Last night I watched the third and final part of The Hatfields and the McCoys, the History Channel’s first foray into scripted material, which drew impressive ratings for a cable show. It features a host of seasoned pros: Kevin Costner, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Tom Berenger and Mare Winnigham, all of who acquitted themselves well. The performances I enjoyed most came from younger members of the cast: Matt Barr as a young Hatfield who abhors the feud and loves a McCoy woman; Noel Fisher as a mentally handicapped Hatfield; and Jena Malone as an angry McCoy cousin turned prostitute. The series’ strengths are its authentic feel and look, and an appropriately somber sound track. As for its historical accuracy, no one can say for sure what is fact and what is fiction. Certainly, license was taken. One thing is certain, there was a long, bloody feud between the families along the border between Kentucky and West Virginia. I found it difficult to empathize with most of the characters. Both sides seemed equally at fault. I do not think it was the intent of the film-makers to draw a parallel with all armed conflict or, say, the Arab-Israeli issue. It is simply a plausible account of the madness that afflicted the clans, which began as a dispute about the Civil War. Wikipedia lists twelve deaths to violence. There seemed to be considerably more in the show. In 1979 descendants appeared for an entire week on Family Feud (Survey says!). In 2003 the families signed a formal truce. The mini-series was directed by Kevin Reynolds, who worked with Costner on Waterworld (1995) and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), neither of which I like. He also helmed The Count of Monte Cristo (2002), starring Jim Caviezel, which was okay. The Hatfields and the McCoys is far superior to those. Its total running time is less than five hours. On a scale of five, three. The folks at IMDb were far more enthusiastic, rating it 8.2 out of ten.
I thank the people who patronized the floating book shop today, especially Alexander Evans, author of The Meaning of Love. I'd been waiting for him to show and sign the copy I purchased at Amazon. Best of luck, Big Al.
Visit Vic's sites:
Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
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