How the `West' was lost: Spielberg's western saga is full of holes

By Mark A. Perigard
Tuesday, June 7, 2005 - Updated: 12:14 AM EST

Steven Spielberg's ``Into the West'' showcases several beautiful pieces of scenery. Too bad all the people get in the way.

The six-week DreamWorks miniseries launching Friday at 8 p.m. on TNT purports to tell the story of how the west was settled, tamed or ruined, depending upon your viewpoint, as seen through the eyes of several Virginians and Lakota Indians.

But the story isn't balanced. The Lakotas are represented by Loved by the Buffalo (played as an adult by George Leach), a shaman trying to prevent a vision of white men killing off the prized buffalo in 1825 and forcing his tribe to live in ``square houses'' from coming true. (Most of the scenes featuring the American Indians are acted in their native tongue and run with subtitles.)

The Virginians, as led by Jacob Wheeler (Matthew Settle), are feckless, taking the arduous journey on a whim (as opposed to, say, seeking a better life for themselves).

The first two-hour installment has its moments. In a great bit of special-effects work, a buffalo hunt goes horrifically wrong and sets one boy on a demanding path to leadership. By the end of the premiere, the Virginians and the Lakotas are linked by a couple borne from the aftermath of tragedy.

But the second installment sends ``Into the West'' right off the cliff as the horse opera tries to be all things to all 19th century people. A wagon train caravan to California suffers every calamity but a horde of flying monkeys. The voice-over narration becomes a comic irritant. As one doctor tries to save a woman suffering from gangrene, Jacob intones, ``Took an hour and a half for him to hack through the bone, but by that point, Rachel had died.'' The episode ends on a twist right out of daytime's ``The Bold & The Beautiful.''

Like those great trashy miniseries from the '70s, ``Into the West'' features a number of recognizable faces in small roles. Gary Busey has all of two minutes of airtime this week, and it feels like a half-hour too much. Beau Bridges shows up next week looking as if he pilfered the wardrobe of the Mad Hatter from a regional production of ``Alice in Wonderland.''

The writers are unable to carry the miniseries' generational scope. Relationships develop, shift and end offscreen. One woman falls in love with her kidnapper. Another seems to be a broodmare, a new baby popping up with almost every appearance.

TNT is promoting the heck out of the miniseries and is airing each installment several times a weekend. (It is worth noting that Spielberg produced but did not direct the miniseries.) If you hear the siren call of ``Into the West,'' just back up slowly and move in the other direction.

``Into the West.'' Series premiere Friday at 8 p.m. on TNT. One star (out of four).

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Thanks to Bea Woodward for the lead.

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Last updated on June 08, 2005