Into the West

I don't care what people are saying in their complaints about this movie, like it being a "watered-down version" of the real thing. If this is truly watered down, it is truly touching and dramatic on the issues of what became of the TRUE American people who have settled this continent for centuries long before Europeans ever knew this continent and such a people ever existed, long before they ever got the guts to cross the unknown Atlantic for fear of "falling off the edge of the earth."The fate of those who made this their home were to be forced against their will to live in "concentration camps" designated by government officials who didn't give a crap about the Native Americans, or dare to understand that the land they were being told to farm on wouldn't be sufficient to support even a single generation, or to be forced off of it anyway by white settlers and gold prospectors. But the U.S. government never called them prison camps, just "reservations," which to me is a watered-down version of what their true definition was.This movie covers the times from 1826 to 1890, seen through the eyes of two American families, one of them NATIVE American. In the beginning, you see a young American boy from Virginia trekking through the unknown with other mountain men, like Jebediah Smith, in their quest to see the Pacific. By 1880, those unknown lands are long gone, railroads spanning the entire length of the country in a way never thought possible by earlier generations. The buffalo are nearly extinct, and the Natives who lived off these lands and respected the presence of the buffalo, forced to live a meager existence on "reservations" even to this day. I would have liked to have seen a coverage of the Trail of Tears in here, the 1836 exiled march of Indian tribes off their Georgia lands and to Oklahoma Territory, but what they didn't cover was made up for in other scenes of outrages done against the people who lived here before us and are more AMERICAN than we are.Like how in the 1850's, a small U.S. Army contingent opens fire on a Native American encampment after their idiot officer accuses the tribe of "stealing a cow" from a Mormon pioneer train, and their only way of communicating this to the Indians is through a drunk translator who isn't even capable of translating the Indian chief's offer to pay for the cow. The translator and all 30 Army soldiers were killed in this small fight that followed, and I was kind of actually rooting for the Indians here.In 1864, an encampment full of innocent Indians is slaughtered by more than 700 U.S. Army militia at Sand Creek, Colorado, despite the fact that the chief was flying an American flag due to earlier promises given to him that his people would have no harm come to him if he was to display that flag. This movie put great detail into that!In 1874, despite an 1868 treaty giving the Black Hills of South Dakota to the Sioux tribe, a small amount of gold is found in the Black Hills by prospectors illegally trespassing onto that land, and the U.S. Army does little to enforce that treaty, while the government seeks to twist the treaty around and tries to run all the Sioux off that land anyway. And any Sioux who protest this treatment and doesn't report to their prison camps are to be declared hostile by January, 1876. The U.S. Army sure got what was coming to them at the Little Big Horn! And all because Lt. Colonel Custer, when advised by his General in person to have his 7th Cavalry Regiment wait for the reinforcing troops, replies, "No, sir, I will not" before riding with his troopers in a charge for glory on June 25, 1876. We all know what happened next.In November, 1890, a stupid U.S. government reservation agent mistakes harmless "Ghost Dancing" to be an uprising by Sioux members who are simply praying and dancing to their ancestors for guidance in their struggle to survive, and sics the U.S. Army on them. 350 Sioux are slaughtered at Wounded Knee Creek, and their bodies are unable to be retrieved due to the snowstorm that follows.This movie really is an eye-opener and if this is the "watered-down version" of what TNT really had, then it is one of the best I have seen so far!

We were made aware of this film, which is a 4-part series and I decided to get the DVD. We have enjoyed every minute of this Epic about the west and the way the Indians survived despite the "invaders" taking their buffalo, their lives and their land. This is very well-done series with great actors. Not really a documentary but follows the history and tragedy of the west very well. I highly recommend it

The mini series is great but sad. But there are parts missing. I went to rewatch again and noticed there’s no part 6. And it’s been cut Hoping to get the blue and hope it is all on there.

So far so good, I recommend this dvd,

How do I get the other series to this? This is not a complete set. I love this DVD set though; great acting.

I bought this on October 30 because I remember watching it 20 years ago and loved it and noticed that there were some episodes we did not see .So I went back and realized that we were only playing one episode per disc. There’s two episodes each on the first three disc and then the last disc is just bonus stuff, so make sure you play each episode on each disk you have to scroll down to the next title to play the second episode on the disc.

not sure what that other guy is going on about this isn't woke garbage.all peoples involved are presented with a variety of indivduals from saintly to flawed to down right evil. certainly there are inaccuracies but it is a work of fiction and of course the primary protagonists will mostly be good and the antagonists mostly bad, though several antagonists are good and well meaning only short sited or overly blunt. towards the end yes most of the antagonists are white but by the late 1800s that's about all that was left.even shows how many of problems were created by power hungry politicians and false media narratives.in the end we are presented not with good guys and bad guys, merely different people of different backgrounds trying to survive and conserve their own ways of life in a chaotic and unforgiving world that is changing faster than any of them can keep up with.

Dvd arrived on time and in very great condition

super

Love it. It showed history as it true and not whitewashed the bad treatment that the Native American suffered due to the Europeans coming into America to settle. Imbiased and based on actual historial facts.

S beautifully written and acted part of Americana but also an embarrassment to what drives America even today, GREED. All the minor references to parts of history, like the civil war, only added to the horrific abuses that occurred by business and government alike. Whether it be the inhumane treatment of the negro, the enslavement of orientals to do dangerous and mostly unpaid work, or the tragic genocide that occurred to the native Indian population because of broken treaties and horrific slaughters, this movie shows that America hasn't learned anything.While other nations have tried to address their wrongs, America still buries it's head in the false pretences that formed a great nation. The sadness I felt watching this series awoke in me a greater passion to embrace the differences in people and to respect how they can make us better. The Indian still clings to much of what was depicted both religiously and culturally and it should be a lesson for us all. So much was lost and destroyed in the search for wealth and power and the end result was loss if what could gave been significant contributions by people who died needlessly and before their times.The white race should be horrified at it's history and the mistreatment of such proud people. The damage can never be repaid and it is obvious from how politicians work today that no intent to do so will happen either. I wish all man could cherish the live of our planet the way the Indian does, as we would be better off for it. Get this series as Spielberg has created a masterpiece and a very special format to express it. It is well worth the price and even the wait doesn't seem so bad.

Into the West is a brilliant attempt to portray how the expansion and progress of white Americans into and acrossthe Plains of the USA, lead to the almost total genocide of the native tribes, who had lived in relative peace withtheir neighbours over the centuries.Executive producer Steven Spielberg, and a team of top directors and producers unfold 70 years of United Stateshistory in just 12 hours, for this brilliant TV mini series, which tells the true story of the clash of two cultures, the whiteincomers and the Native Americans through the eyes of two fictional families, the Wheelers and a family of Lakota Sioux.Forsaking the Hollywood spin and unreality, we see as much of the historical truth as the writers could determine it.I found the way that the makers of this series juxtaposed the story of the Wheelers, a family of Wheelwrights ormakers of wheels for carts,and Conestoga covered wagons, with the Lakota medicine wheel or "wheel of life" verypoignant throughout.It would be unfair to pick out just one or two cast members for the quality of their acting as everyone seemed to givetheir all, I was much taken with those that played the Lakota tribal members, for they had to learn or re-learn Lakota,the language of their ancestors.The series takes a detailed timeline, from the 1820's through to the 1890's, with the building of the trans-continentalrailroad being a major milestone, and the Battle of Wounded Knee a major horror. This is possibly also the only TVseries which covers the infamous, Carlisle Indian Industrial School founded by Captain Pratt under authorisation ofthe US Government, where Indian children were to be taught to despise their heritage and adopt the new progressiveways. Sadly hundreds of children died at the school from infectious diseases.Well worth watching.Issued on 4 DVD'sWith subtitles for the Hard of Hearing.Over 520 minutes viewing.Special Features on Disc 4

This is great for everyone to watch and it has some really well known actors/actresses in it. History buffs will really appreciate the accurate depictions of how the west was opened in the USA.