bob-1135 Any series that tries to paint a psychotic murdering thug like Jesse James as something of a nice guy, just isn't going to work. It tries to excuse him by saying the war changed him, no he was a terrorist during the war, not having the courage to put on a uniform he joined a group of murderous thugs who shot down unarmed Union Soldiers.(Centralia) The whole series is full of such appalling inaccuracies it is difficult to pick just a couple. Start with the firearms, all totally wrong. When you know that certain people used certain weapons why give them anything else? Billy the Kid's enemies were called The House? No they were the Santa Fe Ring whose store and headquarters was called the house. As for all the other parts of Billy's story surely the end of him was the worst. We know what happened, why completely invent this final shooting? No mention of the other major players such as McSween etc. As for Wyatt Earp whole swathes have been omitted. His problems with John Behan for example, the fact that he was married and having an affair with Mattie, but worst of all having Virgil and Morgan shot on the same night. And what about Bat Masterson and his brother Ed? Leaving them out of the story is rather like leaving the whale out of Moby Dick. A appalling mess all round and something to be ashamed of.

boblangridge-79889 Re: The American West. I normally enjoy programs like the American West and rarely challenge quoted 'facts'. However, I must take exception to one glaring error which the narrator (I believe to be Robert Redford) quotes about 20 minutes into the first program in the series. He states "from the Missouri River to the coast of California the frontier is almost 500 million square miles of wide open land". Whilst I appreciate that correct grammar is often sacrificed in order to provide the viewer with the basic facts, this statement is clearly wrong. The entire surface of the Earth is just under 197 million square miles which is well short of "almost 500 million square miles". Please keep the program factual. Bob Langridge

pipewrench_dale Would not recommend anyone to take this series too seriously. The props are lower end. Using Colt Peacemakers before they were even invented. Jesse James flashing a Colt Dragoon, just after the civil war, with engravings from the Indian wars. General Custer carrying his Colt army holster backwards. Hats are plain awful and don't look anything like they did in the west. Worth noting is that all the props seem to be cheap Pakistani made reenactor gear. Everything from hat-cords to boots. This type of gear is generally considered not up to standard among reenactors. Due to its inaccurate construction and appearance. Guns are mainly non-firing Spanish made Denix replicas.Looking at the facts they present its also debatable. As an example the description of the Pinkerton raid on the James ranch is more or less completely wrong.To summarize. A series with OK screen value but with very low historical accuracy.

clydeboyd THe American West series is a entertaining look at various stories/myths of the American West. As you can imagine Hollywood takes some literary license with the facts but does present a compelling series of one hour shows. THe series does feature well known western historians such as Dr Paul Hutton as well as other familiar faces for commentary.This is a good place to start exploring the fascinating history of the old west. Just don't take the contents of the shows for being gospel. After all, this is Hollywoods version of history.The only real detraction in the series I found was the producers repeated insistence on having commentary by actors such as Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds and other actors who make their living memorizing lines written by others. Considering that most of these people barely have a high school education, let alone any expertise in American history, it is hard to believe that the producers seriously thought that these people, as well as politicians like John McCain, would add any significant insights or information to the series. Apparently the producers take the audience for being too stupid to recognize a washed up old actor as some type of subject matter expert because he starred in a movie about the West. Putting aside that only criticism The American West is an engaging look at one of the most exciting and historically important periods in American History. I recommend it.