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How the `West' was lost: Spielberg's western saga is full of holes
By Mark A. Perigard
Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - Updated: 09:01 AM EST

Steven Spielberg's "Into the West" showcases several beautiful pieces of
scenery. Too bad all the people get in the way.
The six-week DreamWorks miniseries launching Friday at 8 p.m. on TNT
purports to tell the story of how the west was settled, tamed or ruined,
depending upon your viewpoint, as seen through the eyes of several
Virginians and Lakota Indians.
But the story isn't balanced. The Lakotas are represented by Loved by
the Buffalo (played as an adult by George Leach), a shaman trying to
prevent a vision of white men killing off the prized buffalo in 1825 and
forcing his tribe to live in "square houses" from coming true. (Most of the
scenes featuring the American Indians are acted in their native tongue and
run with subtitles.)
The Virginians, as led by Jacob Wheeler (Matthew Settle), are
feckless, taking the arduous journey on a whim (as opposed to, say, seeking
a better life for themselves).
The first two-hour installment has its moments. In a great bit of
special-effects work, a buffalo hunt goes horrifically wrong and sets one
boy on a demanding path to leadership. By the end of the premiere, the
Virginians and the Lakotas are linked by a couple borne from the aftermath
of tragedy.
But the second installment sends "Into the West" right off the cliff
as the horse opera tries to be all things to all 19th century people. A
wagon train caravan to California suffers every calamity but a horde of
flying monkeys. The voice-over narration becomes a comic irritant. As one
doctor tries to save a woman suffering from gangrene, Jacob intones, "Took
an hour and a half for him to hack through the bone, but by that point,
Rachel had died." The episode ends on a twist right out of daytime's "The
Bold & The Beautiful."
Like those great trashy miniseries from the '70s, "Into the West"
features a number of recognizable faces in small roles. Gary Busey has all
of two minutes of airtime this week, and it feels like a half-hour too
much. Beau Bridges shows up next week looking as if he pilfered the
wardrobe of the Mad Hatter from a regional production of "Alice in
Wonderland."
The writers are unable to carry the miniseries' generational scope.
Relationships develop, shift and end offscreen. One woman falls in love
with her kidnapper. Another seems to be a broodmare, a new baby popping up
with almost every appearance.
TNT is promoting the heck out of the miniseries and is airing each
installment several times a weekend. (It is worth noting that Spielberg
produced but did not direct the miniseries.) If you hear the siren call of
"Into the West," just back up slowly and move in the other direction.

"Into the West." Series premiere Friday at 8 p.m. on TNT. One star (out of
four).