"Hatfields and McCoys". A Matter of Honor.Must Watch TV Says Glenn Garvin

[Johnny Dollar]

TV's best critic,IMO, says this is one cool show and not to be missed. Beginning tomorrow from 9-11 PM on the History Channel.

I'll get out of the way and let Glenn back story the incredible 19th century, West Virginia-Kentucky tale, which became America's most legendary feud.

By Glenn Garvin
ggarvin@MiamiHerald.com

“Revenge is all I got inside of me,” confides a character in Hatfields & McCoys. It doesn’t matter which one: Everyone involved in this tale of America’s most famous and deadly family feud was eventually shorn of every human thought or emotion and reduced to a walking lust for vengeance.

A miniseries airing at the same time for three consecutive nights, Hatfields & McCoys is the History Channel’s first foray into drama. (At least, the first that made it onto the channel’s screen; more on that in a minute.) It is a powerful and often heartbreaking piece of filmmaking that ponders just how thin our veneer of civilization really can be.

“Feud” seems much too mild a word for the frenzied slaughter that raged in the back country along the border between West Virginia and Kentucky during the last half of the 19th Century. Their bloody vendetta over the course of more than two decades claimed at least a dozen lives and nearly dragged their states into a war before it collapsed out of sheer exhaustion.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/2...#storylink=cpy

[Old Dog]

We recorded all three episodes so we could watch 'em straight through on a rainy weekend day ... Superb miniseries. I enjoyed the heck out of it ...

Great reproduction firearms, although many of the rifles and revolvers looked too pristine (but they were pretty).

Excellent acting. Costner's team did a terrific job of research, with the screenplay and the entire production. Wife even liked it.

[pmeisel]

Thanks, guys. My wife taped it for me and I was debating... now, it's on for the next rainy day.

[Carl N. Brown]

We DVR'd and watched skipping commercials. It was worth watching.

Part of the problems (speaking of the movie universe) appeared to be that Randall McCoy was a prideful man, quick to take offense and unforgiving even unto his own daughter.

Devil Anse Harfield on the other hand sought to make amends by whipping out a roll of dollars and peeling off greenbacks, which offended McCoy into blind rage that never abated.

[Johnny Dollar]

Opps. I am just noticing from your responses that the article I was reading by Garvin was dated May 27. My wife had saved the section ftom last Sunday while I was in Seattle,and somehow it ended up with yesterdays paper.

So I am one week late to the party and it had already aired. I feel a little dopey about that but at least Glenn's article was worth reading, and hopefully it will be run again for us that miissed it last week.

I'm sorry about that confusion.

[Carl N. Brown]

I am seeing it listed for re-run on LIFE Lifetime network Wed-Thur-Fri multiple times.

[KodiakBeer]

I missed the first hour of part one when it played on the History Channel. I'd like to catch the beginning...

My mother was a Hatfield, though she always downplayed the feud. According to her, it was more a creation of the newspapers than a real "war". And if you look at the number of deaths over the 20 or 25 year span of the actual feud, they only number about a dozen. Most of those occurred in an 8 or 10 year span in the 1880's.

Another aspect (that did seem to come across in the series), is that the feud was somewhat one-sided; The Hatfield family did the bulk of the killing, while the McCoy family (mostly) turned to the law for redress.

One shouldn't forget that this was part of a much larger picture. KY/WV were border states and the entire area was a hotbed of half-baked Union and Confederate militias that raided and looted each others farms and homes. There were revenge killings for 30 years after the war was over and the Hatfield/McCoy "feud" was just part of that.

[Johnny Dollar]

I am seeing it listed for re-run on LIFE Lifetime network Wed-Thur-Fri multiple times.

Thank you,Carl. Will catch it on Lifetime!

[JEStucker]

Available for purchase on Blu-Ray/DvD on July 31st... great series

[bruno2]

I thought the series was really done well. I dont know how accurate the account was,but,it was interesting to say the least. I thought both families were at fault for the feud going on so long. However, I did notice in the movie that the Hatfields tried to make it right and the McCoys just seemd like reckless trouble makers. A couple of the murders the McCoy family performed were just that ,murders. The one that killed the guy at the dance by shooting him in the back and was being hidden by the couple of both families deserved to be killed. As well as the three boys that killed the peaceful Hatfield by stabbing him multiple times then shooting him b/c three of them couldnt kick his butt.

I did think the half wit Hatfield that killed the daughter should have been hung and also the Hatfield that told him to shoot anyone coming out the back door should have been hung right along side him.

[Carl N. Brown]

This was actually a symptom of a bigger problem than the cartoon version of likkered up hillbillies. Weren't some of the troubles in Kansas and Missouri after the Civil War also the result of resentment/payback over "raiders" and other partisans refighting the Civil War, just like what was going on Kentucky and newly formed West Virginia in the Hatfield/McCoy era?

Looking back, I like to look at this movie in terms of the seven deadly sins especially wrath, greed, pride and envy. Ranel McCoy (torn down by wrath and envy) and Devil Anse Hatfield (oddly built up by greed and pride).

As far as the movie goes (and the history channel documentary that accompanied it), two real villians who stood out were Perry Cline*, the lawyer and sheriff who played Ranel McCoy like a fiddle, and Bad Frank Phillips, private detective and hired gun thug bounty hunter, (both propelled by wrath and greed).

*Cline lost a large tract of land to Hatfield in a court decision in 1877 and never forgave Hatfield. Since Cline historically was seen as a prime mover in the feud, his role is even bigger than the pig or Johnse and Roseanna.

[bruno2]

I kind of thought that myself Carl. Cline was trying to swindle Anse out of his timber rights on the property he was logging. Property that Hatfield bought outright. Then it looked as though Cline settled out of court with money and also some property. If Cline wouldnt have tried to swindle Anse there would have never been an issue with land trading hands in the settlement.

I thought Jim Vance was pretty evil as well.

[Carl N. Brown]

Yes, Uncle Jim Vance pushed the execution of Asa Harmon McCoy (7 Jan 1865). I am beginning to believe that without Jim Vance, Perry Cline and Frank Phillips, the Hatfield-McCoy differences would have been settled with less bitterness and bloodshed on both sides.

[thesecond]

Was waiting for the DVD.

Got it. Watching.

[Jamie B]

Was waiting for the DVD.

Got it. Watching.

If it is Netflix, don't keep it too long!!

[thesecond]

Jaime: I keep a personal queu of DVD-available films where I've read the review or on some other interest or specific aspect/scene of a film, and, if within budget, and I come across it, I buy it.

Hatfields and McCoys was on the list for awhile (no cable so missed there, but an add ran on PBS, and didn't know much beyond the passing reference to the 'feud'). I'll be watching it again.

[Jamie B]

Jaime: I keep a personal queu of DVD-available films where I've read the review or on some other interest or specific aspect/scene of a film, and, if within budget, and I come across it, I buy it.

Hatfields and McCoys was on the list for awhile (no cable so missed there, but an add ran on PBS, and didn't know much beyond the passing reference to the 'feud'). I'll be watching it again.

Ah, I see, said the blind man!

I. too, am very careful about what I buy, but I might pounce on this.

I really enjoyed the mini series!

Thanks!

[Paul47]

Wife and I watched the whole thing. Half the time we were saying, "What idiots!" Basically a history of two familes full of idiots.

[Carl N. Brown]

Turkey Alert! NOT the History Channel "Hatfields & McCoys" but has fooled people at the DVD bin and rental box.

Straight-to-DVD Bad Blood: The Hatfields and McCoys is from the production company that gave us Super Shark (Synthetic Filmworks) and I rate this H&McC movie as tactical equivalent of an "Asylum" version, although I suspect Asylum would have done a better job. It is short and the only good review at IMDb sounds like it was written by a shill for the production company. Think of Timothy Hine's production of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds (if you have not seen it you are blessed).

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_...d_mccoys_2012/

[thesecond]

Saw the DVD at Walmart, starring Christian Slater. Not uncommon, two production companies covering the same story (historically-based drama) and releasing their versions around the same time. I've been known to buy both versions to compare the angle, though not this time. (Thanks for the heads-up.)

[Jamie B]

Saw the DVD at Walmart, starring Christian Slater. Not uncommon, two production companies covering the same story (historically-based drama) and releasing their versions around the same time. I've been known to buy both versions to compare the angle, though not this time. (Thanks for the heads-up.)

With Wyatt Earp and Tombstone, both were interesting.

[Jamie B]

They are running the series on History Channel today starting at 4:00pm.

[Carl N. Brown]

Re-watched my recording from last time (w/o commercials) and I can't help but believe Ol' Ran'l McCoy came back from the Civil War with a bad case of post traumatic stress disorder. Probly old Devil Anse Hatfield had a tetch too.