North & South: Book 3, Heaven & Hell

After Books I & II, what a let-down! First--what's with no Orry in Book III? Hmm. . . too cheap to hire Patrick Swayze? And randomly inventing a brother (Cooper) for Orry that was not in the first 24 hours of the mini-series, but is apparently important enough for the final 6 hours? That's pathetic! Oh, and didn't Elkanah Bent (your favorite villain and mine) did in that huge barn explosion in Book II?

I grew up watching the first two books of "North & South", and I refuse to even recognize this third book as part of the mini-series.

My first thought watching this is that it was nowhere near as good as books one and two, but it wasn't the worst thing i have watched. The first episode was quite interesting, and the ending to that episode was really good. The only thing i didn't like was that it looked kind of... cheap. I hated the way the scenes were edited, and especially the painting effect used on the opening to each scene, because it was tedious and not so good. Overall though i thought it was okay, and may watch it again in the future. But if you want something exactly like the first 2 books, you might want to steer clear in order to avoid some disappointed, but if u are generally interested, take a look.

In 1985 ABC TV debuted a tv mini series that garnered everyone's attention from all races creeds and colors. North and South made Patrick Swayze an overnight success as a leading male star. James Read was already a tv star wth NBC TV's Remington Steele. This mini series is the first in three mini series based on John Jakes's civil war novels. North and South ran one whole week as did the sequel North and South Book II, Love and War. Book III Heaven and Hell ran only 3 nights and was not that big a deal as the first two books in the series. It was as if though ABC TV wanted to wrap up all loose ends that went undone with the first two series. Time Warner Home Video has declined to transfer all 3 mini series to DVD format. It is always the same sorry excuse each and every time. There are currently no plans at this time to release this series on to DVD.

Where was cooper Main in the first two parts? Didn't Stanley and Isabel go to jail at the end of part 2? Why are they back as if nothing happened? Did Bent not get blown up in part 2? He looks good for a dead man. This is one of the worst follow-ups in history. Instead of following the concept that the first two mini-series follows, it decides to follow the book by John Jakes. It does do a pretty good job at following the book that it is based on, but unless you have read the books, you would be lost. A note to Hollywood: Do not make a movie that does not follow the book, than decide to make a sequel to it that does. It makes no sense as does this mess of a mini-series.

Although this movie follows the book more closely, with a few exceptions (Bent miraculously surviving everything, Cooper Main appearing out of nowhere), it is not as bad as everyone states.

The production values and editing of certain scenes could have been up to par with the first two books. Not to mention that Patrick Swayze declined to reprise his role of Orry Main, which is probably why the producers decided he will be killed in this one. Also, I think that the storyline involving Ashton scheming to take Mont Royal for herself could have been expanded.

As for the other characters, I liked the original Charles Main (played by Lewis Smith), although Kyle Chandler delivered a satisfactory performance. And, to agree with everyone else, the appearance of Cooper Main makes no sense, especially since there is no mention of Cooper in the first two movies.

If the movie were twelve hours long like the previous ones, then more explanation for certain things would have made the movie a better piece.

6/10