4/5 Excellent Series......But Not A Ken Burns Work
  by Ambergris (New England.....USA)
This series on the old west is a must have for any old time wranglers out there that still are interested in, and or long for the days of cowboys, cattle drives, and beans and bacon. Quite honestly, one does not have much of a choice these days in locating a DVD collection about the old west. Most of what's available today pertaining to that era is based on novels, and fiction. This very authoritative, visually exuberant series is well done, and very interesting throughout despite its very obvious slant toward making all white men the bad guys, and all Indians and other blood thirsty war parties slaughtering settlers and what not simply misunderstood and having no other choice. Despite its very obvious bias, its still a most powerful and immensely entertaining documentary on a fascinating, but unfortunately all but forgotten time in our nations history. One thing that should be cleared up however, is that this is NOT a documentary directed by Ken Burns like the Civil War collection that this series bears a strong resemblance too in design. Ken Burns is merely the producer. Adding Ken Burns' name to this production adds some heavy authentication and quality to the production for all those that are familiar with his superb Civil War series. Although it is in no way up to par with that collection, it is still a series well worth your time and money in these days of the vanishing prairies of yesteryear..

2/5 Ken Burns Presents The West
  by Larry D. Nichols (Springfield, VA USA)
Although interesting, The West did not even begin to match The Civil War by Ken Burns. I personally thought too much time was devoted to the Noble Savages. Much singing of the Indians was evident but absolutely nothing to explain what the singing was about. There was no coverage about the outlaws and lawmen of the West. I think that at least some information regarding this aspect of the West should have been included.

Overall a somewhat disappointing product. If I had it to do again, I would not purchase The West.

5/5 An absolutely superb and wonderful documentary.....
  by David A. Marks (Paradise, CA United States)
I recently purchased this DVD set/documentary from Amazon, even though I read the single negative review first. I have learned to sense invalid positive or negative reviews, particularly when they stand out vis a vis all the other reviews, and the reviewer who criticized this documentary was simply totally in error, as to his facts and comments!

This is an absolutely beautiful documentary, and it meets all of Ken Burns' own directoral standards, and more. But of course this would have to be the case, just in terms of basic logic, since Burns put up the money for this project.

The criticism of Peter Coyote, and of those interviewed in this documentary, couldn't be more invalid.....Coyote's voice and demeanor and attitude are all perfect for this project and I cannot imagine anyone else matching the high quality of his voice-over comments.

The experts interviewed throughout this film, are the best in the world when it comes to the history of the West (including J.S. Holliday, the premier historian/writer of California gold rush history).

As for the negative reviewer's criticism of the "panning" of some of the photos, this panning movement is done with the same high quality that Ken Burns provided when he directed his other documentaries, and is only used in specific cases, where the photograph gained value-added by the technique.

This is such a beautiful documentary set, and is done so professionally and with such sensitivity and skill throughout, that it would be a shame if any of you who are considering purchasing "The West" DVD set, failed to acquire this wonderful documentary, because of a single, off-the-wall, inappropriate, and invalid review.

But then the above comments are simply my opinion, and you the reader of these reviews, will have to judge for yourself.



5/5 The West
  by John M. Blair (anchorage,alaska)
Excellent video!! Very informative as well as entertaining.I hope you produce more of similiar quality,
Thanks again for this very informative video.

John M. Blair
15540 Blair View Circle
Anchorage,Alaska 99516


2/5 Not actually by Ken Burns... and it shows
  by punkviper (Pittsburgh, PA USA)
I am surprised people can't get their facts straight surrounding this particular series: Ken Burns didn't write it, Ken Burns didn't direct it, it is "Presented By" meaning some cash was exchanged and the venerable Mr. Burns was able to tack his name onto the proceedings. This series was directed by Stephen Ives, and written by Dayton Duncan & Geoffrey C. Ward. This fact becomes eminently clear after about 30 minutes worth of footage & realizing, "Wow, these guys really wanted to emulate the Ken Burns style and failed miserably." The story is brutally long & brutally boring, whilst simultaneously evoking not empathy for its Native American subjects but an unfortunate casual contempt at the constant PC-run-amok tone that permeates the entire program.

The narrative is carelessly chopped up & regurgitated between heaping helpings of "oh, don't you feel bad for the poor Native Americans" and "don't you see how horribly our government treated the Native Americans?" and "oh goodness, don't you just want to give back Oklahoma to the Native Americans?" I find it amazingly ironic that a series meant to evoke pride along with sympathy for a people ends up alternating between brutally boring and brutally grating. Peter Coyote doesn't have the most pleasant voice for narration, so the proceedings are hobbled by that fact. And that's before you get to the "historical experts" and various presenters: the strangest cast of outsiders, cast-offs, and weirdos ever assembled in a historical documentary. Please don't mistake me for some sort of shallow frat-boy, but every time N. Scott Momaday appeared on screen I immediately busted out laughing at his creepy stentorian tone mixed with his used-car-salesman approach to spinning tales. Some of the other folks (Native American women in particular) were downright frightening.

It is difficult to do much more than evoke pity in a documentary this long because the consistent recourse of said tribes was to withdraw back into their "sacred medicine" and "spirit journeys" which to modern ears just sounds infantile and silly. So during passages where the authors are attempting to emphasize the difficult plight of the Indians, you're attempting to keep a straight face. Every once in a while they will drop events of actual historical significance... done poorly. It doesn't take a movie critic to immediate tell that this is NOT done by Ken Burns, it is done by people imitating Ken Burns BADLY.

And speaking of The Man himself, i l-o-v-e-d The Civil War, i l-o-v-e-d Jazz, and Ken Burns' Baseball is hands-down the finest TV series ever made about anything (as a baseball fan, i might be biased,) but The West was a series that i actually dreaded watching. I had to watch every episode to get the whole feel, but in addition to inspiring fits of laughter at inappropriate times, i fell asleep at least twice. If The Civil War, or Jazz, or Baseball is on then i am at full attention and enraptured. With The West i feel like Sally Struthers is going to bust in the room and demand i pay some Lakota woman's college tuition for the sins of my presumed forefathers. It's enough to make me wince.

I'd love to know what people think is so great about this series because I think it's unfortunate trash. Right down to the grainy new-age landscapes they use as backgrounds & the ripped-off attempt at Ken-Burns-style slow-pans across grainy photos (note to filmmakers: it helps if the photos are interesting & actually assist in telling the stories instead of just panning for panning's sake.) Westward expansion is usually underrepresented in the history books, and once in a while you will get a nugget of interesting info, but if you came here looking for history you will be sadly disappointed. BUT, if you came here for unintentionally hilarious melodrama, told by scary shut-ins and presented with pointless grainy photos & bad new-age visuals, brother you came to the right place! Personally, i will watch no more forever.