''The American West'' (formerly titled ''The West'') is a limited-event American television

docu-series Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

detailing the history of the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

in the period from 1865 to 1890. The series was executively produced by Robert Redford, Stephen David and Laura Michalchyshyn with Sundance Productions and aired for eight episodes on

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

from June 11 to July 30, 2016. As of June 2021, the series was streaming on Amazon Prime Video in some countries.

Overview

Following the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, the United States begins developing into the " land of opportunity," despite the danger from cowboys, Native Americans, outlaws and lawmen. The series chronicles the stories of Western legends, such as Jesse James,

Billy the Kid Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty; September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), also known by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at th ...

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which l ...

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.

Production

Produced and distributed by Sundance Productions, the series features exclusive interviews with notable names from classic

Western films Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

, including Robert Redford,

James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972) – a performance which earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Suppo ...

, Burt Reynolds,

Tom Selleck Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series '' Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations ...

, Kiefer Sutherland, Mark Harmon, and

Ed Harris Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in ''Apollo 13'' (1995), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), '' Pollock'' (2000), and '' The Hours'' (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Award ...

. The series was to be initially aired on Discovery Channel, but was changed to AMC and retooled in 2014. Production on the series began in August 2015, following AMC's ordering it straight to series. Filming for the series was predominantly done in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

and Jefferson counties, as well as

Prickett's Fort State Park Prickett's Fort State Park is a West Virginia List of West Virginia state parks, state park north of Fairmont, West Virginia, Fairmont, near the confluence of Prickett's Creek and the Monongahela River. The park features a reconstructed refuge fo ...

in Marion County.

Cast

Main

*David H. Stevens as Jesse James *Derek Chariton as

*Will Strongheart as Crazy Horse *John C. Bailey as General George Custer *

Moses Brings Plenty Moses J. Brings Plenty (b. 4 September 1969) is an Oglala Lakota television, film, and stage actor, as well as a traditional drummer and singer. He is best known for his portrayal as "Mo" in the television series ''Yellowstone''.Melmer, David"Moses ...

as Sitting Bull *Jonathan C. Stewart as

Supporting

*Morgan Lund as

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

*Michael Marunde as

William T. Sherman William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

*Eric Rolland as

Thomas C. Durant Thomas Clark Durant (February 6, 1820 – October 5, 1885) was an American physician, businessman, and financier. He was vice-president of the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) in 1869 when it met with the Central Pacific railroad at Promontory Sum ...

*Joseph Carlson as

Frank James Alexander Franklin James (January 10, 1843 – February 18, 1915) was a Confederate soldier and guerrilla; in the post-Civil War period, he was an outlaw. The older brother of outlaw Jesse James, Frank was also part of the James–Younger ...

*Ric Maddox as Pat Garrett *Hugh Scully as Allen Pinkerton *Nicholas Bialis as

Morgan Earp Morgan Seth Earp (April 24, 1851 – March 18, 1882) was an American sheriff and Marshal, lawman. He served as Tombstone, Arizona, Tombstone, Arizona Territory, Arizona's Special Policeman when he helped his brothers Virgil Earp, Virgil and Wy ...

*Sean Brown as

Cole Younger Thomas Coleman Younger (January 15, 1844 – March 21, 1916) was an American Confederate guerrilla during the American Civil War and later an outlaw leader with the James–Younger Gang. He was the elder brother of Jim, John and Bob Younge ...

Interview subjects

The series features several interviews from authors, celebrities, historians and political figures. *Mark Lee Gardener – author, ''Shot All to Hell'' *

David Eisenbach David Eisenbach is a historian and an expert on media and politics and a lecturer in the history department at Columbia University. He was a Democratic candidate for New York City's Public Advocate in the 2017 primary election, where he received 23 ...

– historian,

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

* Kiefer Sutherland – actor, '' Young Guns'' *

Eric Foner Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African-American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstruc ...

– historian, Columbia University * H.W. Brands – historian,

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

* Danny Glover – actor, '' Silverado'' * Walter R. Borneman – author, ''Iron Horses'' *Paul Hutton, historian –

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

* Andrew C. Isenberg – author, ''Wyatt Earp: A Vigilante Life'' *Karl Jacoby – historian, Columbia University *Anne Collier – curator, Edmund C. Jaeger Cultural & Natural History Museum * Burt Reynolds – actor, '' Gunsmoke'' * Robert Redford – actor, '' Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' *

Bill Richardson William Blaine Richardson III (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary ...

– former governor of New Mexico *Larry T. Pourier – Oglala Lakota Filmmaker * John McCain – U.S. Senator, Arizona *Kathleen Chamberlain – author, ''In the Shadow of Billy the Kid'' *

Ann Kirschner Ann Kirschner is an American entrepreneur, educator, and author of the books Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story and ''Lady at the OK Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp''. A veteran of four start-ups, Kirschner launched the Nati ...

– author, ''Lady at the O.K. Corral'' * Mark Harmon – actor, ''

'' *

– actor, ''

Quigley Down Under ''Quigley Down Under'' is a 1990 western film directed by Simon Wincer and starring Tom Selleck, Alan Rickman, and Laura San Giacomo. Plot Matthew Quigley is an American cowboy with a specially modified rifle with which he can shoot accurately ...

'' *John Morey – historian *

– actor, ''

Appaloosa The Appaloosa is an American horse breed best known for its colorful spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's colo ...

Reception

Robert Lloyd of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' compared the series to others in the genre: "What's fresh in this retelling...is the degree to which it has gone in for re-creation as opposed to documentation, and the fact that it has drafted movie cowboys." He added "it's more dress-up than drama, more reenactment than documentary." Rob Lowman of the '' Los Angeles Daily News'' called the series "more entertainment than insightful." He added "''The American West'' doesn't dig into the ramifications of transformation of the West, preferring to keep skipping through history."

Episodes

Broadcast

Internationally, the series premiered in Australia on

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

on October 11, 2016.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:American West, The 2010s American documentary television series 2016 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings AMC (TV channel) original programming English-language television shows 2010s Western (genre) television series Television series set in the 1860s Television series set in the 1870s Television series set in the 1880s Television series set in the 1890s Cultural depictions of Jesse James Cultural depictions of Billy the Kid Cultural depictions of Crazy Horse Cultural depictions of George Armstrong Custer Cultural depictions of Sitting Bull Cultural depictions of Wyatt Earp Cultural depictions of Ulysses S. Grant Cultural depictions of Pat Garrett Television shows filmed in West Virginia