Rating: 
Summary: 5 stars is not enough!
Review: Absolutely gripping, and heartbreaking how the West was not won! It brought me to tears of how Native Americans lost so much but have endured throughout the years. I also like that this documentary shows that White americans were not the only ones in The West, but Natives(of course), Black, Latino, Chinese(who practically built the West). A fantastic job and the main title song will haunt you forever!
Rating:
Summary: The best thing I have ever seen on television
Review: Burns' film is a masterpiece of history and storytelling. Without a doubt, the best thing I have ever seen on television. This is documentary film at its best. Compelling and spellbinding from the beginning to the end. The story of the Native Americans' dilemma, contained within this documentary, by itself would be a masterpiece of documentary film ... but there is much more. The West is a tour de force, a great piece of work by a true master. The companion book is also a great treasure. No, I do not work for Amazon or for Ken Burns, I just want you to know what a great masterpiece The West is.
Rating:
Summary: "someone finally got it right ~ The West!"
Review: Growing up in the Midwest, I thought "The West" was Hopalong Cassidy, Randolph Scott and John Wayne ~ nevertheless Westerns or B-Westerns captured my interest and I became addicted to what it was like from the very beginning of the West! Here is a wealth of history collected within the realm of centuries, put down on paper by Geoffrey C. Ward and Dayton Duncan ~ directed by Stephen Ives and presented by Ken Burns on five discs, as we take the journey westward bringing together all races, nationalities and religions striving for a new land and freedom for all her people.Never have I witnessed such openness in the telling of the triumphs and tragedies of America's westward expansion ~ it took more than 75 historians on this project to make it right. Right from the git go we have Episode One(The People/Bonus DVD Features), Episodes Two & Three (Empire Upon The Trails/The Speck of the Future), Episodes Four & Five (Fight No More Forever/The Geography of Hope) and Episodes Eight & Nine (Ghost Dance/One Sky Above Us) ~ featuring some of the most beautiful photography of our country. The entire collection covers the period of 1800 to 1915, wonderfully narated by Peter Coyote (whose voice sounds very much like Henry Fonda). This is one of, if not the best documentaries on "The West", I've ever seen. Been collecting Time/Life leatherbound books on the subject for years ~ Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell books and paintings ~ plus bronze of "The Mountain Man", "The Rattlesnake" and "Comin' Through the Rye" by Frederic Remington. Ken Burns "The West" on DVD is something I will cherish the rest of my life ~ will pass it on to my children and grandchildren, so they will know this is the way it was moving WEST!
Total Time: 12 Hours ~ PBS B8891 ~ (9/30/2003)
Rating:
Summary: Engaging portrait of an unforgettable land
Review: I absolutely adore "The West". I have been watching this indispensable film repeatedly since I received it a month ago, and its impact deepens with each viewing. Man, I wish I had a voice like that of N. Scott Momaday! I would listen to him read a grocery list. Anyway, I can hardly write anything about this documentary that has not been written, but I do believe it to be a mesmerizing and terribly enriching experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Selective History
Review: I looked forward to viewing this, since the history of the west is so rich. It would have been very difficult to present a comprehensive documentary of its history, but it seems that in this case Ives doesn't even try. He is consumed by victimology. It is perfectly appropriate to give a comprehensive account of the Native Americans and the great injustices that were done to them, although much was left out about the different tribes, regions they inhabited, culture, etc.. I would expect that this would be a major part of the series, which it was. Unfortunately, the rest is literally drenched with some sort of guilt-driven quest by the director to include every persecuted group of people, and individually outline their plights (blacks, chinese, mexicans, mormons). The message has become terribly boring by now. Whites bad, everyone else good. And only a passing mention of the Donner party? Believe it or not, you get a much better history overall from Kenny Rogers' "The Real West".
Rating:
Summary: Well Done
Review: Like Ken Burns' Civil War this documentary about the American West was well done. However told from a view in sympathy with the Native Americans who were displaced and murdered by the settlers, the film nonetheless also shows the humanity and devotion of all people who came to inhabit the West. I think the film does justice not only to the Native Americans but all peoples whether they were Chinese, Californios, Mexicans, African Americans, Irish, and all of European decent who came to make the West their home. It is in appearance some what biased towards the people we call Indians, but in all fairness to we Americans, the facts remain the same. The Indians were displaced and killed by land hungry settlers from the east. This film made me sympathetic with the Indians and I agree with those people who say that we Italians should change Columbus Day to Native American Day. In want of our own holiday, we should celbrate the feast day of Mother Francis Cabrini, an Italian American and the first American saint. Mother Cabrini represented the best in our people whereas Columbus was brutal and oppressive towards the Indians.
Rating:
Summary: There is no better documentary yet made
Review: Much like the other great documentary "The Civil War" this superb retelling of the story of westwards expansion by Americans and the effects on others already there eg the native Americans and Mexican Californians, is profound. Through biographical sketches taken from the lives of ordinary people as they lived their often hard lives we see the humanity and struggle as well as the worst aspects of human behaviour. The music is ideally chosen representing a reality which captivates as well as the narration itself which also achieves a sense of place and time for the photographs and the interviews with historians and others throughout. There is no better documentary yet made which displays so thoroughly accurately and with real style as it truly was. I bought the CD of the music because of its beauty. This is a must have video, hopefully its also available in DVD.
Rating:
Summary: 5 stars is not enough!
Review: Of all the works of Ken Burns that I have in my library, "The West" in my opinion is his masterpiece to america. The only problem that I have with this film now is that it is still not available on DVD. Mr. Burns? We are waiting.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Magnificent.
Review: Photography breathtaking. Music spellbinding. The story riveting. This documetary should be mandatory viewing in every American History class. True history here - not the whitewashed watered down, self serving glorification of the conquest of the untamed West. Here is the story of America at its genecidal worst; ruthless, murderous, calculating, and devestating. And yet this same story shows unimagineable beauty, heroics, love, and the enevitability of change. This is undoubtably one of the most fair tellings of what happened to the West and the people who took it from the People who loved it. See it, feel it, and continue to think about it.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, moving, thorough, beautifully filmed
Review: So where is a DVD release!?? Unique, amazing, massive project thoroughly documenting the expansion of the United States into the vast territories of the American WEST. Brutally honest, sympathetic insight into the fall of the many Native American peoples... some of the material is painful, sometimes bleak, but an absolute MUST SEE for any feeling person with even a passing interest in the history of America. Outstanding photography and the classic Ken Burns look & feel (executive & senior producer), but with director Stephen Ives' own insightful point-of-view. This series ranks right along side Burns' "Civil War" in scope and depth, IMHO. See it anyway you can, then demand the set on DVD! (DVD not available at this writing).
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