If anyone in your family loves wonderful historical drama set against the backdrop of the American West in the 19th and 20th centuries, you need to rush out and get the DVD of the 1978 miniseries "Centennial" which was released this past summer.
I saw "Centennial" for the first time when I was in high school, and it is one of my favorite series that has ever been on TV. What a magnificent job they did, telling the story of the fictional town of Centennial, Colorado over 150 years or so of history! Truly this was the finest acting job Robert Conrad ever did as feisty French fur trapper Pasquinel, and the rest of the cast, especially Gregory Harrison as Levi Zendt, were equally as wonderful.
A few years back, a miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg aired, called "Into the West." I watched that one as well, but while it was okay, it was not nearly in the same league as "Centennial." Perhaps it's unfair to compare the two since "Into the West" was only 12 hours long compared to 25 hours or so for "Centennial," and thus didn't have the same length of time to tell a detailed story. Still, there were many annoyances with "Into the West," the two primary ones being characters and storylines that just petered out with no resolution, and the jarring use of different actors to play the same roles. It seems like they didn't feel one actor could portray the same character from age 20-something to age 70-something, so they changed actors in mid-stream for almost all the major roles in the miniseries.
Contrast that with "Centennial" where Gregory Harrison portrayed Levi Zendt from about age 25 to age 70 or so, and all the other actors in the great cast (William Atherton, Barbara Carrera, Timothy Dalton, Lynn Redgrave, Richard Chamberlain) aged over the decades with their characters. Old-age makeup along with the actors actually *acting* by pretending to be middle-aged and elderly did the trick. For the most part, the old-age makeup used in 1978 in "Centennial" was fantastic, especially on Redgrave and Carrera. (They could have done a better job on a few of the others, but you could overlook it.) Couldn't actors and actresses in 2005 in "Into the West" have been made up to look older, and used their acting skills to portray age convincingly? I can't imagine someone taking over the role of Levi from Gregory Harrison halfway through "Centennial," or another actress portraying Charlotte Seccombe Lloyd after she got older the way Lynn Redgrave portrayed her.
So "Into the West" was a disappointment in several aspects, but you can't go wrong with "Centennial!" Truly a classic!
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I'm also watching both. We just recently watched Into the West again, and now are into the 4th episode of Centennial. I agree with your comments. I think both stories extend the life of there characters too long. The first moments of Into the West were great and parts of it are superior but so far, and overall, and despite the fact that it's 25 years older Centennial is better.
Curtis Kitchens
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