Legends of the Fall (Special Edition)

Product Description

An epic adventure of brotherhood and betrayal, Legends Of The Fall" is a powerful story about a close-knit family which is forever changed when the youngest of three brothers brings home his dazzling bride-to-be, inadvertently sparking passions and creating a rivalry.

System Requirements:
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond, and Henry Thomas.
Directed By: Edward Zwick.
Running Time: 134 Min., Color.
This film is presented in "Widescreen" format.
Copyright 2000 Columbia TriStar Home Video.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

A box-office hit when released in 1994, this sprawling, frequently overwrought familial melodrama may get sillier as its plot progresses, but it's the kind of lusty, character-based epic that Hollywood should attempt more often. It's also an unabashedly flattering star vehicle for Brad Pitt as Tristan--the rebellious middle son of a fiercely independent Montana rancher and military veteran (Anthony Hopkins)--who is routinely at odds with his more responsible older brother, Alfred (Aidan Quinn), and younger brother, Samuel (Henry Thomas). From the battlefields of World War I to his adventures as an oceangoing sailor, Tristan's life is full of personal torment, especially when he returns to Montana and finds himself competing with Alfred over Samuel's beautiful widow (Julia Ormond), whose passion for Tristan disrupts the already turbulent Ludlow clan. Under the wide-open canopy of Big Sky country, this operatic tale unfolds with all the bloodlust, tragedy, and scenery-chewing performances you'd expect to find in a hokey bestselling novel (in fact, it's based on the acclaimed novella by Jim Harrison), but it's a potent mix that's highly entertaining. Not surprisingly, John Toll won an Academy Award for his breathtaking outdoor cinematography. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

A Great movie, So Badly Marketed........2007-09-15

When this movie first came out the trailer was full of the characters talking about overseas politics and looking so stuffy I thought this was another ponderously BORING Merchant Ivory movie and you know those NEVER move along.Being that Anthony Hopkins has been in so many M/Ivory movies, I thought this was another knock-off and I stayed out of the theatre. I didn't see Legends until it came onto Cable.If it had been marketed correctly I would have PAID to see it 10 times!

Wow! Just about my favorite all-time movie! It starts a little slow, but builds such an emotional momentum that you're left drained at the end!
Brad Pitt did an excellent job of acting. Cutting out your brother's heart so his spirit can get to heaven and feeling eternally guilt-ridden and self-destructive because he couldn't save the brother is a tough acting role. The photography is postcard beautiful all the way through and the music score has popped up everywhere because of its incredible beauty. The plot of this movie you can't guess; it goes places you never would expect, places that make you gasp with surprise.

This is the way movies should be made, but alas, I think those days are gone to be replaced by the immature comic book culture we have now.

I bought the book hoping to read more about these fascinating character, but the book was a short story which was only basically an outline. What an incredible job the screenwriters did in fleshing out very psychologically intricate and complicated characters. Much better than the book could every aspire to! All of the actors were perfectly cast. Aidan Quinn as the control freak Alfred; I could see why Susanna blew her brains out after she came back from being finally spurned by Tristan only to get the 3rd degree by Alfred when she got home. Quinn did a great job depicting a man eaten by jealousy of his brother and suspicion of his wife.

This is not a chick flick. It's for all thinking people who love an extremely well-crafted movie and a fantastic emotional roller coaster ride. Having not attended ONE movie this year because of sequels, remakes and just plain drek, I wish, wish,wish we could get another movie this great!

Great Film!!!.......2007-08-20

Touches all levels of emotions, along with enough masculinity to support "not just another chick-flick"

A bigger than life story that merits the title - Legend.......2007-08-15

I never saw this movie until this year when a friend brought the DVD to my place saying how much he liked the movie. I thought it would be more of a sappy melodrama, but I ended up liking it so much that I have added it to my library of favorites. Three brothers, the love of a father and being in love with the same woman mix together in this movie to form a bigger than life story that merits the title - Legend.

The filming is excellent, taking us through some beautiful country and I think Brad Pitt's performance is one of his best. The emotions he goes through to show his character's passion for living and for his family drew me in until I was completely wrapped up in the story. I liked how it is told in the voice of a Native American in the tradition of his people, thus forming the legend of the man who's spirit is kindred to a Grizzly Bear. I would have liked to see the love interest, Susannah be a stronger woman, but then the trials that the family goes through would not have been the same if such were the case.

Anthony Hopkins is one of my favorite actors and this movie shows off his skills well, infusing the character of the father with both humanity and a toughness that provides depth and interest throughout.

Three brothers and one woman under the Big Sky country........2007-06-17

This movie is an epic tale told of three brothers and one woman in Montana in the first part of the twentieth century. The youngest brother comes home from college with a beautiful woman on his side. She falls for the middle brother Brad Pitt, who is not altogether interested. The oldest brother falls hopelessly in love with her. This movies plot does get convoluted and confusing at times. The tortured soul that is the middle brother is a model for narcissistic ego maniac. It does have beautiful cinematography, and the story and the characters are interesting enough to keep your attention. The problem I have with the movie is that it does just get too bogged down with its own story. Overall it is fun to watch and I recommend it.

Love, betrayal, and drama..........2007-05-16

The beauty of the countryside in this movie is magnificent. The Rocky Mountains of Montana in the early 1900s must have offered challenging experiences as people wrestled with the elements.

The movie is the story of a man, played by Anthony Hopkins, who has three sons and is abandoned by his wife. So he sets out to raise these three boys and at some point writes to his wife to say... I know how to guide men through war, but this is much harder...

Anthony Hopkins plays the role of Colonel Ludlow, discharged from the war because he wanted to regain some sanity. Therefore, he hates government, he despises the drive to conquer and fight over land, and is highly protective of Indians.

This family of men lives out in the wilderness, therefore, nature is the chisel that forms the character of the three boys. They are very close and the oldest two, played by Brad Pitt and Aidan Quinn, are extremely caring and protective of their younger brother, played by Henry Thomas.

The younger son goes away to college and there he meets Susanna, played by Julia Ormond [played Princess Guinevere in the movie First Knight]. He falls in love with her and upon returning home, brings her along to meet the family.

As she enters the life of these lonely men, she captures the heart of each and everyone. The father is delighted that a refined lady has joined them because thanks to her they read, sing, and enjoy the feminine side of life. But... the three brothers soon encounter the difficulties of jealousy, envy, betrayal and competition for the same woman.

Brad Pitt, as usual, plays the role of the man who breaks other people's relationships, breaks hearts all around, but his performance is superb as Tristan... the favorite son.

Don't miss it! A 1994 Academy winner for best cinematography, this movie offers the passionate journey into the darkest secrets of love, betrayal, and families.

Average customer rating:

A great Native American film
A POIGNANT TALE OF YOUTHFUL PAIN AND FORGIVENESS
Smoke Signals
Authentic Portrayal of Reservation Life
Perhaps the Best Native American Movie

Smoke Signals
Starring: Adam Beach , Evan Adams , Irene Bedard , Gary Farmer , and Tantoo Cardinal
Director: Chris Eyre
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 6305428417
Release Date: 1999-09-28

Amazon.com

Based on a couple of short stories (from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven) by Sherman Alexie, Smoke Signals is a lean and assured feature that speaks well of its lengthy, rich evolution, including a development stint at Sundance. The first feature made by a Native American crew and creative team, the film concerns two young Idaho men with radically different memories of one Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer), a former resident of the reservation who split years before and has just died in Phoenix. Arnold's strapping, popular son, Victor (Adam Beach), remembers him best as an alcoholic, occasionally abusive father who drove off one day and never came back. By contrast, Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams), whom Arnold had saved from certain death years earlier, has chosen to exaggerate the man's life and deeds in a mythmaking fashion that drives Victor crazy. Circumstances bring the two together, however, in a bus ride to retrieve Arnold's ashes. There, in Phoenix, a confrontation with the reality of the dead man's fullest legacy has a profound effect on both characters. Alexie, who wrote the script and was personally involved in all aspects of the production, and first-time director Chris Eyre are so polished in their approach that you can barely feel the cinematic engine at work here. This is the kind of movie in which the characters seem to be driving everything forward, a captivating and pleasant experience that gets a little too tidy at the end (can we call a moratorium on scenes of human ashes lovingly disposed to the winds?), but which is undeniably moving. The cast, including Irene Bedard (the voice of and physical inspiration for Disney's Pocahontas) is outstanding. --Tom Keogh

Description

Critically acclaimed as one of the best films of the year, SMOKE SIGNALS was also a distinguished winner at the Sundance Film Festival! Though Victor and Thomas have lived their entire young lives in the same tiny town, they couldn't have less in common! But when Victor is urgently called away, it's Thomas who comes up with the money to pay for his trip. There's just one thing Victor has to do: take Thomas along for the ride! You're in for a rare and entertaining comic treat as this most unlikely pair leave home on what becomes an unexpectedly unforgettable adventure of friendship and discovery!

Customer Reviews:

A great Native American film.......2007-08-27

"Smoke Signals" is funny and poignant, one of my all-time favorite films. Not your typical "buddy flick", that's for sure.

A POIGNANT TALE OF YOUTHFUL PAIN AND FORGIVENESS.......2007-08-25

"Celebrate the comedy that had audiences and critics cheering!" the CD jacket says ...
I have to ask - did the critic who wrote that see the same film I did?
What I saw was by no means a comedy. There was none of the cheap, cotton-candy, "feel good and forget it" humour that we as Americans associate with that word. What I saw wasn't..... funny....

What I did see was: a powerful, poignant, painful and extremely insightful tale of the unfortunate, haunted life of one young boy and his incorrigibly upbeat friend growing up on the Couer D'Alene Indian Reservation ("the Rez") - then leaving in search of closure to the pain of a father's abandonment ... and his son's tortured unforgiveness....

This movie was a soulish, inward look at what it means/feels like to be a Native American in today's society. It is, however, much more than that: This is a masterfully told story that thoughtfully touches such powerful themes as parental death and desertion, alcoholism and fatherlessness, life as a minority, and that wayward sense of unbelonging afflicting today's capable youth who've yet to find their place in society... I was deeply touched by this film. I'm also appreciative of the fact that there is no gratuituous violence, nor any sex: two elements which, it seems, are used today as a means to assure wide audience appeal. This story needed neither, and it's a tribute to the professionalism of the film's writer, Sherman Alexie, that neither was used.

Smoke Signals was lent to me by a close friend of mine as a means to a glimpse inside his world as a Native American. I found it an enlightening, thought provoking, and emotionally stirring experience.

The film ends with this poignant monologue:

"How do we forgive our fathers?
Maybe in a dream?
Do we forgive our fathers for leaving us too often
- or forever -
when we were little?
Maybe for scaring us with unexpected rage?
Or making us nervous because there never seemed to be
Any rage there at all?
Do we forgive our fathers
For marrying - or not marrying - our mothers?
Or divorcing - or not divorcing - our mothers?
And shall we forgive them for their excess of warmth - or coldness?
Shall we forgive them for pushing or leaning...
For shutting doors - for speaking through walls...
Or for never speaking at all... or never being silent?
Do we forgive our fathers in our age - or in theirs?
Or in their death, saying it to them - or not saying it?
If we forgive our fathers....
What is left..?

.

Smoke Signals.......2007-08-24

this is one of the most enjoyable movies I have seeen as far as being different and being in a world we know not much of-The Native American Indian world-and the characters were so unique and so delightful-this film brought out so much in the characters-it was so hysterical and then so touching-such an amazing, enjoyable piece of work ! I look forward to passing this on to all my friends and Family!

Authentic Portrayal of Reservation Life.......2007-08-24

I am a non-Indian who lived and worked on a reservation in Arizona for five years. I saw this in the theater when it came out and laughed through it from beginning to end because everything in it is so true to life. Be assured this is the way it really is.

Perhaps the Best Native American Movie.......2007-06-27

I have been acquiring all of the movies I can find by and about Native Americans and their culture. This one is among the best if not THE best.

Average customer rating:

Amazing film on so many levels
breathtaken
Possibly great movie not accessible for some deaf people.
Journey to Dreams
Wonderful movie

Dreamkeeper
Starring: Jerry Dale Giroux , Michael Greyeyes , Lawrence Bayne , Wilma Pelly , and Sykes Powderface
Director: Steve Barron
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00019330O
Release Date: 2004-03-16

Product Description

A century old storyteller and his grandson, a troubled 17 year old boy embarks on a cross country journey toward self-discovery. Like Old Pete's wise tales themselves, Dreamkeeper is important and illuminating storytelling for the entire family.

System Requirements:

Colore/Approx: 180 Minutes

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

While it doesn't hold together as a three-hour TV drama, Dreamkeeper should prove enthralling to anyone interested in Native American myths and legends. A variety of tribal folklore provides the episodic thrust of this typical Hallmark production, which relies too heavily on digital effects--and the plodding direction of Hallmark regular Steve Barron--in telling the story of a resentful Lakota teenager (Eddie Spears) who reluctantly agrees to drive his wise old grandfather (August Schellenberg) from their South Dakota "rez" to an All-Nations Powwow in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Along the way, the tradition-bound elder serves as tribal "dreamkeeper" for his initially resistant grandson, who gradually realizes that his grandfather's stories--visualized through effects-laden reenactments involving all manner of magic and mystery--are essential in preserving the fading cultures of the Lakota and the several other tribes whose folklore depends on unbroken generations of oral tradition. While some of the lavishly dramatized tales can stand alone as authentic Native American myth-making, Dreamkeeper lacks the overall structure that could've given the stories a cumulative magical impact. Still, it's an admirable attempt to introduce neglected cultures into the television mainstream. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Amazing film on so many levels.......2007-09-03

This film was a true find. I had not heard of it before, but I was so pleased to find Dreamkeeper. There have been so many eloquent reviews before me, so I will just add a few things.

This film will appeal to many people with varied interests:
Fantasy film audiences will enjoy the legends and well-done special effects, bringing to life stories that rival the great tales of ancient Europe or the Middle East.

Those who want to see a film that portrays native peoples in a positive, affirming way will enjoy this. Dreamkeeper tries to be honest about modern reality as well as giving the viewer an appreciation of past traditions and their relevance to today.

I love the bonus features that the DVD medium provides. I enjoyed the production featurette and the director's audio commentary track. I would have liked to have either a second audio commentary from the author, John Fusco, or have him included in the commentary track with the director. I wanted to know more about how Fusco felt about the story that he wrote and the film, actors, etc. This was a missed opportunity.

Also, a widescreen presentation (instead of full screen) would have been preferable, and subtitles. How about a new, director's cut version with some more goodies and deleted scenes?

Finally, I think this is a film that has a long future ahead of it, as it gets discovered by more people. Because it was a made-for-cable TV miniseries, it did not get those important reviews from the theatrical release film critics, or the festival circuit exposure. As a result, it will take longer for this enduring work to find its place in the film world.

breathtaken.......2007-08-26

This movie should be seen by everone it so real my kids wouldnt move intill it was over.as a native american myself this movie has it all.an the actors were wonderful thanks to them for there work an time in this movie.wadoo (thank you) manysmiles

Possibly great movie not accessible for some deaf people........2007-08-15

My family watched the movie (they can hear), but although this movie was advertized and the box indicated it was 'captioned', we tried for 90 minutes to make the captions display. When there is no 'subtitle' menu, often the captions cannot be accessed, and there is no way to tell why or how. I tried turning 'off' my captions on the TV, turning the TV captioning to 'CC2', etc. and I gave up. I paid for a movie that is not accessible to me, and this was a huge loss, as my grandson and his Mom are Navajo, and I planned to watch this movie with them.

Journey to Dreams.......2007-08-14

I bought this Hallmark movie based on reviews here at Amazon without ever seeing it. I want to thank you for pointing this one out to me. I have always enjoyed movies about Native Americans, but this one is a modern story with a link to the past way of storytelling. A grandfather talks a grandson into taking him to a All-Nations Powwow a long drive away. He tells his grandson traditional stories to pass the time. The stories that grandfather tells are brought to life with real actors, sets, and special effects. I thought it was all nicely done. I was impressed with how many stories from a variety of nations (tribes) they managed to tell. I highly recommed this DVD. It is a steal for under ten dollars.

Wonderful movie.......2007-08-13

After watching Chris Eyre's "Smoke Signals" and "Skins", "Dreamkeeper" was certainly different - but what a treat (especially Michael Greyeyes as the Thunder Spirit - LOL)!

I wish there were more movies out there that show that there is no such thing as "American Indian culture". American Indians have always been a diverse group of people with very different languages and traditions, scattered across a vast continent with very different habitats.

Although, naturally, "Dreamkeeper" can only scratch the surface of the many different Native American cultures, it manages to convey the message that these different cultures exist and that everybody can learn from other peoples' myths and stories - if they are willing to listen.

Dances with Wolves - Extended Cut (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Average customer rating:

A story every American should see
Wonderful experience
Good Film, bad disk arrangement, what a dumb idea
Very good movie, but don't buy into all the mythology
Dances With Wolves

Dances with Wolves - Extended Cut (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Starring: Kirk Baltz , Tantoo Cardinal , Maury Chaykin , Tom Everett , and Wayne Grace
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00008PBZZ
Release Date: 2003-05-20

Amazon.com essential video

Kevin Costner's 1990 epic won a bundle of Oscars for a moving, engrossing story of a white soldier (Costner) who singlehandedly mans a post in the 1870 Dakotas, and becomes a part of the Lakota Sioux community who live nearby. The film may not be a masterpiece, but it is far more than the sum of good intentions. The characters are strong, the development of relationships is both ambitious and careful, the love story between Costner and Mary McDonnell's character is captivating. Only the third-act portrait of white intruders as morons feels overbearing, but even that leads to a terribly moving conclusion. Costner's direction is assured, the balance of action and intimacy is perfect--what more could anyone want outside of an unqualified masterpiece? --Tom Keogh

Description

A "truly spectacular" (The New York Times) film that combines action, romance and breathtaking adventure, Dances With Wolves is "a cinematic masterpiece" (American Movie Classics) that is nothing short of "a triumph" (Roger Ebert)!Sent to protect a US outpost on the desolate frontier, Lt. John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) finds himself alone in the vast wilderness. Befriending the very people he's sent to protect the outpost from, the Sioux Indians, Dunbar slowly comes to revere those he once feared. But when the encroaching US Army threatens to overrun the Sioux, he is forced to make a choiceone that will forever change his destiny and that of a proud and defiant nation.

Customer Reviews:

A story every American should see.......2007-09-10

Great scenery, great music, poignant story have the fading of the great frontier and the demise of the Souix nation - an inevitable yet tragic clash of cultures

Wonderful experience.......2007-08-16

Kabajhed enterprises delivers again. What wonderful cinematography. This is truly a classic for all times. While Costner is not always known for his acting ability, this one is a plus mark for him. I would recommend this to everyone.

Good Film, bad disk arrangement, what a dumb idea.......2007-08-09

Although the film is a good one, I had to write this bad review, not for the film, but for the DVD arrangement on this Collector Edition. The first disk is two sided and has part 1 of the movie on side 1 and part 2 on the other side. The second disk contains the special features. Whatever moron decided this was a good idea has no clue about collectors and what they look for. This should have been put on three disks or at least put the special features on the B side, so the movie could be watched without having to manually remove the disk from the player and turn it over. I have a multi-disk player so I can just put them in the player and select which movie I want to see, sort of like a juke box, but with this DVD's arrangement, that isn't possible. Out of over 400 DVD's this is the only one that does such a thing (other than having a full screen on one side a widescreen on the other, that's Ok). The problem isn't the kind of thing one can return it for, so this one will go in the reject pile while I look for a better version (probably not available).

Very good movie, but don't buy into all the mythology.......2007-08-06

Let me just get my quibble with the aura around this movie down first so that all the people who want to give me unhelpful votes will have some ammo in their guns: what about the Pawnee? This movie was credited with turning around the cinematic view of Native Americans by making them the good guy. And to a large degree it does just that, showing the Sioux through the eyes of an outsider who grows to love and respect them while spurning the decadent culture he used to be a member of. However, while the Sioux are portrayed wonderfully and humanely, the Pawnee come across just as badly as any "Red Indian" ever did in the 1950s. They scalp a defenseless man, launch an attack on a defenseless community full of women and children, make evil-sounding war cries, etc. Oh, and in Stands-with-a-Fist's flashback sequence, we learn that Pawnee massacred her whole family too. This isn't really a major problem, but it is certainly something that should be thought of before heaping so much praise on the film for its "revisionist" leanings, especially since (as far as I'm aware) the Sioux were the masters of the Great Plains rather than the Pawnee.

Nonetheless, the movie still earns a hearty 4/5 star recommendation. While I wouldn't have minded focusing a little less on Stands With A Fist and more on the more interesting Sioux characters, I recognize that this is John Dunbar's story and she represents a large part of it. The acting is very good (including a career-best turn by normally-iffy Kevin Costner), the action sequences are good verging on spectacular, and it comes to a very emotional but unmanipulative conclusion. A little long (made by Costner after all) but a nearly-great film

Dances With Wolves.......2007-07-11

Long but engrossing Western is staggeringly beautiful as it details the tragic outcome of our expansion westward: the virtual annihilation of a proud society and culture. Costner has never been better as the most conflicted of men, a U.S soldier converted to a way of life that is dying, due to the destruction and injustice wrought by his own countrymen. An outstanding achievement for Costner, as the star/producer/director took home Oscars for Best Picture and Direction.

Average customer rating:

Finally, the truth is honored.
One sided production.
It's pretty one-sided
awesome
Not as titled

500 Nations
Starring: Kevin Costner , Gregory Harrison , Eric Schweig , Gordon Tootoosis , and Wes Studi
Director: Jack Leustig
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

Documentary | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

ASIN: B0002S65WC
Release Date: 2004-09-21

Amazon.com

With six episodes spread out over four discs and a running time of well over six hours (in addition to an interactive CD-ROM filled with extra features), director-producer Jack Leustig's sprawling 500 Nations, a history of Indians in North America, is likely the most comprehensive effort of its kind ever undertaken.

Mention the word "Indian," and most will conjure up images inspired by myths and movies: teepees, headdresses, and war paint; Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Crazy Horse, and their battles (like Little Big Horn) with the U.S. Cavalry. Those stories of the so-called "horse nations" of the Great Plains are all here, but so is a great deal more. Using impressive computer imaging, photos, location film footage and breathtaking cinematography, interviews with present-day Indians, books and manuscripts, museum artifacts, and more, Leustig and his crew go back more than a millennium to present an fascinating account of Indians, including those (like the Maya and Aztecs in Mexico and the Anasazi in the Southwest) who were here long before white men ever reached these shores.

It was the arrival of Europeans like Columbus, Cortez, and DeSoto that marked the beginning of the end for the Indians. Considering the participation of host Kevin Costner, whose film Dances with Wolves was highly sympathetic to the Indians, it's no bulletin that 500 Nations also takes a compassionate view of the multitude of calamities--from alcohol and disease to the corruption of their culture and the depletion of their vast natural resources--visited on them by the white man in his quest for land and money, eventually leading to such horrific events as the Trail of Tears "forced march," the massacre at Wounded Knee, and other consequences of the effort to "relocate" Indians to the reservations where many of them still live. Along the way, we learn about the Indians' participation in such events as the American Revolution and the War of 1812, as well as popular legends like the first Thanksgiving (it really happened) and the rescue of Captain John Smith by Pocahontas (it probably didn't).

With its sometimes New Age-y music and many beauty shots of the great outdoors, 500 Nations has a rather different vibe than the average Ken Burns documentary. That may lessen its value for sober historians, but for the rest of us, this is an illuminating and important work. --Sam Graham

Description

500 Nations is an eight-part documentary that explores the history of the indigenous peoples of North and Central America, from pre-Colombian times through the period of European contact and colonization, to the end of the 19th century and the subjugation of the Plains Indians of North America. 500 Nations utilizes historical texts, eyewitness accounts, pictorial sources and computer graphic reconstructions to explore the magnificent civilizations which flourished prior to contact with Western civilization, and to tell the dramatic and tragic story of the Native American nations' desperate attempts to retain their way of life against overwhelming odds.

DVD Features:
Featurette
Introduction
Other

Customer Reviews:

Finally, the truth is honored........2007-08-23

500 Nations is an excellent, documentary.
This series is very well made and well narrated,
but most importantly, it fills in a lot of the
history of which American shcool children are never
exposed, in our primary and secondary schools.
I think every American should see this documentary.

The ancestors have waited a long, long time,
for the truth to be told and this series bares that honor.

One sided production........2007-07-23

So much effort and time went into this series, it's such a pity that the main theme is a one sided and anti "white settler" agenda. We have to imagine that Kevin Costner's lead role in "Dances with Wolves", has made him an authority on the history of the Native American peoples.
This series gave us the highly sanitized version of the lives of Native Americans; peaceful, down to earth types, totally in touch with nature and their Creator. Left out was the brutality of some of the plains indians and tribes of the South West, where rape pillage and torture were the accepted way of life.
We were told of some horrendous and unjustified massacres of Native Americans for example, at Sand Creek and Wounded Knee, but where was mention of the atrocities committed by Native Americans during the period from Jamestown to Wounded Knee?
Serious students of history know that only after researching many and varied sources, can they make credible comment on their subject.
Getting objective and accurate history from Hollywood is much like learning English Literature from a Marvel Comic. 500 Nations is certainly not objective, nor is it accurate due to its omissions.

It's pretty one-sided.......2007-05-26

Tells the history from one point of view. It would have been more fair to include all sides. I get a little tired of one segment of the human race being held responsible for all the mistreatment in the world.

awesome.......2007-05-07

This was a very well executed film series and the music is great. The truth is a wonderful thing.

Not as titled.......2007-03-11

I bought this in the expectation that it would cover the People of the "New World" as they existed before Columbus. Instead, it was basically a recap of the cruelty of the Europeans to the native populations viewed through the standards and sensibilities of today. I read 'Bury My Heary at Wounded Knee' and 'The Chronicle of the American Indian's Complaint' 30 odd years ago and being part Cherokee there was nothing new in the DVDs. Correction, there were many new things, most of which didn't happen. A good example is the DVD version of the conquering of the Aztec (Actually they were called Mexica but the DVD got that wrong as well). Read 'Conquest' by Hugh Thomas for the best book on the subject.

Dances with Wolves (Full Screen Theatrical Edition)

Average customer rating:

A story every American should see
Wonderful experience
Good Film, bad disk arrangement, what a dumb idea
Very good movie, but don't buy into all the mythology
Dances With Wolves

Dances with Wolves (Full Screen Theatrical Edition)
Starring: Kirk Baltz , Tantoo Cardinal , Maury Chaykin , Tom Everett , and Wayne Grace
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0001GF2H4
Release Date: 2004-05-25

Product Description

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

A story every American should see.......2007-09-10

Great scenery, great music, poignant story have the fading of the great frontier and the demise of the Souix nation - an inevitable yet tragic clash of cultures

Wonderful experience.......2007-08-16

Good Film, bad disk arrangement, what a dumb idea.......2007-08-09

Very good movie, but don't buy into all the mythology.......2007-08-06

Dances With Wolves.......2007-07-11

Average customer rating:

"It's a hell of a thing, killin' a man. Take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have."
The attractive murderer
Eat it!
grim reality without humor.
The best western

Unforgiven (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Starring: Rob Campbell , Cherrilene Cardinal , Beverley Elliott , Frances Fisher , and Tara Frederick
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00006FDCJ
Release Date: 2002-09-24

Amazon.com essential video

Winner of four Academy Awards, including best picture, director, supporting actor, and best editing, Clint Eastwood's 1992 masterpiece stands as one of the greatest and most thematically compelling Westerns ever made. "The movie summarized everything I feel about the Western," said Eastwood at the time of the film's release. "The moral is the concern with gunplay." To illustrate that theme, Eastwood stars as a retired, once-ruthless killer-turned-gentle-widower and hog farmer. He accepts one last bounty-hunter mission--to find the men who brutalized a prostitute--to help support his two motherless children. Joined by his former partner (Morgan Freeman) and a cocky greenhorn (Jaimz Woolvett), he takes on a corrupt sheriff (Oscar winner Gene Hackman) in a showdown that makes the viewer feel the full impact of violence and its corruption of the soul. Dedicated to Eastwood's mentors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel and featuring a colorful role for Richard Harris, it's arguably Eastwood's crowning directorial achievement. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman play retired, down-on-their-luck outlaws who pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty offered by the vengeful prostitutes of the remote Wyoming town of Big Whiskey. Richard Harris is an ill-fated interloper, a colorful killer-for-hire called English Bob. And Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Gene Hackman is the sly and brutal local sheriff whose brand of law enforcement ranges from unconventional to ruthless.

Customer Reviews:

"It's a hell of a thing, killin' a man. Take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have.".......2007-08-07

Unforgiven combines two major elements to make it the best Western ever made. First is its brutally realistic depiction of violence and killing in the Old West. Second is the situation of causing a reformed man to revisit the behavior of his past in order to survive.

There are no glorious killings in Unforgiven. This movie lays to rest the notion of high-noon showdowns or fighting for honor. Executions, ambushes, and agonizing gut-wounds are the staple methods of attack. Alcohol, pride, and gold fuel most of the violence in the town of Big Whisky. Most of the scenes with violence are very one-sided, further lending credence to this film.

The main character is almost certainly a wolf in sheep's clothing. Through the efforts of his late wife, he has been able to eliminate his psychopathic tendencies, fueled for the most part by alcohol. His sober days are blanched by regret and remorse over the people he has killed. He is for all intents and purposes an unsuccessful farmer out trying to collect a bounty. But when things go horribly wrong, he is forced to return to the behavior and actions of his past to survive. A simple man with an extraordinary past and consequently extraordinary abilities.

The attractive murderer.......2007-07-21

"Unforgiven" certainly looks beautiful, especially in HD. And I admit it is a very good film with a lot of good points, perfect timing, excellent acting, good characters, the works. And it has a lot more nuance than westerns normally have.

But I will contend that ultimately it still boils down to the same old thing: admiration for a killer.

When William Munny, in the charismatic and handsome frame of Clint Eastwood, rides out of Big Whiskey in the end, saying that if anybody hurt the prostitutes for putting up the blood money, he will come back and kill everybody, there is pretty much not anybody watching who does not feel deep in his/her gut: "my god, there is a MAN!" You just can't help it, it's in our dark nature.

And you can even see this excemplified in the admiring and longing looks given him by the writer fellow and by the prostitute with the scars, as they watch him leave.

There is no way around it: it is gut-level admiration for a man who by his own admission has killed many innocent men, and women, and children, and who killed several more just minutes ago. And the film aims for it, it is where it gets its marketing power.

I am shocked that I've been unable to find any other reviewers (professional or amateur) who really question this. It is not a "great wrong", but there's certainly nothing beautiful about it, and it needs to be recognized.

In a documentary about Eastwood, the narrator says about Unforgiven: "the sherif has tortured and killed Will's best friend. He has no choice but vengeance." And that's the exact untruth to be uncovered. There is always a choice. Violence begets violence, and he who breaks the chain, wins.

Don't get me wrong, I am not villainizing "the Clint" here. His hyper-violent movie characters are merely reflecting an important aspect of human nature. I'm just saying it's an aspect we'd do well to look at some more.

Another way to express my problem with it: if you listen to the movie, it is clearly against violence. The characters say it many times. But if you look at the movie, it is clearly for it. The violence is presented in a way so it is enjoyable. A friend of mine said that the final big gun battle was "like an orgasm".

By the way, I'm just watching the documentary about the film, and DW Peoples (the writer) does say that the reason people think it's an anti-violence movie is that most other movies are "pro-violence" in the sense that if it is the good guy doing it to the bad guy, it's OK. But that reality is more complex, and that it's often difficult to pinpoint who's the "good guy" and who's the "bad guy". Which I think is wise. You'll notice that each participant in a fight always thinks of himself as the good guy.

I will concede that within the framework of a big, popular, Hollywood movie, this film is probably as far as we can currently go towards an anti-violence movie. If you'd made a movie like this and not made the violence seductive and aesthetic, it would instantly have lost 90% of its audience. At least.

Eat it!.......2007-07-03

This is a great western. With Clint and Gene at the helm on this one, nobody can deny the quality film that this movie became. I am an avid fan of Clint's and many other amazing western films and this is up there in the top ten. People who gave this film less than 5 stars do not know what a good film is...and can go on complaining about quality films because their bad taste blinds their senses and minds to the truth that is the greatness "Unforgiven". And truly you will not be forgiven for your bad taste.

The vengeance is epic...true to old spaghetti westerns...this is a very good film.

grim reality without humor........2007-06-18

Not a fun western. Much brutishness and grimness. No wisecracking colorful sidekick to provide comic relief. No promising union of hero and maiden at the end. No pat on the back for riding the community of desperados or crooked big wheels. No indian conflicts, dramatic train or bank robberies, nor exciting gold strikes. No wagon train hoedowns nor other pleasant social events. No Mr. nice guy whose tough when he has to be. The women are all mindless abused plain-looking whores, not glamorous dance hall queens, and are ultimately responsible for all the violence in the film. This is a message film. The main point seems to be to present a more realistic picture of life and violence in the wild west than the typical western and to deglamorize shootouts and gunslingers. Another message is that alcohol(and by extension, some other psychoactive drugs) makes certain men violent or abusive. Eastwood's character was such a man.

The plot surrounds conflicting ideas of the just punishment for the face slashing of a prostitute by a cowboy customer whose manhood she insulted. The saloon owner nearly decides to shoot the cowboy, but then decides to defer to the authority of the sheriff, "Little" Bill. Bill initially suggests a whipping as being appropriate for the cowboy and his friend, who helped hold down the prostitute. But this doesn't satisfy the Madam, who demands a public hanging. The saloon keeper now demands a fine, payable to him, for damage to his "property". Bill finally decides on a fine alone. The prostitutes are incredulous at this sentence. To them this says the legal system regards them as mere property, equivalent to slaves or horses. Most viewers would probably regard a death sentence as too harsh, but a fine as too light. Perhaps Little Bill's original suggestion of a whipping would have satisfied the prostitutes after they witnessed it and there would not have been any more violence connected with the incident. This "mistake" left the prostitutes as well as most of the other town's people unsatisfied, and would ultimately cost Bill his life. The prostitutes offered a bounty for the heads of the 2 cowboys so as to achieve their idea of justice, and this initiates the rest of the action of this film. In a broader application, the complications surrounding this incident serves as a warning that even domestic insults and assaults can sometimes result in a cascade of revenge and legalistic injuries, jailings and murders, sometimes involving people quite unrelated to the original incident.

This film showcases the injustices and ambiguities of vigilante justice and its perpetrators. The reformed ex-gunslinger drunk(Eastwood), who initially took up his weapons again only to make some money to help support his children and to satisfy the revenge wishes of others, eventually tranforms himself temporarily into a drunk vigilante who murdered those not involved as well as those involved in the death of his long time partner. This is but one of several incidents of unjust killings(including at least one of the cowboys involved in the slashing).

However, we have to balance this against the frequent shortcomings of legalistic justice, including the expenses involved, frequent mistakes, the influence of money, status, race and corruption, the frequent inability to identify, capture or convict perpetrators, the endless appeals and frequent dissatisfaction with sentences as too lenient or too harsh and being carried out far too long after the crime is comitted. Both have their pluses and minuses. The popularity of films where the hero eliminates the villain in a vigilante fashion suggests that vigilante justice, when done appropriately, is acceptable to many people and often preferable to legalized justice. However, the legal establishment is reluctant to legitimize it, except perhaps in self-defense cases, which are often subject to interpretation. It recognizes the gave dangers of too frequent use of vigilante justice, besides the fact that this seriously undermines its authority.

The best western.......2007-05-15

Unforgiven is definitely my favorite western of all time. Clint directs and stars in this film. This is a must watch for any western film fan.

Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery

Average customer rating:

The Journey West
Sorty of Lewis & Calrk on DVD
Beautiful Scenery of the American West
must watch
Travel with the Corps of Discovery

Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
Starring: Hal Holbrook , Adam Arkin , Murphy Guyer , Sam Waterston , and Matthew Broderick
Director: Ken Burns
Manufacturer: Pbs Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000BITUHU
Release Date: 2004-09-28

Amazon.com essential video

Another reliably well-crafted, generally engrossing documentary from Ken Burns, Lewis & Clark employs the director's now-familiar approach to his subjects, from its elegant juxtaposition of period illustrations and portraits against newly filmed footage of historic sites to Burns's repertory of accomplished actors to provide gravitas for quotes from the key figures. Granted the formula has become familiar enough to allow parody, but Burns knows how to invest his historical investigations with movement and drama, making this four-hour journey a worthwhile trip.

As narrated by Hal Holbrook, Dayton Duncan's script explicates the agenda presented by Thomas Jefferson to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, placing it in the context of the young country's gamble in Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase, and the expedition's goals for opening the West. While preserving the heroic scale of the undertaking, Burns also finds time to delve into the politics of the venture and the disparate personalities of the two explorers; in particular, Duncan and Burns look at the career of Lewis, the presidential protégé, his moody demeanor, and his untimely death. The film also looks beyond its titular leaders to examine the personalities of their corps of soldiers, their boatmen, and the Indians they met and depended on, most notably their female Shosone guide, Sacagawea. --Sam Sutherland

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