1883

I have to say that I really enjoyed 1883 even more than I thought I wound. This is the prequel to Yellowstone as it shows the Dutton family as they travel from Texas to Montana looking for a better life. It's created by Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, etc.). Sheridan has turned in one great show after another and this one is no different. It's a very gritty and violent show that showed off the realness of the Wild West. The writing and acting is what makes this show so special. It's too bad that this is only a mini-series and there aren't more seasons coming because I would love to see more from this show.

I haven't seen anything of "Yellowstone" yet, but I thought that, as that is set in present day, I'd probably be able to watch a prequel series set over a hundred years earlier without much fear of mixing the context. I do like Taylor Sheridan's work, particularly "Hell or High Water" so when this appeared near the top of my Paramount Plus service, I felt confident giving it a go. It's an excellent limited series, full of wonderful performances and does make me interesting in watching the main series.

Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) joins her family in a perilous Journey towards the free and fertile land of Oregon. Her father, James (Tim McGraw) agrees to take the journey with two lawmen, Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott) and Thomas (LaMonica Garrett) who are commissioned to act as guide, security and teacher to a group of German pioneers, who are also looking for a better life, but are dangerously unprepared for the perils they will face. Always a rebellious child, Elsa takes to the freedom of the plains with abandon, but the costs of such freedoms are high.

Performances are great in this. Tim McGraw I've not seen in much before but he's really good in this, in what looks like the deepest performance he's been asked to do. His real-life wife, Faith Hill, plays his wife in this and she too is excellent. Isabel May is the star though; the story is told though her eyes and she gets to give the poetic voice over that is another run through. Admittedly, Sam Elliott has played wise old cowboy before, but it's an iconic trope and it's welcome whenever he's on screen. There are cameos from Rita Wilson, Billy Bob Thornton and even Tom Hanks, who is probably on screen for less than two minutes.

Admittedly, this isn't particularly original. The dangers of the Oregon Trail have been recounted in various mediums for years. So, the story of Snakes, Storms, Dysentery, Native Americans and Outlaws probably doesn't have many surprises for you. What it does have is all pervasive quality. Both in terms of historical recreation and cinematography - though I suspect in some places you simply point the camera in the right direction and the mountains do the rest.

I enjoyed this and burned through it in less than a week. I may need to start "Yellowstone" sooner rather than later.

Excellent writing, character development, story telling, and acting, particularly by Dawn Olivieri, the character of Claire, and the great Sam Elliot. Beautiful cinematography and score. I enjoyed the cameos by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Hanks. The migration west after the Civil War is one of my favorite periods in history, and the brutality of the time period and lawlessness of the Wild West was accurately portrayed.

I really liked this show, but their excessively white teeth - even on the Indians! - distracted me a lot. Every single character should have worn fake YELLOW teeth, and half the cast - especially those over 50 - should have had several missing teeth.

If a director is going for authenticity, he should go all the way. He went to a lot of trouble getting most things right, so why make this glaring error? It was difficult to concentrate on the dialog when those pearly whites were blinding me.

Also, why didn't Elsa ever wash her clothes? She slept in them so it appeared she never actually took them off except for the one bath she and her mother took in the river. She probably smelled worse than an outhouse.

I quit watching Yellowstone because any semblance of humanity was gone on the show. Everyone simply tried to one-up the other for how ruthless and evil they could be. John Dutton and family are no better than any criminal element portrayed on the show. It became for me, a prime time soap opera.

Having said that the prequel 1883 is anything but. It is extremely well written and acted and beside people having beautiful write teeth and perfect complexions, I feel it accurately depicts the life that these pioneers experienced. The actors seem so natural in their roles, indicating a lot of effort has been taken to make it appear as authentic as possible. The writing is very good and in a much larger sense gets you into the psyche of a family who would knowingly enter into this arrangement to travel the Oregon Trail, knowing the risk. Life previously had to be hell in order for them to risk it all on a journey like this. I think the writing and dialog help to get the background as to why someone would take such drastic measures to try to find a better life.

It is so well done that I can only watch one episode at a time since each one is so full of emotion that it takes a minute to process.

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are surprisingly good and believable as a pioneering couple. The rest of the cast is terrific. The narration by the Dutton daughter really pulls it together.

Sam Elliott was born to play this role. He is fantastic!!! Just simply fantastic! Reminds me in some ways of when I watched Lonesome Dove and how I felt about Duvall and Jones, more so Duvall. I can't quite picture anyone else playing this part.

I hope 1923 is just as good.