Spoilers!
I was not as thrilled with this mini-series as the other reviewers. I love historical epics and had high hopes for this one. I missed Centennial when it came out so I was delighted to see all of the popular TV actors of my era again.
Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in this production. It went downhill from the intro when Michener walked out on stage to talk to the audience (ala Walt Disney).
The story was dry and plodded along so slowly, it was almost painful.
The only bright spots were the brilliant acting of Barbara Carrera and Michael Ansara. Richard Chamberlain was quite good as well.
Robert Conrad (French Canadian trader) was so blatantly overacting, it was embarrassing to watch; forced garish laughter and singing; simple dialogue over enunciated; forced phony bravado. If his acting hadn't been so awful, it would have been laughable.
Every major character's life was filled with tragedy from beginning to end; worse than any soap opera. Only the crooked, deceitful, or murderous characters ended up with long successful lives and natural deaths.
Every decent, honest character suffered endless tragic lives and died a senseless, depressing and wholly unnecessary death. The more honest and innocent the character the more terrible fates which befell them.
The entire film was filled with depressing tragedy from beginning to end. Every storyline was filled with backstabbing, nasty crooks; none of which were held accountable for any crime they perpetrated. All of the crooks ended up as prominent citizens with long lives and natural deaths.
So basically, if you were a bad guy, you got a long, successful life with very little strife and a natural death. If you were a decent, honest person, then you had nothing but tragedy and a horrible, unnecessary death.
My opinion of the quality of production has nothing to do with Michener's message. I heartily agree regarding the intolerable brutalization and killing of our native Americans and the stealing of their lands; the destruction and extinction of so many species of wildlife; the hordes of murderous, thieving thugs and every kind of rotten lowlife imaginable descending upon the wilderness and prairies looting, cheating and killing. Our ancestors should have been ashamed at how the native Americans and minorities were savagely brutalized, killed and robbed of their land and heritage by crooked politicians, crooked Laws and crooked soldiers. Unfortunately, we still have crooked politicians and rampant corruption today. No one should try to make light of the ugly truths in our history. Nor should it be whitewashed or squelched or suppressed by those with agenda's. We cannot learn from our mistakes if we don't first teach what mistakes were made.
Episodes skipped huge gaps in time and were poorly segued; causing enough confusion to make you wonder if you missed an episode. A terrible job of screen writing and directing.
Andy Griffith was awful. He was cocky and overacting even in his gait and overly animated head movements while talking.
Disk 4, began frequent repetitive flashbacks throughout the last 6 episodes. This was in addition to the narratives at the beginning of every episode catching us up on what had happened on previous episodes.
We also had to endure long credits of more than 50 actor's names at the beginning and end of every episode.
Even worse was the terrible music score. It was just irritating noise but we had to listen to it on the opening and closing credits of every episode. The DVD's were poorly indexed making it impossible to skip past the credits.
The makeup used in the aging process on the actors was flat and dingy like tempera or wall paint. Without sheen, the skin looked dead and fake. The aging appliances would have appeared quite believable if they had added a sheen and faded the skin coloring instead of darkening it.
The final episode suddenly jumped from 1930's dust bowl to a 1970's version of "Barnaby Jones" with Andy Griffith court trials, newspaper reporters, a sinister intrigue with the "baddest" bad guy in town who's hiring thugs, killing and hiding skeletons, etc. This final episode jumped 40 years in the future and did not fit the movie. It really looked as it they had stuck an episode of "Barnaby Jones" on the end and added Sharon Gless as a reporter just like her role in "The Revenge of the Stepford Wives." This last episode did not even look like it belonged as part of the series.
The director also endeavored to make the huge cattle ranch look like the movie "Giant" where there is this enormous, grandiose mansion on a totally flat barren wasteland. People still think Texas looks like that stereotype.
They did do a good job depicting the dust bowl. While I had heard about the details, this was the best visual depiction I have ever seen.
Unfortunately, this movie was just poorly written, directed and poorly acted (which I believe is also due to the directing). It was nonstop crooks, thieves and killers preying on any decent person who set foot on the trails, wilderness and settlements. The story was presented so terribly lopsided, it was like a "how to do it" guide for crooks.
The mini-series "John Adams" dealt with similar negativity and strife concerning the events and individuals involved with the founding of our country. Yet it was a brilliantly written, produced, directed mini-series with top-notch acting.
Centennial does have some educational merit for depicting the settling of the west in a more realistic manner.
I was not as thrilled with this mini-series as the other reviewers. I love historical epics and had high hopes for this one. I missed Centennial when it came out so I was delighted to see all of the popular TV actors of my era again.
Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in this production. It went downhill from the intro when Michener walked out on stage to talk to the audience (ala Walt Disney).
The story was dry and plodded along so slowly, it was almost painful.
The only bright spots were the brilliant acting of Barbara Carrera and Michael Ansara. Richard Chamberlain was quite good as well.
Robert Conrad (French Canadian trader) was so blatantly overacting, it was embarrassing to watch; forced garish laughter and singing; simple dialogue over enunciated; forced phony bravado. If his acting hadn't been so awful, it would have been laughable.
Every major character's life was filled with tragedy from beginning to end; worse than any soap opera. Only the crooked, deceitful, or murderous characters ended up with long successful lives and natural deaths.
Every decent, honest character suffered endless tragic lives and died a senseless, depressing and wholly unnecessary death. The more honest and innocent the character the more terrible fates which befell them.
The entire film was filled with depressing tragedy from beginning to end. Every storyline was filled with backstabbing, nasty crooks; none of which were held accountable for any crime they perpetrated. All of the crooks ended up as prominent citizens with long lives and natural deaths.
So basically, if you were a bad guy, you got a long, successful life with very little strife and a natural death. If you were a decent, honest person, then you had nothing but tragedy and a horrible, unnecessary death.
My opinion of the quality of production has nothing to do with Michener's message. I heartily agree regarding the intolerable brutalization and killing of our native Americans and the stealing of their lands; the destruction and extinction of so many species of wildlife; the hordes of murderous, thieving thugs and every kind of rotten lowlife imaginable descending upon the wilderness and prairies looting, cheating and killing. Our ancestors should have been ashamed at how the native Americans and minorities were savagely brutalized, killed and robbed of their land and heritage by crooked politicians, crooked Laws and crooked soldiers. Unfortunately, we still have crooked politicians and rampant corruption today. No one should try to make light of the ugly truths in our history. Nor should it be whitewashed or squelched or suppressed by those with agenda's. We cannot learn from our mistakes if we don't first teach what mistakes were made.
Episodes skipped huge gaps in time and were poorly segued; causing enough confusion to make you wonder if you missed an episode. A terrible job of screen writing and directing.
Andy Griffith was awful. He was cocky and overacting even in his gait and overly animated head movements while talking.
Disk 4, began frequent repetitive flashbacks throughout the last 6 episodes. This was in addition to the narratives at the beginning of every episode catching us up on what had happened on previous episodes.
We also had to endure long credits of more than 50 actor's names at the beginning and end of every episode.
Even worse was the terrible music score. It was just irritating noise but we had to listen to it on the opening and closing credits of every episode. The DVD's were poorly indexed making it impossible to skip past the credits.
The makeup used in the aging process on the actors was flat and dingy like tempera or wall paint. Without sheen, the skin looked dead and fake. The aging appliances would have appeared quite believable if they had added a sheen and faded the skin coloring instead of darkening it.
The final episode suddenly jumped from 1930's dust bowl to a 1970's version of "Barnaby Jones" with Andy Griffith court trials, newspaper reporters, a sinister intrigue with the "baddest" bad guy in town who's hiring thugs, killing and hiding skeletons, etc. This final episode jumped 40 years in the future and did not fit the movie. It really looked as it they had stuck an episode of "Barnaby Jones" on the end and added Sharon Gless as a reporter just like her role in "The Revenge of the Stepford Wives." This last episode did not even look like it belonged as part of the series.
The director also endeavored to make the huge cattle ranch look like the movie "Giant" where there is this enormous, grandiose mansion on a totally flat barren wasteland. People still think Texas looks like that stereotype.
They did do a good job depicting the dust bowl. While I had heard about the details, this was the best visual depiction I have ever seen.
Unfortunately, this movie was just poorly written, directed and poorly acted (which I believe is also due to the directing). It was nonstop crooks, thieves and killers preying on any decent person who set foot on the trails, wilderness and settlements. The story was presented so terribly lopsided, it was like a "how to do it" guide for crooks.
The mini-series "John Adams" dealt with similar negativity and strife concerning the events and individuals involved with the founding of our country. Yet it was a brilliantly written, produced, directed mini-series with top-notch acting.
Centennial does have some educational merit for depicting the settling of the west in a more realistic manner.