.

Anyway I try not to add to topics unless I have something constructive to state-but as expected- and as your post received little interest I'll add a few comments.

Sorry I just did not like the series! I could list a whole host of reasons why? but as I said it wouldn't interest too many members so I'll keep it brief and succinct if I can.
It fell into what we are plagued with today-the doctrine of depicting history without offending anyone especially when relating the story of the Native American. There is so much more drama and controversy in the real story but unfortunately you will rarely see a balanced view of that today what we did view with Into the West was the topical cliches and the necessary modus operandi for any new film on this subject such as:-

Practically every white man must be an uncivilized, cheating, lying, murdering psychopath and every Indian must be a noble Native American linked ecologically with Mother Earth wrapped in enigmatic dreams and mysticism. Were either of those true-of course not! To try to fully understand another culture we tend to essentialize it-to reduce it to a fixed and unchanging set of principles such as- that the Native Americans had a different mind set from whites-All of them?-Always?- Generalisation like this when applied to any culture is somewhat risky when trying to get to the truth but Hollywood tends to run with the flavor of the day and as we well know truth has never been part of any film script
.
The dialogue in the series was contrived and dull because it tried to cover every event in the history of the West therefore most of the actors were forced to narrate long Gettysburg Address type speeches to keep us up to date with what was going on-Just didn't work for me. Characters come and go for no rhyme or reason-dynasties can only be followed if audiences understand family trees-Spielberg needed a clearer road map, whatever he did use just resulted in stiff narration and muddled structure but at it's core he used the standard must have today of romanticising the native cultures from one human tragedy or injustice to another as the antithesis to all the various ills of western society-including the scene of all the dead buffalo deliberately killed just to wipe the Indian from the plains-True? well I would have preferred to have seen the dead buffalo stripped of their hides that would have been more accurate-but it didn't fit with Spielberg's story that he wanted to tell.

Dave if you want to see a magnificent series based on the real story of the West-get hold of the complete set of Centennial (1978) a 20 hour masterpiece the likes of which you will never see again. I watch it regularly once a year and still get knocked out with near accuracy of Native American culture without this continual dilution of the American pioneering spirit that produced that fine country of yours. Buy it; watch it and you will put "Into the West" at the back of your shelves where mine currently resides.

Reb

 

[Harrytheheid]

Centennial - one of the very best mini-series about the American West I've ever watched. The book is excellent too.

H

 

[Mister Dave]

"Having a conversation with yourself is OK Dave, but watch it when you start Emailing yourself, or, even worse, texting." That's hilarious trooper!! I'm sitting here nearly laughing out loud, and I'm not in the best mood as a drunk teenager crashed into my car as it sat parked and unoccupied just a few hours ago. The car was less than a year away from being paid off, and it was the first car I had ever purchased brand new. The damage is substantial. The girl hit at least six other cars as she pinballed her way down the street. My car took the first shot, and it is quite depressing. Anyways, I did not intend to bring it up, but it helps illustrate how funny what you said was, because to make a guy laugh in my current state, it must be pretty **** funny!

Mister Dave, I'm currently enjoying the wonders of Deadwood, and perhaps will give Into the West a try next. But I worry about things produced w/ political correctness in mind; I prefer reality, "warts and all". Oh, and again, don't worry about talking to yourself, admitting it is the frist step to recovery LOL!!!!

Sorry to hear of your troubles, and glad we've provided some good comic relief for you here. By the way, I do feel somewhat relieved in that I have not yet gotten to emailing, texting, or sending Christmas cards to myself.

I will likely be starting in on Deadwood later this Summer.

MD

 

[Mister Dave]

Dave

I'm not surprised-and neither should you be-that you felt you were talking to yourself after all just look at the subject title not the most popular in interesting many on this forum in either the historical facts or collecting the figures representing the era. I'm now used to it-The West; ACW; the Alamo; Custer et al gets very limited input from any of the guys on here which at one time did surprise me especially as the majority of members are American themselves which in itself is a paradox.

Anyway I try not to add to topics unless I have something constructive to state-but as expected- and as your post received little interest I'll add a few comments.

Sorry I just did not like the series! I could list a whole host of reasons why? but as I said it wouldn't interest too many members so I'll keep it brief and succinct if I can.
It fell into what we are plagued with today-the doctrine of depicting history without offending anyone especially when relating the story of the Native American. There is so much more drama and controversy in the real story but unfortunately you will rarely see a balanced view of that today what we did view with Into the West was the topical cliches and the necessary modus operandi for any new film on this subject such as:-

Practically every white man must be an uncivilized, cheating, lying, murdering psychopath and every Indian must be a noble Native American linked ecologically with Mother Earth wrapped in enigmatic dreams and mysticism. Were either of those true-of course not! To try to fully understand another culture we tend to essentialize it-to reduce it to a fixed and unchanging set of principles such as- that the Native Americans had a different mind set from whites-All of them?-Always?- Generalisation like this when applied to any culture is somewhat risky when trying to get to the truth but Hollywood tends to run with the flavor of the day and as we well know truth has never been part of any film script
.
The dialogue in the series was contrived and dull because it tried to cover every event in the history of the West therefore most of the actors were forced to narrate long Gettysburg Address type speeches to keep us up to date with what was going on-Just didn't work for me. Characters come and go for no rhyme or reason-dynasties can only be followed if audiences understand family trees-Spielberg needed a clearer road map, whatever he did use just resulted in stiff narration and muddled structure but at it's core he used the standard must have today of romanticising the native cultures from one human tragedy or injustice to another as the antithesis to all the various ills of western society-including the scene of all the dead buffalo deliberately killed just to wipe the Indian from the plains-True? well I would have preferred to have seen the dead buffalo stripped of their hides that would have been more accurate-but it didn't fit with Spielberg's story that he wanted to tell.

Dave if you want to see a magnificent series based on the real story of the West-get hold of the complete set of Centennial (1978) a 20 hour masterpiece the likes of which you will never see again. I watch it regularly once a year and still get knocked out with near accuracy of Native American culture without this continual dilution of the American pioneering spirit that produced that fine country of yours. Buy it; watch it and you will put "Into the West" at the back of your shelves where mine currently resides.

Reb

Thanks for the comments, Bob. I really cannot argue with any of the points you've made here, but am enjoying the viewing immensely the first time around nonetheless. Also, I must thank you for the reference to Centennial as I have been racking my brain trying to think of this title. I have vague recollections seeing some of this, though at the time I would have been 8 or 9so memories are a bit fuzzy understandably. I shall be adding this one to the Netflix Queue as well.

MD

 

[Rob]

I really enjoyed Deadwood and have the first two series on dvd.I thought there were some great acting performances in this,especially Ian Mcshane who i never much liked before.Great gritty drama.Although my wife was almost physically ill during the eye pulling scene in the final series.

Rob

 

[Louis Badolato]

Joe,

Sorry to hear about your car. The only bright side it at least you weren't in it - too many drunk drivers end up injuring or killing their victims. Cars can be repaired or replaced, your health or life cannot.

 

[joesgis]

Thanks Louis and MD .

"The only bright side it at least you weren't in it - too many drunk drivers end up injuring or killing their victims. Cars can be repaired or replaced, your health or life cannot."

Thanks for putting this in perspective, Louis. I was feeling all sad about my car, but luckily, I was not in it. But it's so true, I bet all of our lives have been damaged by drunk drivers. The horror stories we could tell. Yet I am alive and well and thankful for that.

Joe

 

[marco55]

My father lost his license for 16 years for drunk driving.Within a year after he got them back he had a bad accident and lost his eye.when I was 7 he ran into a tree and my mouth hit the dashboard and broke a couple of my front teeth.My father never learnt that drinking and driving was bad but I did and I have never driven drunk and I am 53 yrs. old now.
Mark