nigel_hawkes

I had high hopes for this but it quickly disappoints and becomes irritating with the ludicrous, artificial story of Elsa. I would like to have been an eavesdropper on the writing team-who decided, and why, to drop a 2020s gal into this Old West theme? Presumably a sop to a young, "woke" audience.

There are of course many interesting scenes in a series of such length, but the overall effect is numbing (and dragging in Disc 3) and, at times, downright infuriating/laughable (e.g. The Comanche" played by a modern American obviously too fond of the burgers! The implausible love/sex scenes tolerated by the gal's parents; the clean, colourful clothes worn by her).

I found myself comparing it to "Lonesome Dove", a series embedded in the DNA of America. Sam Elliot is the core in his grizzled role with that remarkable rasping voice, but he's no Tommy Lee Jones, bless him; nor is there any real chemistry between him and Elsa's father (who seems bored most of the time), or the Thomas character who could have compared with either the Robert Duvall or Danny Glover characters in " LD", but unfortunately the writing isn't of the calibre of the Larry McMurtry-based masterpiece. Elsa's mother (Faith Hill) is valiant throughout and compares favourably to the Anjelica Huston character's appearance in "LD".

For a series that boasts in the DVD's extras of its authenticity there are many gross inaccuracies-e.g. Horses pulling the wagons instead of oxen; the absurd "jousting" scenes with adversaries putting in killing shots one-handed with pistols on horseback; I cannot believe that there was such lawlessness in the 1880s, and the Indian menace was largely curtailed post-Custer; by 1883 the heyday of the wagon trains was largely over.

Mention should also be made of the abundant use of the "F" word, in all its inflection. It was around then of course but most oathing was Biblical-based and not in front of the ladies. I found its use here to be gratuitous, offensive and-unforgivably-not authentic.

To summarise-save a few hours of your life and watch the wonderful "Lonesome Dove". If you really relish the long haul then try the mini series "Centennial"-again, this was based on the writings of another real master-James A. Michener.

My son insisted I see this as I am a keen endurance cyclist. Watched it new September 2024, had absolutely NO prior knowledge of it.

Weird-it starts off as a jokey documentary as to how to enhance performance to compete in that 7-day mountain sportive; not sure why/how the director contacted the Russian and find it very strange that he took part and seemingly was prepared to "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" admit to being involved in nefarious activities within the state testing regime.

Then, about a third of the way in, it morphs into another documentary that almost exclusively focusses on the Olympics and mainly athletics. I was hoping that the film was going to be about doping in cycling, but apart from repeating quotes from Lance Armstrong-nothing. Nothing about blood doping, EPO use, the many different ways that testosterone can be administered, altitude "training".....

Its main focus is on alleged manipulations in the Olympics-sanctioned national testing laboratories. I found the "evidence" to be suspicious (and where on earth was WADA while all this was supposed to be going on?).

I then found it more and more implausible with its "fictional-drama" bent. We learnt that the Russian had previously attempted suicide-had he had some sort of mental breakdown that would explain his "whistle-blowing"? Are we really expected to believe that he would leave his wife and kids, all his friends and family in Russia, for the American paradise? Can one rely on "expert" advice from Canadians-they've long ago given up any pretence of independence or sovereignty with their Big Brother looming over them.

Then we get into real fiction with dark suggestions of assassinations, appropriate grim music whenever Putin is shown....

My main conclusion by then was that this was some sort of CIA-promoted conspiracy film to denigrate Russia, all part of the great geo-political game. Or maybe they were still smarting from the Armstrong/Landis/many others scandals.

A pretty good fiction film though!

Having seen many of these CFF films over the last few years-mainly courtesy of Talking Pictures TV channel-I place this one up high in my list of favourites.

Reason-for a change, there is no skulduggery, cheating, bullying, villains (and no obligatory dunking in a pond or river!), and no anxieties to be salved in the final moments. No, here we have a warmhearted little tale about an engaging "gang" of kids in post-War London doing a variety of odd jobs in amusing situations to get enough money to buy a new saw for the Dad. (They have damaged the original when constructing a rabbit hutch.)

There are two main interests I feel-filmed in crisp B&W in 1957/8 we see many London streets notable for little traffic, evidence of bomb damage, bomb sites, and reconstruction going on. The movie location websites give particularly extensive coverage to this film.

Secondly, it evokes the spirit of that time-the kids just get out there and use their initiative; adults might grumble a bit but are generally sympathetic and tolerant; workers (like scrap merchants, lorry drivers, builders) have time for the kids and can be generous. OK, there's a danger of those of us who grew up in those times having rose-coloured memories, but I can certainly recall having similar adventures; one example-when making a trolley (go kart) the chaps in a local garage cheerfully drilled some holes for us in the axle of the 'pram wheels we'd found. Imagine that happening now!

And it's heart-warming to see the gang including a girl and also a boy of mixed race-decades ago.

A quite delightful little film.