schless74 This is a powerful, emotional, and entertaining telling of major events of the settling of the West, and the clash between white settlers and the various Native tribes spread throughout the Western half of the United States. I stumbled upon the series on youtube, I hadn't previously heard of it, which seems astounding since there are so many well known actors/actresses, and the involvement of Steven Spielberg.One of the things I like about the series is the mysticism and spirituality surrounding the medicine wheel and the buffalo. I know it sounds cliché, but I think it was well done, to have as a central theme the stone medicine wheel of the Sioux and the coming of the wheeled wagons across the west. These wagons really did leave permanent scars on the Earth- where I lived in Wyoming there are still remnants of the Oregon Trail and wagon footprints.And I think many Native tribes did have prophecies about the coming of white people and settlers. The use of native languages is particularly appealing to me- I think to truly understand native cultures of the time you need to hear expressions done in their languages. Some of the prophecies have yet to be decided. It was only 20 years after Wounded Knee that the first world war started, followed by the second. We're now engaged in wars in the middle east which have sometimes been prophecied by natives.So many characters, Thunder Heart Woman and Jacob Wheeler standing out in my opinion (many people did not like the actor portraying Wheeler, but I enjoyed his narration and heart centered actions). The violence of the crow raid, the amazing scenes of the bison hunt, the western scenery, and the telling of important historical events are crucial to the tale. Many Americans are still not knowledgeable about the events.The only criticism is that one family might have been around to see and participate in all the historical events. Otherwise, there of course is creative license, but this is one of the best movies/series about the West I've seen.Recently John Trudell, native artist/activist passed away. I highly recommend his spoken word to those who are interested.

irishcoloradan I enjoyed Into the West enough to buy the CD set. I think there were parts where the script was too cliché and not very good, and some others where the acting was poor (Matthew Modine). Also, there were too many instances in which characters were either not developed well enough or completely left hanging (what happened to Abe Wheeler?). But overall, I liked it. While it was historically more accurate than Dances With Wolves (not hard to do), it still offered an overly sympathetic image of the Lakota. In ITW, the poor Lakota are seen as "picked on" by rival tribes, such as the Crow. In fact, the Sioux had been pushed onto the prairie from their previous home west of Lake Superior in the 17th century by the Ojibway. They, in turn, got firearms and pushed the Crow, Cheyenne, Pawnee and others out of the northern plains. They were vicious to these tribes and hated by them. And they had firearms WELL before 1825.

David H This made for TV movie was so good, I had to watch all 6 one and a half hours parts back to back with only short breaks in between a few episodes.Into the West opens with a very graphically impressive sequence that really give you a feel of the times. This is carried on throughout the whole series. Everything about the film is as if it were from the time that the film depicts. Never does modern America rear its ugly head.The acting is also of a very high quality, which is very impressive considering the film has many times more actors than your average film. One thing that does take away from this was the need for the use of older actors to give the characters the appearance of aging. For some of the more obscure characters, it is sometimes difficult to tell who's who.As for the storyline, you could expect noting less from William Mastrosimone. It is packed with emotion, adventure, action, oppression and history.With the beautiful scenery, what more could you want.This film will be particularly popular with people who like films set in the past.

murpz This is an awesome, awesome miniseries (or 12 hour movie, depending how you look at it). The title "Into the West" might make you think this is another movie about the US and its expansion westward, settling the wild west. You'd be very wrong. This movie focuses heavily on the experience of the people who were already there, and what the invasion meant to them and their culture. Spielberg has used his incredible talents to produce a powerful chronicle of an epic clash of civilizations, and the profoundness of what was lost. It's also a good movie to watch, with top notch acting and cinematography. I caught the last episode of this when it was on TV, and when I saw it available on DVD, I immediately bought it so I could see the whole thing. I'm very satisfied with my purchase!