Hatfields and Mccoys (Mini-Series)

No one does movies like Kevin Costner. This is a story I have heard all my life. But to bring it to the movies and keep to the story line no one else can do it like Kevin. Great movie.

It is said that the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys made it so that one name cannot be said without the other. Starting at the end of the Civil War, and bringing the states of Kentucky and West Virginia close to a war of its own, the events of that bloody conflict have left their mark on American history. Now, the History Channel ventures into scripted drama for the first time with the miniseries "Hatfields & McCoys," an intense, character-driven film that looks at the price of feuding. What really drives this four-hour plus film are the outstanding performances by the cast, which works from a powerfully-penned script. Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton do brilliant work. You do not really "like" either character in the traditional sense of the word, but you definitely find them fascinating, and cannot help but enjoy the powerful work these two do. The supporting cast is fantastic as well, really finding the human drive behind these real-life characters. The filmmakers have also done a brilliant job of bringing 19th Century Appalachia to life, through the beautiful cinematography, set design, and even the music of the period. John Debney and Tony Morales' score is haunting and wonderful to listen to when set to the imagery. Even though the film was shot in Romania, you cannot help but feel as if you are in the Tug River Valley of West Virginia/Kentucky in the mid to late-1800s. Overall, "Hatfields & McCoys" is a brilliant, powerful and dramatic look at this dark time in the Appalachians, when a quarrel between two families escalated into a blood feud, with innocent lives taken down along with the guilty. If you love historical drama, westerns, or great film, then you are sure to enjoy this series! Grade: A

Loved it

Clocking in at just under five hours, this mini-series is a very well-done fictionalization of Kentucky’s infamous Hatfield vs McCoy feud. With Kevin Costner and the late Bill Paxton headlining an excellent cast, the show is very well-shot (as, unfortunately, are many of the characters). Romania stands in for Kentucky, and it’s very apparent that a lot of money was put into this production. The sets and exteriors both look great, and there isn’t a whiff of cheapness anywhere to be found. Some might find it a tad long, but this is a story that couldn’t easily have been told in the movie-length foramt. The miniseries chronicles the birth of the feud between both family patriarchs during a Civil War battle and runs all the way to its bloody termination. There’s plenty of gunfights, drama, and even a little character development along the way, and afficionados of the western genre (even though this is technically an ‘eastern’) should find a lot to enjoy here. Extra features are pretty bare-bones, limited to a small amount of behind-the-scenes documentary footage, but considering the price of this set on Amazon, it still makes for excellent value. Highly recommended.

Great movie all the way through

Although I am not biologically related to either the Hatfields or the McCoys, I have known people who are. As a child, I heard stories of the feud from descendents of the McCoys who lived far away from Kentucky. They were afraid to speak openly about it because they thought maybe some of the Hatfields had moved out where they were living. But because I was just a kid, they didn't worry too much about what they said in front of me. I remember their fear, and what I recall them saying was that one of the Hatfields had tried to marry a McCoy girl and that neither family would have it. But from what I heard, she didn't sound like a nice person, not like the very sympathetic Roseanna McCoy in the movie. I heard that she and he went swimming and that during that seemingly harmless activity, she did something to him, something that McCoy women were known for. She hit him in the head and almost killed him. In his dazed state, she fed him lies, and they became a couple. In the South when someone is hit in the head very hard or almost drowned to death or choked almost to death, he can from then on be seen as "changed." It's not that he was born with mental retardation, mental illness, or some other mental ailment; he was violently attacked with the sole purpose of rendering him brain damaged. This is, according to what I heard as a youngster, what happened to one of the Hatfield sons at the hands of one of the McCoy daughters. Later, the same son married another McCoy girl, but just as in the movie, she was a bad character. This violent "changing" of someone at the hands of a McCoy stands in contrast to how the Hatfields treat people. In the movie, the boy Cotton, who is developmentally disabled, was not "changed"; he was born different, and this is pointed out for good reason. The filmmaker did not want any of his viewers to think that the Hatfields had mistreated the boy, making him different. Another thing I heard as a child is that the McCoys didn't just shoot people like crazy and hit them in terrible fights, but they also poisoned people. This was lightly touched upon in the movie when Johnse was captured by Roseanna's brothers, and one of them suggested that they make him drink poison. However, as I was watching the part when Johnse and Roseanna's baby dies and then when Roseanna dies, it occured to me that perhaps both of them had been poisoned by her family, the McCoys. The McCoy descendents that I knew were not gentle people; both the men and the women were subject to violent fits of rage. The women didn't usually raise their voices; they could almost whisper a threat. Furthermore, they all behaved as one huge criminal family that reminded me of organized crime families associated with the Mafia. But they were not Italian, nor were they very religious. Some of them went to church, but it was only for show. As an adult, I have met many people related to the Hatfields, and many of them are in the U.S. military. Generally speaking, I have found them to be trustworthy, hard working people who despise trickery of any kind. They have said that many of the McCoys have gone into law enforcement (the movie reflects this at the very end), where their presence has become detrimental to decent society. They cautioned that in places like Kentucky and Tennessee, it can be risky to call 911 because the police officer who shows up might be a McCoy. In the movie, some of the worst criminals wear a badge. Just as the McCoys have many different last names now, so do the Hatfields. You can't tell much of anything by the last name, but you can identify a real McCoy by his or her behavior. Some of this is touched upon in the movie, and I found that fascinating. The character Uncle Jim, a Hatfield, has a dog he loves, and he fits the dog with a colorful, decorative collar to show that his dog is beloved, not some uncared for stray. This is significant. He's a hunter, and dogs are often beloved by their owners who rely on them when they hunt. The McCoys to this day have the reputation of being dog killers. Sometimes the dog is brutally killed, and other times the dog is poisoned to death, either in stages or all at once. So early in the movie when a McCoy insults a Hatfield in a bar by saying that the Hatfield fornicates with a dog, that part rings true based on what I have heard from those related to the Hatfields. Also, I have known people related to the McCoys who kill the dogs of those they dislike or disapprove of. The unspoken threat is "First, I kill your dog, and then I kill you." There is even a scene in the movie in which Johnse kicks his uncle's dog because he's angry about the treatment of his wife's family. It's like he's becoming a McCoy. It's all very subtle in the movie, but it's there. Later, the Hatfield patriarch contemplates killing his own son Johnse when they're out fishing. He doesn't go through with it, but his extreme anger is over his son becoming too much like a McCoy. Of course, his son has married Nancy McCoy, who is influencing him. Also, as a child, I heard about the whipping of a McCoy girl by a Hatfield man. A lot was made of that by the female descendents of the McCoys, and a lot was made of the kind of whip that was used--a "cat." I think that they were afraid that a Hatfield man would come after them and whip them. I'm still not completely sure about what that all means or why the whipping scene is an important part of the story, but I am glad to see that it made it into the movie. In the movie, I found the love story between Roseanna and Johnse to be particularly heart-breaking, and even if it's not completely historically accurate, the whole idea of their story fits with the reasons for the feud. From what I could gather from the people I knew who were related to the McCoys, it was not unheard of for a McCoy to steal a boyfriend or a husband. She would approach her victim as a "friend," often with accomplices. Then she or one of her accomplices would whack him in the head with a hard object, and then the McCoy woman would pretend to be right there to help him and offer him a pillow or some sort of comfort. In his vulnerable state, he would take her up on her offer of help, and she would continue to play him to get him where she wanted. This is the sort of thing that Nancy McCoy did to Johnse and her cousin Roseanna. It's the icy coldness of it that is so disturbing. In the movie, Nancy finally admits that she never loved Johnse and that she took him from Roseanna purely out of revenge. It was all part of her plot and her hatred for Hatfields. She didn't care that Johnse and Roseanna loved each other. Love meant nothing to her. Another thing that I noted was that even though Mare Winningham did a great acting job as Mrs. McCoy, what I had heard about Mrs. McCoy as a child didn't quite go with how she was characterized in the movie. In the movie, she's sympathetic. But I heard that she was not so nice. Her husband, the McCoy patriarch was nice, but she "changed" him and then told everyone that the war was to blame for his declining mental state. Also, in the movie, when he comes back from prison and she hardly recognizes him, her statement that she almost forgot she was married has a double meaning. That statement to the McCoy descendents I knew was almost a joke. It meant that she wasn't faithful. But in the movie, her statement isn't spoken in that way, almost as if it was lifted from some historical document and stuck in the movie despite a lack of understanding of the implication. Toward the end of the movie, when she leaves to go stay in a mental hospital, she still seems sympathetic and docile, but the female McCoy descendents I heard talking stated that her husband had her committed to keep her out of prison and away from him and other potential victims. Whether you're descended from Hatfields or McCoys or not, this movie is a reminder that tricksters, swindlers, murderers, and drunks are all threats. They seldom act alone. Like almost everybody else, they reproduce and grow in numbers. There are Hatfields and McCoys among us now and not just in Kentucky and West Virginia either. I would give this movie only four stars, not five, simply because it did not address some of the accusations against the McCoys, particularly the McCoy women, that I had heard. It's all hearsay, of course, not anything I've read. The movie portrayed the McCoy women as victims more than anything else. But from what I have heard, they were dog killers, husband and boyfriend stealers, head bashers, and poisoners. The Hatfields, on the other hand, were absolutely not going to stand for any double dealing nor any trickery. The Hatfields were armed and dangerous, and they forbade their men from associating with McCoy women for good reason. Both families were violent, but there were big differences between them. The Hatfields may have been ruthless killers, but they didn't pray to God one minute and then commit murder the next as the McCoys did.

Good Mimi-series, old west, drama,

Totally enjoyed

Auch ich möchte heute die Gelegenheit nutzen, diesen Film zu bewerten. Vorab, ich bin ein großer Kevin Costner- Fan. Für mich ist er in seinen Filmen die Verkörperung des letzten amerikanischen Helden - inbesondere Der mit dem Wolf tanzt, Wyatt Earp, Robin Hood, The Guardian und sogar die zerissenen Filme Waterworld und Postman gefallen mir sehr gut. Qualität der BlueRay: Das Bild ist scharf. Es ist zwar kein Referenzfilm in Sachen BlueRay, aber die Qualität gehört zum gehobenen Durchschnitt. Der Sound ist sehr gut. Die Gefechte kommen klar und sauber rüber, Schüsse hären sich nicht wie z. B. bei Cowboys und Aliens an als würden Knallfrösche in einem Topf explodieren. Das Zusatzmaterial ist ausreichend. Das making of ist sehr nicht zu kurz und die Hintergründe zu den wahren Begebenheiten sehr interessant und aufschlussreich. Am Ende des Films erfährt man noch, was aus wem geworden ist - so etwas finde ich immer klasse :-) Die Rolle des Anse Hatfield ist Costner auf den Leib geschneidert. Der in sich gekehrte, überlegte, respektierte Anführer, der geachtete Mann der Stadt, der nicht in Frage gestellt und von seiner Familie bedingungslos als Oberhaupt anerkannt wird. Seine Entscheidungen erscheinen oftmals für heutige Verhältnisse unüberlegt, impulsiv und zu hart, was aber der damaligen Zeit und dem damaligen Umgang mit Problemen geschuldet ist. Man nimmt ihm ab, dass er mehr derjenige ist, dem zu Unrecht Taten und Verhaltensweisen negativ angelastet werden. Aus heutige Sicht erscheint er eher als Opfer einer verqueren Sichtweise von McCoy, tut aber selbst aus Sturheit wenig, um mit den Vorwürfen aufzuräumen. Mehr will ich dazu nicht sagen, da dies ohne zu spoilern nicht möglich wäre. Seinen Gegenpart und früheren Kameraden im Bürgerkrieg verkörpert kein geringerer als Bill Paxton. Paxton gehört m.E.n. zu den besten Schauspielern die es gibt, wennschon ihm viele Rollen bisher versagt blieben. Er spielt den streng gläubigen, von Hass zerfressenen, uneinsichtigen und sturen Randall McCoy, der es sich zur Lebensaufgabe macht, die Hatfields der seiner Ansicht nach gerechten Strafe zukommen zu lassen. Er schreckt vor keinem Mittel zurück, obschon er nicht unbeeinflusst und nicht ganz freiwillig von Zufällen, unvorhersehbaren fatalen Begegnungen und Geschehnissen zu gewissen Handlungen "gezwungen wird" um sein Gesicht nicht zu verlieren. Die Vorgeschichte hierzu erklärt deutlich die Sichtweisen beider Männer und lässt diese plausibel erscheinen. Jeder für sich sieht den Anderen und die Veränderung in ihm auf seine Weise und zieht daraus die für sich gültigen Konsequenzen, welche nicht selten ohne enorme Folgen bleiben. Glaubhaft und aus gutem Grund Emmy- verdächtig ist auch die Darstellung von Hatfields Onkel Jim Vance durch Tom Berenger, den ich fast gar nicht erkannt hätte :-), durch den der ganze Schlamassel eigentlich erst so richtig anfängt. Vance ist ebenfalls ein sturer, ewig auf Krawall gebürsteter Bock, auf dem man sich aber andererseits zu 100% verlassen kann, wenn es hart auf hart kommt. Nicht selten ist er es, der die ohnehin angespannte Situation durch sein Handeln zusätzlich oder überhaupt erst gefährlich aufheizt. Berenger lebt seine Rolle konsequent aus und seine Darstellung erinnert an glorreichere Schauspielertage wie z. B. in Platoon. Matt Barr spielt einen von Anse Hatfields Söhnen oder von mir aus auch DEN Sohn. Er ist gutaussehend, draufgängerisch, hat aber keinen Sinn für die ewige Fede gegen die McCoys und verliebt sich in eine McCoy- Tochter. Durch diese schwierige, ja nahezu unduldbare Liebe gewinnt der Film deutlich an Charakter und zeigt, wie weit Menschen für verquere Ideale bereit sind zu gehen. Auf beiden Seiten wird versucht auf die Beziehung Einfluss auszuüben, was auch Gelegenheit bietet, die Rollen der Frauen in dieser Situation zu verdeutlichen und den weiblichen Charakteren Tiefgang verschafft - insbesondere den Müttern und Ehefrauen von Anse und Randall - welche jede für sich hinter Ihren Männern stehen, es aber nicht unversucht lassen, den Schaden zu minimieren. Eine denkbar schwere Aufgabe in einer pa­t­ri­ar­cha­lischen Welt, die keinen weiblichen Widerspruch duldet. Ebenfalls bemerkenswerte Rollen spielen Jena Malone (Stolz und Vorurteil), Powers Boothe (Tombstone), Andrew Howard und Mare Winnigham (Wyatt Earp - ebenfalls mit Kevin Costner). Der erste Teil ist von der Mitte zum Ende etwas schleppend, was aber nicht tragisch ist, denn hier wird das zerrüttete Verhältnis dargestellt und zunächst in Dialogen und verbalen Schlagabtauschen widergespiegelt. Die Serie nimmt mit sich zuspitzender Situation kontinuierlich an Fahrt auf und schreckt auch nicht vor Gewalt zurück. Überraschende Wendungen und exzessive Gewaltausbrüche (z. B. am Bruder von Anse auf einem Fest) zeigen einmal mehr den sich entladenden, augestauten Hass der McCoys und Hatfields untereinander. Fazit: Wer Western mag, autenthischen Geschichten gern zuhört, fernab des Hollywood- Mainstreams mal wieder eine gute Geschichte und ein sauberes Drehbuch sucht, ist hier genau richtig. Der Film eigent sich sowohl für Mann und Frau und zeigt einmal mehr, dass es noch möglich ist, gute Western zu drehen und das Kevin Costner zu Unrecht und zu oft unterschätzt wird.

My wife and I found this mini-series well worth watching, and found ourselves looking forward to viewing the next episode each evening. The acting is stellar, and the story is absolutely riveting. Tragically this mini-series portrays a fairly accurate account of a burgeoning feud between two families which were consumed in the spiraling futility of spiteful revenge. What an apt lesson this tale of boiling hatred holds for all denizens on Mother Earth to reflect upon, discuss, and personally internalize! How true it is that peace, win-win solutions, mutual respect, and authentic good-will almost always trumps bullying, intimidation, and vile hatred in both interpersonal and international relationships!

Top 😉👌 Met Nederlandse ondertitels

Excelente! Uno de los discos llegó suelto pero no se dañó. A pesar de que la resolución es 1080p, se ve muy bien. La versión solo tiene audio y subtitulos en inglés, para mi no es un problema pero tómalo en cuenta. El envío llegó una semana antes de lo esperado.

Horrível ninguém me disse que não havia dublagem para português.