The Way West (1995)

Director:

Ric Burns

Writer:

Ric Burns

Stars:

F. Murray Abraham, Stephen Ambrose, Russell Baker

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
F. Murray Abraham	...	Voice
Stephen Ambrose	...	Himself
Russell Baker	...	Narrator
Charlotte Black Elk	...	Herself
Philip Bosco	...	Voice
Dee Brown	...	Himself
J.D. Cannon	...	Voice
John Carter	...	Himself
Sam Elliott	...	Voice
Ian Frazier	...	Himself
Rodney A. Grant	...	Voice (as Rodney Grant)
Graham Greene	...	Voice
Michael Her Many Horses	...	Himself
Holly Hunter	...	Narrator
Gene Jones	...	Voice

Storyline

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 May 1995 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

360 min

Color:

Black and White Color

User Reviews

Hippie-tipi claptrap

Beautifully produced documentaries with a moronically romanticized view of USA as the result of evil white people's transgressions against the peace-loving native Americans are a dime a dozen, but this takes the prize as the most idiotic. At one point, a native American interviewee rejects the 'charge' of the Indians being nomads with the words, "we weren't nomads - we knew where we were going" - as if nomads didn't. Another native American interviewee asserts that Indians lived together like one family before the white man came. Yeah, right. A highly dysfunctional family, then, straight out of Strindberg, killing each other at the drop of a feather - and who (although the Indians never claimed ownership of the land, as we are REPEATEDLY told in this film) lead bloody tribal wars that drove them to and fro across 60 million acres throughout thousands of years. Let's stop wailing, please, over people who simply lost to other people who were better at their own game.

For a more historically correct view of the west, I can recommend "The Great Indian Wars." It is downright hideously produced, drowsily narrated (although with occasional interviews that are very good), and on the whole a tacky TV production, strangely fussy about details - BUT: for historical accuracy and objectivity it is unmatched.