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Released by: Warner Brothers
Released on: July 15th, 2014.
Director: Various
Cast: James Arness, Fionnula Flanagan, Bruce Boxleitner, Kathryn Holcomb, William Kirby Cullen
Year: 1979
Purchase From Amazon
The Series:
For a recap, the first season is covered here:
http://www.rockshockpop.com/forums/c...E-WEST-WAS-WON
The second season of this ambitious late 70's Western TV series finds the network fully committed to the show with a 14 episode season of which 3 episodes are almost feature movie length. And they weren't skimping on budgets or acting talent either - this season is positively STUFFED with outstanding guest stars and beautiful location shooting.
The opening episode starts with a real bang - family patriarch Zebulon "Zeb" Mahican (James Arness) is trying to stop a major war from breaking out between the American Indian Sioux nation and the US army. The incident that triggers off this conflict involves some of the series' best writing with guest star the legendary Christopher Lee (HORROR OF DRACULA, THE WICKER MAN) as arrogant Russian royalty on vacation in the old west with his clan and servants. When their racist hired tracker/guide (an almost unrecognizable Cameron "TOOLBOX MURDERS" Mitchell) unlawfully leads their buffalo hunting party on Indian lands, all hell breaks loose. Brian Keith as an army General is a standout but the real surprise is Ricardo Montalban as an Indian chief. It's patently ridiculous casting but somehow works. However, the principal cast remains the same with the main addition being actress Fionnula Flanagan as Molly Culhane (the sister of Eva Marie Saint's character from season 1).
The remaining episodes of the season cover quite a bit of ground with Zeb discovering an old lost love, his son Luke falling in with a confederate gang and foiling a gang gold shipment robbery, and a family medical emergency involving a bee allergy. And William Shatner of STAR TREK fame shows up. The most daring story arc involves Mormon visitors and a near-marriage with a pointed message about religious tolerance.
While the series certainly never lacked ambition and occasionally delivered some trite and decidedly un-PC sentiments, HOW THE WEST WAS WON was an overwhelmingly successful enterprise as a dramatic series. Arness was such an old hand at the Western genre by this point that he exudes great natural authority and the younger cast members are all quite good as well. The show makes a concerted effort to draw three dimensional American Indian characters which is a nice change of pace from more traditional earlier fare. There's also enough gunplay and action to keep the more traditional genre fans satisfied too. HOW THE WEST WAS WON may have many of the traditional trappings of a "family show", but that doesn't make it boring.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The operative word here is "decent". This was a well-shot program with a pretty high budget for the era but this full-frame transfer won't win any awards. While perfectly watchable, colors are a bit on the washed out side in some episodes. The overall print quality is mediocre but acceptable with clear but minor print damage sometimes visible. Outdoor scenes fare best and interiors worse with a tendency towards darkness that can hurt image detail.
Audio is a serviceable Dolby Digital English mono track. Dialog is clear and centered and effects do not overwhelm. Its what you would expect from a 70's TV show.
There are no extras. You do get SDH subtitles for the hearing impaired in English though.
The Final Word:
One of the best of the Western genre television programs, HOW THE WEST WAS WON may be a late entry in the genre but it was a highlight. Recommended.
