Season 1 – The American West

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Audience Member The American West is a banál docudrama by white people for white people, stuffed with pretentious melodrama. Tom Selleck is one of several celebreties who for some reason have been chosen as commentators. In the beginning, and as a fundamental statement about the whole idea of the American West, he brings about the cliché that the West was 'unexplored' before the American Europeans conquered it, as if it was there for the taking and the indigenous peoples hadn't been there for thousands of years already. It all builds up with the building of the transcontinental railroad and the advertising of 'free empty land' for settlers, only to finally present the fact that it was already inhabited by people, like the 'Lakota Sioux' or the 'Sioux',or the 'Lakoda', or which was it? Also their indigenous ancestors are claimed to enter the continent only during the last Ice Age. This topic is given a few seconds with an illustration where the indigenous settlers had horses, which actually is interesting, but otherwise not mentioned. The total is nothing but fake and sickening political correctness from film stars as self proclaimed historians, and even the historians commenting are pretentiously acting like itemized kids in a toy store commercial, all supplemented by constant, extremely melodramatic, loud and heavily compressed music. The commenting celebrities are basically middle aged or elder white men, the actual historians few, the woman only one, as is also the indigenous representative, and both get to comment half way throught the series. Among the white middleaged men, executive producer Robert Redford has even put himself in a role, but presented as just another famous western history fan, and here as the actor from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, as if that makes him more relevant. What comes from him are mostly obvious empathic idiomatics. I'm a big fan of 19th century American history, but I thought the perspective of knowledge would have come a lot further by 2016. It all starts as late as 1865, with the post Civil War as the fundament to the plot. It might fit well with the tale of the James Brothers, which works best as one of the two early narratives, but for the second, the story just jumps right into the middle of the conflict with the Lakota and the famous Crazy Horse, without mentioning Red Cloud, and neither of the Laramie treaties or the Bozeman Trail. In 1865 the big migration westward had already been going on for at least 25 years, so totally avoiding any introduction of most important historical issues, events or persons, seems superficial and gives very little or no true perspective for the viewer. It's amateurish but wrapped in a flashy professional looking package. On the one hand the audience is treated as if knowing nothing, and on the other one is supposed to already know lots of historical circumstances. There is very little logic to this, and The American West is not really a documentary series, but a history based fiction drama with a narrator, substantiating the western myths in a extremely clichéd manner. The dramatisations are basically well made, cinematografically speaking, with credible historical effects and some flaws. However, an important event like the Fetterman Fight, here only refered to as the Battle of a Hundred Slain, is absolutely not dramatized the way it really happened. Again there's nothing about the historical background with Captain William J. Fetterman and the building up to the incident. However, there are positive aspect with the actors in the roles of Crazy Horse with curly hair, but still much is missing about the actual historical figure. Jesse James who looks quite like the original, but the Custer character appears pretty ridiculous, as usual, with an overpretentious actor wearing a wig looking very far from Custer's cinnamon oil combed hair. It's a parody. So much gets annoying and in total for this series, it's either too little or too much. If director John Ealer and producer Robert Redford wanted to make a historical drama, why didn't they just do so? Very disappointing from someone who should know much better. For those who want real quality documentarism about the issue, and not just some fancy and superficial soap western docudrama for adult kids, check out The West by Stephen Ives and Ken Burns. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review daren m I honestly dont know what to think. The majority of the re-creations keep showing lever action rifles used by native americans and union soldiers up to 20 years before the device was even invented. Makes me wonder what other details were flat out incorrect. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Why would you put modern actors commentating on a historical events? How is their opinion relevant, I'm confused. Also the tone of excitement of starting a new live somewhere doesn't sit well without mentioning they had to murder native people living there first. Sounds like they are all brainwashed and megalomaniac Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member I thought this was a very cool film series. Although I did not think Jesse James was as bad as he was. I've always heard about him but not so much in depth. Also learning how crazy billy the kid was. He was super crazy as he ended up killing 30 people as he dies at 21yrs old. One last thing that I thoroughly enjoyed was how huge of an impact crazy horse even after he was dead. I really enjoyed the film. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Overall the show was entertaining and maintains a fairly accurate portrayal of events from the west. Initially, I did not know that Jesse James had been a confederate soldier. I had heard of the story and events at Tombstone but did not know Wyatt Earp had come in search of silver. The show did a good job presenting the Native American's position for survival as an impossible choice. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member I've heard of every person, place and event in this docudrama, but had absolutely no idea of the chronological sequence and causes behind most of them. On the topics covered, they are as crystal clear as a layman such as myself needs them to be. Please continue with this educational and entertaining project. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The American West — Season 1

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