Hatfields and McCoys: Bad Blood

Having no idea if the intent of this production is to ride the coattails of the History Channel's "Hatfields & McCoys" mini-series one has to think so. Obviously that one raised the current day brand recognition to an all time post WWII height, why not make a few lousy dollars?

Sadly, this seems to be the the purpose of this "K-Mart" version of the tale. I suppose if it wasn't up against the superior History Channel treatment it may look like a much crisper (almost too clear 16:9 production reeks of HD videotape, i.e., no film soft grain) 1970's ABC "Movie of the Week", but since many viewers will be watching this after seeing the far superior Kevin Costner version it pretty much is laughable.

In addition to the bargain basement production values we get a much different story. I know from research that The History Channel deviated somewhat, but here we have a very topical story with seemingly even more deviation. There just ain't any meat on these bones and the bones themselves are broken. In the back of my mind I get the feeling Jeff Fahey might have been quite good if given more to work with...That's about all I can say as the other performances were less than "phoned-in" to coin a phrase.

O.K., it's watchable if somewhat laughable. That's the only reason I give it a 3 (full disclosure: If I had paid to see it the rating would be less). I don't know how much they paid Christian Slater for his meager role here, but seriously are infomercials next?

"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-.

Maybe this movie suffered from the misfortune of my already having seen Kevin Costner's version of the Hatfields and McCoys because it caused me to want to learn more about the events that actually occurred. Sadly, this version failed to make it even to "B" status. This version was so pared down that they messed with a lot of the facts: -Johnse Hatfield did not stay with Rosanna McCoy but under pressure from his family abandoned the relationship. He later married her cousin Nancy McCoy who then left him for Bad Frank Phillips -Randall's wife did not get killed when the house was attacked by Jim Vance; she was driven insane -Ellison Hatfield was not stabbed by two McCoy's but 3 (Tolbert, Pharmer and Bud), who were all then summarily shot by Jim Vance and company upon his death -Bad Jim Vance was not killed by Anse but by Frank Phillips I could go on but I think you get the point. The ending with Johnse showing up with a pregnant Rosanna was just the icing on the cake, trying to have a happy, fairy tale ending where they are one big happy family. The best thing about this version is that they did NOT extend the movie to go onto other events such as Floyd Hatfield's hog, Cottontop being hanged for Alifair McCoy's murder, the Battle of Grapevine Creek, etc.

As far as the acting went, there were no winners here. A lot of the dialogue seemed forced and it failed to stir the least bit of emotion in me to identify with anything the characters went through. Given the choice between the two, go with the Costner version every day of the week.

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!

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.