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The Wild West
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A well presented series of docudramas.
Review date: 2007-03-08 Rating: 8 out of 10
This DVD contains three episodes, which at the time of writing are being aired on BBC television. Each of these episodes deals with a key point of Wild West history and tries to establish fact from fiction and shed new light on what actually happened.
The first episode deals with the battle of the Little Big Horn and in particular looks at the envolvement of General Custer in the lead up and during the battle. Hollywood movies and countless books have deemed this event as the one true victory for the Native American and he United States Cavalry's biggest blunder, (Custer and all his men were massacred). What the documentary tries to explain, through the help of Military Historians and a rather well stage re-enactment is that there was method in the man's madness and that Custer came very close to securing a victory.
To those familiar with the Hollywood version of the Little Bighorn this may serve as a bit of a revelation, but to those of you who have read a competent history book on the subject, in particular Custer to Crazy Horse by Stephen E. Ambrose (Band of Brothers) this is just a televised version of tha particular chapter.
The second episode deals with the legendary outlaw Billy the Kid and puts forth the argument that Billy was not the cold blooded murderer that history says he was and that the claim of twenty plus kills to his name is unsustantiated and highly likely to be untrue. In this episode one of the experts happens to be the current Govenor of New Mexico who is looking to pardon Billy the Kid for his crimes.
This episode seems to leave out key events of the Billy the Kid story possibly due to the complex nature of his story and seems to focus largely around the role of Govenor Lew Wallace in the downfall of Billy the Kid. Again the end results are nothing new and have already been written about in great detail in such texts as 'Billy the Kid,' by Robert M. Utley.
The final episode centres on Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at the OK Corral. This episode is probably the strongest of the three in that it illustrates how quickly the event took place, as the documentary declares "30 shots in 30 seconds," and looks at the fact that Wyatt is perhaps not the hero legend has made him. Again this is no big revelation and even movies such as Costner's 'Wyatt Earp' and Cosmato's 'Tombstone,' have all touched on this as have numerous history books. Perhaps where this episode falls down is that it doesn't illustrate, how insignificant this event was in the story of Wyatt Earp, dispite the fact this single event has been the plotline to many a western fiction since.
All in all this series presents some interesting facts and arguments to those whose knowledge of the Wild West has been mostly that portrayed on the silver screen. The re-enactments are the real stars of the show. Some look better than scenes from movies and the views and research from experts are kept to a minimum, making the whole thing less like a history lesson.
I gave this series four stars as found it enjoyable and intersting and for those people with an interest in Western movies this will serve to illustrate current theories and thinkings on key events of the period without the need of reading volumes and volumes of books. Above all else though it's for the re-enactments. They are well acted and look so authentic you can almost smell the gunsmoke.
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Product Details/Specifications
Recording label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
EAN: 5014503237028
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2007-03-05
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 174 minutes
Language: English (Original Language)