Hatfields and McCoys: Bad Blood

"I don't plan to out gun them, I plan to out kill them." After a son of Anse Hatfield (Fahey) is attacked by a member of the McCoy family a feud is begun. The Governor of Kentucky (Slater) sends his deputy Frank Philips to try and stop the fighting before its too late. I will do my best not to be biased on this one, but I did watch the History Channel series before this one. For some reason there are a lot of movies that come out that are very similar back to back. Examples like "Deep Impact" & "Armegeddon", "Tombstone" & "Wyatt Earp", "Mirror Mirror" & "Snow White and the Huntsman". This one is no exception as this one is released less then a week after the Costner one aired. Of all the movies I listed there is always one that is way better then the others. Unfortunately this is the lesser of the two Hatfield movies. The budget and acting aside the stories are so unlike the other that I have no idea which one is right. While the Costner one made me want to learn more about the history of the fight this one just made me want to watch the other one again. Overall, maybe if I saw this one first my opinion may be different but the History channel series was a hundred times better. I give it a C-.

To enjoy this movie, first, disregard any facts you may possess about the Hatfields and McCoys and, second, release any expectations of realism. Then just take the ride. I did appreciate the acting, the Kentucky scenery, and the wonderful music. I thought Jeff Fahey and Perry King were very good as the family heads. This is not the real story of the feud, but it is a story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It makes sense and is easy to follow--because it is a condensed, pared-down, dummied-down, made-for-TV kind of movie. It uses the bare minimum of family members, relationships, and events. Don't bother comparing it to the outstanding Kevin Costner mini-series. Just take it for what it is, and you might see it as the hour and a half of escapism that it is. Not terrible. . . .

I THOUGHT I was getting the Hatfields and McCoys with Kevin Costner etc. and didn't realize this was a different version. This was SO lame. Bad, awkward acting, horrible costuming and sets, anachronistic dialogue. Everyone looks perfectly clean, I think I saw a sliding glass door in one exterior of the Hatfield's house and what's with using the phrase "Don't even ..." when one of the Hatfield boys challenges his father. I was surprised they didn't talk about "bustin' a cap" in their McCoy asses at some point. This was just a poorly done production all the way around. Do not waste your time renting this low quality, wannabe, unless you WANT a good laugh. My son and I just wrote our own lines as we watched and laughed a lot!

It was as if the director picked the worst actors he could possibly find and then told them they only needed to give 10%. The best actor was the mute girl. The best part about the movie was the fact that the producers ran out of money and could only afford to stretch the film to 75 minutes. Christian Slater needs to stop doing western movies. He is actually ruining what could be good shows. I don't know if Sean Flynn or Kassandra Clementi have ever attended an acting school but if they did they need to get their money back and possibly sue the university. I would recommend this movie to anyone who has at least 200 hours a week to spare.

Where do I even start with this movie. This movie was so bad and wrong from the start. Asa McCoy was Randells brother not son. As a Hatfield myself I know the history between the Hatfield n McCots fued. It was really hard to watch this movie. There wasn't much that was correct in this movie. It needs to be moth balled. I have always like Fahey as an actor but I might have a hard time watching him in another movie again. The story about Johnse Hatfield and Rosanna McCoy is the furthest from the truth. I wonder what the writers, directors and producers were thinking when they filmed this movie. I don't believe they cared at all about the truth. This would be better as a comedy than a drama. It is evident that no one researched the history of this fued. The more I watched it the funnier it got. I'm surprised that the movie got the states right for each family. I can't understand how come some of these actors took these roles. Of course I do have to give the writers credit for having Asa McCoy as Yankee during the Civil War. I guess I forgot about that.