I wish I could have grown up in Montana, it's such a beautiful state and seems to be unspoiled by the rest of American culture.
Some scenes are just breathtaking in their panorama and even though I have equal vistas on my doorstep here in Vancouver, the feeling of unlimited space is very powerful.
That unlimited space?
Well the entire metropolis of Greater Vancouver is about 750,000 acres with 2½ Million people crammed in. A ranch of this importance in Montana would be about half this size (close to 300,000 acres) with only a couple of hundred residents ... so yeah I'm talking unlimited space.
They mean it when they call it "Big Sky Country"
So how did one man (and others of his ilk) get to own so much land in less than 150 years?
Well of course, they stole it from the Indians and the Indians want it back.
I would be mad too, if I was an Indian living in poverty while the white man makes billions off of my great grandfather's happy hunting grounds.
Not only that, but other well heeled Americans want to escape the fetid swamps of the crime ridden cities and live an urban cowboy life of luxury in their own log cabin, with a swimming pool and a country club to round things out. The only way for developers to carve out a piece of the desirable wilderness and chop it up to lot sizes, is to bully their way through.
And that my friends is the backdrop/plot for this superbly acted series.
Costner is unassailable in his role as the Rancher John Dutton, a no- nonsense patriarch chiseled out of Montana Rock. His family is the usual mix of screw ups and heroes but each and every one of them comes across as realistic characters.
I don't know who chose it, but the music is just brilliant with a few tracks from Jason Isbell that will knock your socks off.
I warn you that you'll be hooked if you start on episode one, and you might not see light of day for a week or two because you can't step away.
The cowboy world still lives on in Montana and Wyoming, the town centers seem to thrive, unaffected by the woes of main street America. Tractors gotta be bought, cows gotta eat, fences gotta be built, animals gotta be slaughtered, it's all business and it's wonderfully portrayed in this series.
There's a lot of violence, there's a lot of murder, but somehow it all seems to be a natural part of life in Montana, just like it was natural in "The Sopranos".
Guns are a part of life in an area where Grizzlies, Wolves and Mountain lions roam so it's no surprise that they're used to eliminate human problems too.
Almost nothing in the way of "wokeness" but I don't know if they can avoid it to the series end. We'll see
Enjoy it because it's a very rare classic from the streaming trash factories.
Some scenes are just breathtaking in their panorama and even though I have equal vistas on my doorstep here in Vancouver, the feeling of unlimited space is very powerful.
That unlimited space?
Well the entire metropolis of Greater Vancouver is about 750,000 acres with 2½ Million people crammed in. A ranch of this importance in Montana would be about half this size (close to 300,000 acres) with only a couple of hundred residents ... so yeah I'm talking unlimited space.
They mean it when they call it "Big Sky Country"
So how did one man (and others of his ilk) get to own so much land in less than 150 years?
Well of course, they stole it from the Indians and the Indians want it back.
I would be mad too, if I was an Indian living in poverty while the white man makes billions off of my great grandfather's happy hunting grounds.
Not only that, but other well heeled Americans want to escape the fetid swamps of the crime ridden cities and live an urban cowboy life of luxury in their own log cabin, with a swimming pool and a country club to round things out. The only way for developers to carve out a piece of the desirable wilderness and chop it up to lot sizes, is to bully their way through.
And that my friends is the backdrop/plot for this superbly acted series.
Costner is unassailable in his role as the Rancher John Dutton, a no- nonsense patriarch chiseled out of Montana Rock. His family is the usual mix of screw ups and heroes but each and every one of them comes across as realistic characters.
I don't know who chose it, but the music is just brilliant with a few tracks from Jason Isbell that will knock your socks off.
I warn you that you'll be hooked if you start on episode one, and you might not see light of day for a week or two because you can't step away.
The cowboy world still lives on in Montana and Wyoming, the town centers seem to thrive, unaffected by the woes of main street America. Tractors gotta be bought, cows gotta eat, fences gotta be built, animals gotta be slaughtered, it's all business and it's wonderfully portrayed in this series.
There's a lot of violence, there's a lot of murder, but somehow it all seems to be a natural part of life in Montana, just like it was natural in "The Sopranos".
Guns are a part of life in an area where Grizzlies, Wolves and Mountain lions roam so it's no surprise that they're used to eliminate human problems too.
Almost nothing in the way of "wokeness" but I don't know if they can avoid it to the series end. We'll see
Enjoy it because it's a very rare classic from the streaming trash factories.