wsroth I read details offered by IMDb on this movie; various summaries; external reviews & several user reviews: Why no one has mentioned or made reference to Michener's "Centennial" surprises me! One of the first ways we expressed our view of this miniseries was a comparison to the book & miniseries. "Of course Spielberg's "Into the West" was done better than "Centennial" though for it's time "Centennial" was done well & I've viewed it many times.Perhaps The Chronicles negative review might have been less critical had the writer refrained from mentioning the "weeks"?? he spent researching this screenplay. Perhaps his research included reading Michener's book.I feel the use of family lineage to report history through the eyes of those living it is a wonderful venue for teaching it. Far more people would recall what they learn if the reviewed it as a story. I learned more about the Trojan Wars through Marian Zimmer-Bradley's "Firebrand" than all the lectures & reading I experienced in high school & college. As did many children about the Roman gods through "The Lightning Thief"I hope to see more of this means of teaching and hope like my college professor in "Women in Antiquity" did with the use of Zimmer-Bradley's "Firebrand" Being one who failed miserably in history due to an inability to recall anything, I wished I could have understood it as my friend did: "... all as a collection of great stories" If our educators incorporated books like those I've mentioned in their instruction, perhaps even weaker students, much like myself, would not only improve grades but, actually retain the information thereafter.Granted Michener is a fantastic story teller & incorporates a wondrous plethora of fact & insight in his books, but, some of his novels aren't the quickest reads I've experienced, but I'm certain numerous authors have attempted to produce similar learning experiences in their books. After all, most avid readers seeking good fiction want "believability" & research is all the key.

livhampton "Into The West" is, in my opinion, some of Steven Spielberg's finest work. Watching the series itself stirred up inside of me mixed emotions-- joy, sadness, anger, and so forth. Spielberg did a pretty darn good job in capturing how the West was shaped and more specifically the people who risked their lives in shaping it. I only wish that he would have at least given some small amount of attention to the black cowboys of the West, who played just as significant a role as anyone. Overall it was definitely worth watching, and since I have purchased the DVD I plan on watching it again. I am not sure when or if it will ever be on television again, but if it does, I suggest to anyone who is fed up with repeats of other shows due to the writer's strike to tune in.

NoName1989 I expected a lot of this mini-series, because Steven Spielberg was the executive producer. And you notice that when you watch this series. The direction is very good! This series must have cost a lot of money, because it's excellently filmed. Very interesting is, that the series shows the situation in a different way. Not like in a traditional western, where the Americans are the hero's and the Indians are the stupid barbarians. Nicely done! Again a very good product by Steven Spielberg! But sometimes the English that is spoken, is difficult to understand, certainly when there are no subtitles. But nevertheless, very good mini-series!

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.