"Into the West" in the UK

[Diane Merkel]

I'm not sure if this is its first showing in the UK, but the "Into the West" series is starting Saturday, November 4, on the BBC.

tinyurl.com/ymbjcf

[elisabeth]

Thanks for the tip-off, Diane. Yes, it is the first showing on terrestrial TV, and we've been waiting impatiently. Recorded the first episode last night, and shall watch it with interest ... though not, judging from the descriptions people gave on this board, with much optimism!

[karl]

i watched all 6 episodes in germany on dvd last week.
i realy hate it.is there a directors cut with more of the indian story
(treaty 68,killing of crazy horse etc.)
good new year to all of you.
karl

[Scout]

Elisabeth...you can't expect much when the chief historian is Steven Speilberg. It was dreadful. The politically correct old west...

[elisabeth]

"Dreadful" is right. I was kind of prepared for the PC-ness, with all Indians being fine, noble and poetic souls who wouldn't hurt a fly; that's par for the course. But the sheer awfulness of the storytelling was a surprise. Spielberg can usually do that right at least. It was incoherent, jumbled, with no internal logic and no consistency of character, just lurching from incident to iincident ... and the incidents themselves were s-o-o-o predictable and silly that by about Episode Two I was falling off the sofa laughing. (For instance, in the wagon-train episode, could there have been anyone in the audience who didn't KNOW that runaway wagon was sure to crush the girl who'd just got married? She might as well have been wearing a label around her neck from the start.) And then you had the inevitable family-saga thing where, having strained to work up any interest in the initial main characters, you find the focus has suddenly switched to the next generation, about whom you care even less. At least they didn't do the usual and give the older generation instant blue hair to indicate ageing -- but that's about the only cliche they did spare us!

As for the Little Big Horn bit, perfunctory is the kindest thing that can be said. Laughable.

The only good thing was the subtitled Lakota dialogue. After a while, you find yourself picking up the odd word here and there, and it begins to feel like a language one could possibly learn. It'd be fun to try. But that's all; the rest of it was utterly dire ...

So -- all hopes now pinned on the forthcoming BBC effort. It certainly can't be worse!

[karl]

elisabeth,you hit the nail on the head.
...with a big budget and over 500 min time to tell the story,
they missed a great chane to make a good movie.
what is the bbc effort you speak of?
karl

[elisabeth]

It came up in another thread a short while ago -- but needless to say, I can't find it again. (Blame Christmas. I'm just not concentrating, I think!) The BBC are doing a dramatisation of the Custer story, which is due to be shown in the UK in February or thereabouts. For a very brief time there was a preview of it available on YouTube, but when the BBC found out about that they cited copyright infringement and made them remove it ...

Fortunately, a few of us got the chance to watch it, thanks to whoever originally posted the link. It looked rather promising. The few brief glimpses of the battle scenes showed them making an effort to bring in a fair number of the characters, not just Reno and Benteen; Reno seemed well cast (I couldn't make out who the actor was, but he wsn't playing him as a caricature coward/drunk); their Benteen, while not looking quite right, seemed to have the necessary gravitas; and best of all -- in my view, though others disagreed -- they've got Toby Stephens playing Custer. Not only is he right for looks and temperament, and can ride convincingly, but he's a "proper" actor who, with luck, will delve into the many contradictions of Custer's character. Also, it appeared they'd gone to some trouble over locations, and the production values looked great. So all in all, I'm quite hopeful!

The preview featured the Benteen/Custer/letter scene, so I'd guess they're taking the story back at least as far as Washita; good plan.

Anyway -- if they stick with the February transmission date, we in the UK, at least, won't have to wait too long to find out. I'll report. And of course if any more details surface between now and then, I'll let you know ...

[elisabeth]

P.S. -- Silly me. It was in the "Indian Wars Re-enactors" thread, and it was Gordie who spotted it orignally. You'll get the flavour of it from the comments there.

[harpskiddie]

I cannot claim the credit. I was merely the last poster.

Happy Christmas, Elisabeth.

Gordie

[elisabeth]

Happy Christmas to you, too -- and a happy festival-of-your-choice to all!

[eamonn]

Dear all

I note your comments regarding the into the west tv mini series. Is there any person on this board who can demonstrate constructive criticism!!! As for your comment Elisabeth;

'The only good thing was the subtitled Lakota dialogue. After a while, you find yourself picking up the odd word here and there, and it begins to feel like a language one could possibly learn.

Althiough the actors got the depictation of the sundance correct they got the dialogue/words of the song wrong, but hey they tried. As for learning the lakota langauge it may be fun to learn but it is extremely diificult especially for the wasicu.

Worth thinking about eh?

[Tricia]

Eamonn--

Then I recommend reading the "Was it Really THAT Bad?" thread on this Other Media board. I think you might find some constructive criticism there ...

Regards,
LMC

[shatonska]

just watched it
many many errors , but it is normal for many reasons , too many things in too short movies among them
but in the end is the essence that matters , the essence is good but i fear people only see that it is a pro indian tv-movie (good for one side , bad for the other)

[Scout]

eamonn...are we entitled to our opnions? As history it was silly beyond words, as film making it was dreadful, the script was God awful.... Conclusion: It sucked big time. But hey, you can like it if you wish.