The Awakening Land

The Awakening Land was an excellent movie with an all star cast. Elizabeth Montgomery played her part with grace and Hal Holbrook was very convincing as the Solitary. The cast and performance was award winning. The time frame was neither to short or too long. Each sequence was well covered. The movie's setting was absolutely beautiful. The storyline was strong and very heartwarming. I have watched the Awakening Land about 5 times and have loved it each and every time. It's story is clean and depicts in such a wonderful way the struggles of early pioneer life and the triumph over adversity. The movie is full of love and adventure. It was a pleasure following Sayard and Portus through out their lives and the lives of their family and friends and how they all succeeded in what they came to this land to do, make a new and better life. I put The Awakening Land right up there with Lonesome Dove. The Awakening Land is brilliant as were it's characters.

This mini series was based upon a series of books, The Trees, The Fields and The Town, by Conrad Richter, who also wrote A Light in the Forest. I am in the process of re-reading them, and I 'see' many of the scenes I remember from the show.

This mini series was also one of my favorites, I keep wishing that it would be released on Video/DVD.

Elizabeth Montgomery did a good job of playing "Saird", the woodsy who was responsible for building a town. Hal Holbrook was believable as the Solitary. What surprised me was reading that William Macy played Will Beagle, the Bound Boy.

In vain, I keep checking to see if someone has had the intelligence to put this out on DVD......I would buy it in record time. I absolutely love this movie and am right now in the process of re-reading the books (The Trees, The Fields and The Town) for the 5th time...and will probably re-read them every two years or so - that's how good they are. The miniseries pretty much echoed the books and was a real treat. I can't believe I missed it when it was telecast again the early 90's. Elizabeth Montgomery was wonderful - completely believable as Sayward and made me a fan of hers for her all too short life. I come from "the hills of Pennsylvania" which I used to "run" as a child so felt a connection.

Holly Michaels

How many mini-series have generational staying power? Roots? OK, what else? In my case "The Awakening Land" stands by itself in this regard. The characters may be fictional, but they're woven so well with the known history of the region and era that they *might be* real. For my money this stands as perhaps Elizabeth Montgomery's most enduring performance. Its certainly the one I'll remember her for.

This is a wonderful mini-series that shows the less glamorous, but realistic side of the settling of the American Frontier. The story has an excellent cast including Hal Holbrook, Elizabeth Montgomery, William H. Macy and others. The characters grow and change as the frontier changes and gets settled. It is unfortunate that this mini-series did not get the press that some others have and has not been repeated often enough. This series is just as good as Roots but recounts a different period of American life.

I would love to see it on DVD, if you would too please vote at http://www.tvshowsondvd.com. Currently, it only has 132 votes. Studio execs do look at this site to see who would like to buy television shows.