From History To Legend- March To Mortality

Some links before starting today. Norma had a photoblog from Hong Kong.Yesterday having had been a Friday, Parsnip had a Square Dog Friday post. And Eve is taking part in A-Z this April; you can find her posts at her blog.

Now then, here is the second of my two movie reviews for Civil War films....

“Afterwards men in tall hats and gold watch fobs will thump their chests and say what a brave charge it was. Devin, I’ve led a soldier’s life, and I’ve never seen anything as brutally clear as this.” ~ John Buford

“Win was like a brother to me, remember? Towards the end of the evening, things got a little rough. We both began to... well, there were a lot of tears. I went over to Hancock. I took him by the shoulder, I said, Win, so help me, if I ever raise my hand against you, may God strike me dead. Ain’t seen him since. He was at Malverne Hill, White Oak Swamp, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg... One of these days I will see him, I’m afraid. Across that small, deadly space.”  ~ Lewis Armistead

“Generals can do anything. There’s nothing so much like God on earth as a general on a battlefield.” ~ Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

“Soldiering has one great trap. To be a good soldier, you must love the army. To be a good commander you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love. We do not fear our own death, you and I. But there comes a time... we are never prepared for so many to die. Oh, we do expect the occasional empty chair, a salute to fallen comrades. But this war goes on and on and the price gets ever higher.” ~ Robert E. Lee

"Lovely ground." ~ John Reynolds

"I thought so, sir." ~ John Buford

"Now, let's go surprise Harry Heth." ~ John Reynolds

"Up, men! And to your posts! And let no man forget today that you are from old Virginia!" ~ George Pickett

“Well, if he’s an angel, all right then, but he damned well must be a killer angel.” ~ Buster Kilrain

“That’s Hancock out there. And he ain’t gonna run. So it’s mathematical after all. If they get to that road, or beyond it, we’ll suffer over fifty percent casualties. But Harrison... I don’t believe my boys will reach that wall.” ~ James Longstreet

“There are times when a corps commander’s life does not count.” ~ Winfield Scott Hancock

Michael Shaara’s classic novel The Killer Angels won the Pulitzer for fiction in 1975. It is my favourite novel, and tells the story of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of some of the commanders, both North and South. The novel was adapted by director and scriptwriter Ronald F. Maxwell and released in 1993 as the film Gettysburg, filmed on and around the battlefield itself, involving a cast of thousands, including many re-enactors who make a life’s hobby out of this sort of thing. The film follows the novel closely, giving us the point of view of commanders on both sides in a balanced way while conveying the ferocity of the greatest battle ever fought in North America.

The film begins with a voiceover, showing the movements of the Union and Confederate armies in late June 1863, as the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee (Martin Sheen) moves north into Maryland and Pennsylvania, pursued by the Army of the Potomac, moving more quickly than expected. The Confederate army have been used to victory time and again, while the Union army has suffered losses and the incompetence of commanding generals. This time, however, things are different- the Southern cavalry commander, Jeb Stuart (Joseph Fuqua) is missing, off on one of his grand rides up north with his cavalry, leaving the infantry blind in enemy country. This worries Lee’s senior commander, James Longstreet (Tom Berenger), who has employed the use of a civilian scout to determine the movements of the enemy.

The Union army, meanwhile, is moving quickly; command has been given over to a new commander, George Meade (Richard Anderson). The cavalry commander in the field is a brigadier general by the name of John Buford (Sam Elliott), who brings his troops into Gettysburg the day before the battle. He’s been scouting the movements of the Confederate army, and has learned they’re turning south, perhaps to threaten Washington. Buford understands the value of the ground south of the small town, the best high ground around, and makes the fateful decision to stand his ground, summoning the infantry to come up quickly and take control of the high ground before the rebels can take it. Two senior corps commanders, John Reynolds (John Rothman) and Winfield Scott Hancock (Brian Mallon) know him well enough to take him seriously, and promise to have the army up in the morning.

Coming with that army of Union troops is an unlikely officer, a colonel with his own regiment from Maine. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels) is a professor who’s joined the war effort, a scholar and a man of principle who happens to be very good at the life of a soldier, an effective commander. His brother Tom (C. Thomas Howell) is a junior officer in the regiment, and tends to call Chamberlain by his first name. One of the senior enlisted men, Buster Kilrain (Kevin Conway) is a wise, gruff Irishman who’s been in the army most of his adult life, something of a father figure to the scholarly colonel. Their regiment is brought up along with the rest of the army, where they will meet destiny on the second day of the battle.

There had been efforts for years to adapt the book for the screen, either television or movies, but it was Maxwell who brought the film to the big screen. He received the backing of Ted Turner, who has a cameo as a Confederate officer during the climactic and ill fated Pickett’s Charge. Turner loved the novel too, and wanted to see it made. The National Parks Service allowed filming and battle re-enactment to be done on the battlefield itself, which gives the film a higher authenticity, particularly since places like Devil’s Den and Little Round Top had never seen this done. It is a long film- over four hours- but the material demanded that length. And the use of re-enactors, who know the story so well, allowed for a smoother filming process. Maxwell wrote the script, which closely adapts the novel, and which in turn paid heed to the history of the battle. Shaara noted at the time that while inner thoughts and some dialogue were his own interpretation, his foundation was on fact, and certainly his interpretation of the people on the page, and how they came to life on screen certainly rings true to who they were.

Maxwell’s direction throughout is sterling. He captures the ferocity of that war perfectly through the battle sequences, particularly the desperate fighting on Little Round Top on the second day, when the entire Union left flank is in danger, but also the cataclysm of the third day’s Pickett’s Charge. We feel the movement of vast forces of soldiers on the battlefield in how Maxwell’s camera team works, but then quickly find ourselves among regiments and get the close-up view in the midst of battle. The story gives balance to both sides- enough time is given to both perspectives, even though we know in our day that one side is wrong. It doesn’t romanticize the Old South in the infuriating way that Gone With The Wind did. And Maxwell even preserves a bit of Shaara’s humour in the story, mostly at the expense of one of Longstreet’s division commanders, George Pickett (Stephen Lang), a not that terribly bright but quite affable officer whose name will forever after be attached to the turning point of the Civil War. His three brigade commanders like to poke fun at his not so stellar academic record or his dim view of science.

Filming on place allowed for great authenticity, and that is much the same for the costuming and prop people. Many of the re-enactors would of course bring their own uniforms and gear for the project, but for those members of the cast who were featured players, their uniforms look very much of the era. This applies to makeup as well- most of the men (with a couple of minor cameos, this is an all male cast) have facial hair, some enough to house bird nests, but fitting for the time, and authentic to the men they are portraying. The music comes from Randy Edelman, and remains one of my favourite scores, emphasizing character moments at quiet interludes in the film, but also ferocious, desperate, and grand when accompanying the fury of battle.

The cast is huge. Many of the roles are cameos; documentary director Ken Burns, for instance, plays a Union staff officer during the cannonade on Cemetery Ridge preceding Pickett’s Charge. George Lazenby, a one-time James Bond, turns up as a Confederate division commander, Johnston Pettigrew, one of the other division commanders involved in Pickett’s Charge. Morgan Sheppard, an ancient looking actor with a huge resume of character roles (you’ve seen this actor in at least something), plays the third division commander of that charge. He’s a gruff staff officer when we first meet him, disgusted by the ineffectiveness of another corps commander, and placed into a vital position by Lee, who needs to fill a hole. Anderson’s appearance as General Meade is a brief one- he only appears once in the film as the commanding general, but that fits the story and the history, since Meade wasn’t that much of a factor in the battle. Donal Logue has more than a cameo, appearing frequently through the first half of the film- though he’s unrecognizable under facial hair- as Major Ellis Spear, Chamberlain’s capable and serious senior subordinate. John Rothman appears briefly as the ill fated General John Reynolds, playing the role as the man must have been: a superb commander, completely calm in the face of battle.

C. Thomas Howell plays the younger Chamberlain with a certain naive quality that works. Tom is the brother who always looked up to his older brother, joined the military because that’s what his brother was doing, and seems oblivious at times to military protocol, particularly his tendency to forget to address his brother by rank. He’s been in the army for awhile, has seen a lot, and yet that boyish naivety is still there. Kevin Conway, a character actor who’s been in multiple roles in the movies and television for years, gets one of the best parts as Kilrain. He’s a career soldier, the sort of senior enlisted man who make up the backbone of military services. And he’s gruff and disgusted by the foolishness of high command, something one might expect out of such a soldier. Yet he also does his duty, and is surprisingly thoughtful and wise. A conversation along the way with Chamberlain shows the father-son relationship between the two, and Kilrain’s principles as a person. He believes that only a fool judges people by the group or race- that you take people one at a time. It’s such a good role, and Conway makes it so memorable.

Brian Mallon gets the most screen time of the senior corps commanders in the Union Army as General Hancock. The real man was one of the finest officers in the army, a tough, tenacious, exceptional officer, and Mallon plays those qualities in his performance. Hancock is a commander who’s a natural leader, an inspiration to those around him, and calm under pressure. Mallon conveys that, but also shows the other side of the man, the humanity of Hancock, and a melancholy over an old friend who’s fighting on the Confederate side.

That friend, as it turns out, is Lewis Armistead (Richard Jordan), a brigade commander under Pickett, who, as fate would have it, is facing Hancock’s lines on the third day of battle. Both men become aware of each other being across the empty space between the lines, and both aware this means these two best friends will be fighting each other. It’s a twist that weighs heavily on them both, and we see that particularly in Jordan’s performance. It is the most poignant role in the film- we like Armistead tremendously; there’s a great warmth in the character. He has a sense of humour, but there’s also tragedy to him; he expresses that to his old friend Longstreet, particularly in a explaining about a vow he made the last time he saw Hancock. And now fate has brought him to fight Hancock head on. The performance is made all the more poignant by the fact that this was Jordan’s final performance; he died soon after filming was wrapped, and the film is dedicated to the memory of Jordan and Shaara.

Stephen Lang has spent years playing various character roles, often villains, but this is my favourite role by the actor. He plays Pickett just as you’d expect the real man to be. Pickett’s not a bright guy- he finished dead last in his class at West Point- but he’s capable and reliable, able to follow through on orders. He also seems to be good company, cheerfully taking jokes at his own expense, even instigating some of them, a boyish sort of fellow engaged to a woman half his age. Pickett is a jovial officer- and so the ill-fated charge that bears his name leaves him utterly shattered. When we last see him, he’s a broken man, and Lang conveys all of those qualities in his performance.

This is one of my favourite roles for Sam Elliott. John Buford was fated to die later in 1863, and for many years was a forgotten figure in the Civil War. It was perhaps the benefit of Shaara’s novel that started to give him serious attention and credit again. A bright man with a gift for topography and the best use of the land for military purposes, it was Buford’s decision to fight at Gettysburg and his stubborn fight on the first day that allowed the Union infantry to come up and occupy the high ground. In doing so, Buford saved the battle and perhaps the war. Elliott conveys the tenacious nature of the man, his frustrations at commanders, and his tough, capable, and steady character. Buford is a man who can see what’s to come; his prediction of the battle to one of his brigade commanders is chillingly accurate, at least for the losing side.

Martin Sheen is given the role of General Lee, and he plays the role well. Looking at history, one is struck with the dignity of Lee, his intelligence, and his skill as an officer. These are qualities that Sheen brings across throughout the film. He’s still a torn man; he remembers that he once took a vow as an officer in the Union army, and that he served with many of the men fighting against him. And yet he believes his duty first and foremost is to his home state. He’s also an officer with great empathy for his men; he says that a good commander must love the army, but also be willing to order the death of that which he loves. It’s a great contradiction, but it fits in perfectly with the character of the man. Another element that resonates is his anger- it’s a quality Lee tries to keep harnessed, but it shows itself in a late night meeting with Stuart, whose absence until the battle has started has leaved the general deeply disappointed. The anger he expresses to Stuart is effective in the moment- a mark of a man who could be very dangerous when riled. Sheen takes all of these into account with his performance, and it rates as one of his finest roles.

Tom Berenger also inhabits the role of Longstreet just as you’d expect the man to be. Longstreet was a military genius, devising systems of trench warfare decades before its time. He was a methodical, defensive commander of great skill, an effective general who’d advanced to his position based on his own talent. He was also a man of gloom and frustration, with a tragic past, suffering multiple personal losses during the War. Berenger plays Longstreet with gravity and force, a man of strength. He knows what’s coming- he tries to argue with Lee about moving the army away from the field and threatening Washington directly- but to no avail. And Berenger’s Longstreet feels the loss of what happens, the responsibility for it all, very heavily.

Jeff Daniels gives his best performance as Chamberlain. The fighting professor from Maine was the sort of person who could master any subject before him, and he certainly excelled at military life, ending up as one of the most extraordinary soldiers of the war. He’s a man of scholarly knowledge and deeply held principles, a man who believes in the cause he is fighting for. Daniels brings those qualities to the role, and also comes across as a highly capable leader, trusted by his men, someone whose ability to speak can be persuasive. He also shows the ingenuity and resourcefulness of Chamberlain, whose last minute use of a textbook tactic saves the second day and the Union army on Little Round Top.

Gettysburg is one of my favourite films, if not my favourite. The tale of the pivotal battle of a terrible war captures the immediacy of battle, the desperate odds on both sides, and the ferocious nature of that war. It also gives the viewer outstanding performances all around, bringing figures from the past back to life in rich and deep ways. It is, quite simply, a magnificent achievement in film.

A Very Dangerous Adversary

Some links before I get started today. Parsnip posted about her birthday and about epiphany. Krisztina had a recipe for brownies. Maria wrote about bad habits of certain well known writers. And Ivy featured one of her dogs.

Now then, today I have a film review.

"I've never seen a grizzly just turn and run like that." ~ Jonathan Knox

"Everybody else up here acts like they've never seen a black man before. Why should the bear be different?" ~ Warren Stantin

"Tell me something. What else would you miss, besides telephones?" ~ Knox

"Everything!" Stantin

The acclaimed actor, director, and activist Sidney Poitier had been off the big screen for a decade when director Roger Spottiswoode cast him in the lead for the 1988 thriller Shoot To Kill. It was a film in which he played an FBI agent hunting for a ruthless killer, and reluctantly partnered with a man very much unlike him, played by Tom Berenger. The film has been critically acclaimed and a box office success, and remains a tense, taut thriller set in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. It’s a chase film, but also a character study of two strong protagonists working together despite initial friction, with an antagonist that still stands as one of the most malevolent villains in movie history- all the more so because the antagonist is so very human.

The story opens with a late night break in at a high end jeweller’s shop in Seattle, but all is not as it seems. The police discover that the owner of the shop is the one who’s broken in, and he breaks down and confesses to an FBI agent, Warren Stantin (Poitier) that a criminal has broken into his house, and holds his wife and maid hostage unless he brings the diamonds from his store. Stantin quickly discovers that the criminal (Clancy Brown) is a clever, dangerous sociopath who has no qualms about killing, and the attempt to rescue the hostages and make the exchange and arrest goes wrong. The criminal escapes into the night, while Stantin is left with two bodies and lots of unanswered questions.

The killer, who we don’t see at first, finds himself cornered during his escape along the backroads, certain that the police are after him- though he mistakes a roadblock as something meant for him. He comes across a rendezvous site for a fishing party soon to meet up, with one of the party already present, and seizes the opportunity. Stantin is alerted to the scene, where the body of a man bearing the signature tell-tales of his killer’s modus operandi has been found, and learns about the fishing party, being led by Sarah Renell (Kirstie Alley) deep into the mountains. He realizes his killer has infiltrated the party by passing himself off as the man he killed, and must be looking for a way to get through to the border. Stantin also discovers that Sarah’s partner and lover Jonathan Knox (Berenger) is the only person in the area that can lead him into those mountains to intercept the killer... but Knox believes Stantin will just slow him down and is determined to go after the party himself.

The story comes from Harv Zimmel, who collaborated on the screenplay with Daniel Petrie and Michael Burton. It’s a tense man versus nature tale that also weaves man versus man into it. It plays as a crime thriller, certainly, but also a survival tale, and the story weaves through these elements as it goes along. The landscape itself certainly becomes a character as the story goes along, as both the protagonists and the villain must deal with the challenges of the terrain. And the writers work moments of levity and humour into the story, a good way to contrast against the tension of the overall narrative.

Spottiswoode has been known for a variety of genres during his career as a director; some of his other credits include Tomorrow Never Dies, Air America, and Shake Hands With The Devil. He has a stylish feel as a director and knows how to handle action but also the interaction of actors, and that certainly plays out here. Much of the filming was done in British Columbia, doubling for both the BC and Washington sides of the border. Many Canadians will recognize elements of the end of the film, when our protagonists are back in civilization; Spottiswoode filmed key sequences late in the film in Vancouver and on the passenger ferry travelling to the island. Spottiswoode also has a skill for conveying the grandeur and the danger of the wilds, and the challenges they present. He features sequences of mountaineering that will unsettle anyone with a fear of heights, and one of the best- and most tense- sequences of the film involves a perilous attempt by the protagonists to reach a stranded cable car above a wild gorge, an attempt that goes dreadfully wrong. The sequence leaves the audience feeling overwrought, to say the least.

It was a wise thing of Spottiswoode to have kept the audience guessing about the killer. At first we don’t see him at all- he’s hidden behind a hostage, or under a blanket, or in a dark car or boat. We don’t see his face, and Spottiswoode even gives us his point of view while driving, still dangling that identity before us. He casts several other actors, all of them character actors known to have played villains, for the other members of the fishing party, including Richard Masur, Andrew Robinson, and Frederick Coffin. 

In the end though, it’s Clancy Brown, known for many a character role, but perhaps best for The Shawshank Redemption. I wondered about revealing that... but it’s been twenty six years since the film came out, and it’s hard to comment on his performance without speaking about what the actor does with the role. We know him as Steve, but his real name remains a question. Brown gives the character a malicious, sociopathic streak; he knows the difference between right and wrong, but just doesn’t care. He’s greedy, but very smart, driven and motivated. He’ll do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, and doesn’t mind at all if that involves taking lives. It’s a ruthless, vicious character, all the more dangerous when you factor in the fact that he’s not unhinged. Brown makes him a formidable adversary, and such a good villainous role.

Kirstie Alley gives Sarah an interesting take in her performance. She’s not the damsel in distress, though she spends much of the film as a hostage. She’s calm under pressure, defiant when she needs to be, and brings an inner strength to the situation she finds herself in. We learn quickly that Sarah is a good match for Jonathan; neither of them want much to do with the hectic world outside the land they love. They’re suited for each other and for a life of guiding people on backpacking hikes into the mountains. Though the two don’t really interact until the end of the film, we believe Sarah and Knox as a couple, because she’s his driving, motivating factor throughout.

Berenger plays Knox in just the right way. He’s a man who in an earlier time would be a complete recluse, not fit for modern life. He makes a living guiding people roughing it for a couple of weeks, but he’s happiest leaving civilization behind. Knox is a man who understands how to live off the land, is in his element in the wild, and is driven by his love for the woman he shares his life with. He’s also frustrated and angry, partly by the federal agent from the city he feels is slowing him down, but also by the situation that has come into his life and is threatening to tear that life apart. Berenger incorporates all of this into his performance, and his performance is just as strong as his fellow protagonist. How Knox and Stantin relate to each other is a relationship that evolves from mutual dislike to gradually getting to know each other, and that becomes the bedrock of the film.

Poitier is ideally cast as Stantin. He brings the gravity and strength to the performance that you would expect of the actor. He comes across as entirely believable and forceful as a fed, at the point in his career where he’s a leader, but not so far ahead in the ranks that he’s doomed to be the office director never to actually work a case again. Stantin is a man of justice confronting a man of chaos and darkness, and Poitier gives him a fierce determination that carries him into the wilderness... where a man who’s accustomed to city life is very much out of his element. Some of the humour of the film comes from that- Stantin’s reaction to an icy stream or a moose, for instance, or the way he drives off a charging bear, and even Knox describing what Stantin looks like after they’ve survived taking shelter in a hastily dug snow cave during a blizzard. Through it all, though, Poitier plays the agent with great strength and fortitude, and it’s a performance that stands up so well for an actor who’s become well known for great performances.

Shoot To Kill is many things. It is a buddy film, a chase caper, a wilderness adventure, and a contrast between the forces of good in its protagonists and the presence of evil in the form of a memorable villain. I’ve enjoyed the film every time I’ve seen it. 

Six Feet Of The Devil And A Hundred Eighty Pounds Of Hell

"The Hatfield-McCoy War has broken out fresh in the newspapers. The Hatfields and McCoys, however, know nothing about it." ~ Logan County Banner, 1894

Last year I wrote a humorous blog on vendettas, specifically on the story of the Hatfields and McCoys. I thought I'd revisit that somewhat today, as the story of the Hatfields and McCoys has come back along as of late. A miniseries on the feud has aired recently, and a fresh book on the story has recently been published. I thought I'd take a look at both, review each in turn.

Hatfields & McCoys is the recent miniseries, headlined by Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton as the patriarchs of the two clans, telling the story of the vendetta from the end of the Civil War to its conclusion in 1891. The two start out as young men, and we follow them through to old age in the series, along with their families and the various people who played a part in the events of the vendetta.

Devil Anse (Kevin Costner) and Levicy Hatfield (Sarah Parish)

Sarah (Mare Winningham) and Randall McCoy (Bill Paxton)

Devil Anse Hatfield (Costner) and Randolph McCoy (Paxton) are both soldiers in the Confederate army until Hatfield abandons the field to go home to the borderlands of Kentucky and West Virginia, to his wife Levicy (Sarah Parish). McCoy comes home to his wife Sarah "Sally" McCoy (Mare Winningham) at war's end to a world changed, where his brother Harmon has been killed by Jim Vance (Tom Berenger), an uncle to Devil Anse. This is what most consider to be the beginning of the feud, an act of anger over Harmon McCoy having had served as a Union Soldier.

The years go on. While the Hatfields seem to prosper with timbering in the area, Randall McCoy and his relations fall behind, and the unresolved death of one of their own festers in the McCoys. The theft of a pig and subsequent trial of a Hatfield more than a decade later creates more tensions between the families. The relationship of two of the children, Johnse Hatfield (Matt Barr) and Roseanna McCoy (Lindsay Pulsipher) makes things worse. Where Randall tries to use the law to air his grievances, Devil Anse is more likely to take the law into his own hands. On both sides, the tensions deepen, fighting breaks out, lives are broken, and people are killed as revenge becomes absolute. By the end of the feud, two families have been hit hard, the story has made national headlines, and two hardened enemies find themselves at a crossroads.

The Hatfields

The McCoys

The miniseries does justice to the story, particularly with respect to what I've later read about the feud. It tries to be historically accurate, much more so than previous film or television versions of the story, which veered wildly off the rail. There are a few glitches- the historical record, for instance, is uncertain as to if Randall McCoy even fought in the Confederate Army, Costner and Paxton are roughly around the same age and in reality, Randall was older than Devil Anse, Roseanna McCoy was a blonde- but these are relatively minor. The filmmakers wanted to keep as close to the original narrative of history where possible, and the production values really pay attention to the finer details, in costuming, music, sets. While the filming itself was done in eastern Europe, the setting in the film ends up feeling very much like a place in the backwoods of America, like the Kentucky and West Virginia borderland must have been like.

The pacing of the story works well. It slowly builds up the tensions, conveying the events as they go along, bringing the feud to a boil, to the point where it finally explodes. We, the audience, can believe the animosity that we've seen growing in these characters. The casting, for the most part, works well. The exception would have to be Matt Barr and Lindsay Pulsipher, neither of whom have much in the way of gravitas for the parts. There are some who look at the story of these two as a Romeo and Juliet sort of story; I didn't sense that. To begin, there were already a number of Hatfields and McCoys marrying. And it felt more like Johnse Hatfield was an irresponsible, womanizing drunkard who threw away what might have been a good thing just by being himself. Barr doesn't bring much weight to the role, and seems more like he's channeling Ryan Gosling (a bad thing, since in my opinion, Gosling sleepwalks his way through every role he takes). Pulsipher as Roseanna is more or less the tragic character, doomed to a bad end, but she just doesn't feel like we should take her seriously.

Roseanna McCoy (Lindsay Pulsipher)

Johnse Hatfield (Matt Barr)

Okay, that's the bad casting choices out of the way. Now the good, and there are a number of standout performances. Boyd Holbrook plays Cap Hatfield, another of Devil Anse's sons, and he gives the part a vindictive, ruthless streak, much like the original man might well have possessed. Jim Vance is the sort of sadistic, vicious pitbull that history seems to suggest he is, and Berenger perfectly plays those qualities. Powers Boothe, playing "Wall" Hatfield, an elder brother, gives the role a certain dignity and strength throughout. He's the voice of reason, reluctant to get involved in the feud, though the feud leads him to a bad end anyway. Andrew Howard plays a man named Bad Frank Phillips, a gun for hire brought in by the McCoys to go after the Hatfields, and though he's older than the actual man himself was, he plays the role with a vicious rattlesnake sort of quality, a thoroughly dangerous man.

Cap Hatfield (Boyd Holbrook)

Jim Vance (Tom Berenger)

Wall Hatfield (Powers Boothe)

Frank Phillps (Andrew Howard)

There are several women in the cast who stand out. Jena Malone, who's been acting since childhood, plays a McCoy cousin, Nancy, who gets involved with Johnse after the breakdown of the relationship with her cousin. She brings a conniving, manipulative quality to the role, effectively playing both sides against each other, though her loyalties remain to her family. Sarah Parish as Devil Anse's wife Levicy is a voice of reason, drowned out by violence, watching her family tear itself apart for the sake of retribution. And Mare Winningham plays Sarah McCoy, one of the more tragic characters of the story, who loses most of her family, and ends up broken emotionally and physically. She too watches her family implode from within, her husband becoming increasingly bitter, and the performance is haunting.

It's the two leads in the cast that make it come together. They carry the weight of the series, and they do not disappoint. Bill Paxton is one of those actors who just gets better with age. He plays McCoy's gradual decline from a reasonable man into bitter anger, finally into a state where he's shattered by all that has happened to him. Randall McCoy spent the rest of his life in complaint, never really getting over the feud, the anger still festering in him, and Paxton perfectly conveys that. He's a man whose eyes are very expressive, and two emotions that come across that way throughout are pain and the notion of being haunted. He moves from being a man who believes in God and the law to becoming a man who has lost all that matters to him in the end, leaving him unhinged, deeply bitter, and cynical. Not unlike the real McCoy, who by all accounts came apart after the feud.

Costner too is an actor who, given the right role, really can shine. He plays mean and cruel very well, and Devil Anse certainly qualifies. There's a ruthless, calculating streak to the character, a stubborn quality that's not willing to let go of an argument. He also feels plausible as the leader of a large extended family, though the man himself was not the eldest in the clan; Costner carries enough dramatic weight that the audience can believe people around him would follow him. I was reminded of my favourite Costner film Wyatt Earp, where he plays the lawman as the driving force of a family, similarly moved to wage a personal war against people he deems the enemy. In Wyatt and in Devil Anse, there's something of the same mean streak. There's a darkness that particularly comes out at times in this series, to the point where he's willing to take extreme action against a member of his own family he thinks may have betrayed him.

There's a moment, late in the series, when the two come face to face again. It's a confrontation that's not quite what it seems. Costner and Paxton spar with each other in that scene, which really comes across as a crossroads. It also brings into question the issue of mental stability, but it perfectly conveys just how deeply the loathing had cut into both men. It might well be the pivotal moment of the entire series.

The series leaves us with questions. Are there any of these people we should feel sympathetic about? Yes. The women are, for the most part, more sympathetic than the men, which I think transfers as well over to the real story. They watched as their families destroyed themselves, as their men went to war with each other, as stubbornness and hatred dominated their actions. And they paid dearly for it. The series sheds light on this chapter in American history, reminding us of just how badly anger can dominate, can get out of control, and how hard the consequences of that can be. And in the end, it's compelling and entertaining... and dark.

The writer Lisa Alther has recently released Blood Feud, a new look at the facts of the vendetta. Alther counts among her ancestors a McCoy family member, a forebear who refused to take part in the feuds. Alther, who comes from a background as a novelist, brings that quality to the narrative of history, laying out the story of the feud. She acknowledges a problem in telling the story straight off; the poorly kept records and contradictory accounts of the events in question from previous books make it difficult to determine at times what really happened. Earlier books were written by family members on both sides, collecting the accounts of their relations and told in such a way to deflect responsibility for crimes and to cast themselves in a positive light. The truth, she stresses, must lie in between, and through the book she often notes of an incident having more than one version, either in the drafts or the narrative itself. Another thing she stresses is that many of the people taking part in the fight weren't members of the families, but were tied to the clans by friendship or employment; indeed, there were more than a few Hatfields and McCoys who refused to take part in the vendetta.

Alther lays out the background of the families and the region first, exploring things like why vigilante justice might appeal to such people, to the family hierarchy of the day. In large extended families, for example, one might have cousins sharing the same name, since the habit of the time was to name a son after a father, or an uncle or brother. This is the case with Devil Anse, who shared his proper name William Anderson Hatfield with a cousin. The tendency of the time was to nickname children, often based on personality at some point; while the cousin ended up being referred to as Preacher Anse, and Devil Anse... obviously got it for other reasons. Alther gives several explanations for the nickname (as is the case of so much in the story, there are conflicting reasons); I rather prefer Randall McCoy's take on the name, that Devil Anse was "six feet of the Devil and a hundred eighty pounds of Hell."

Devil Anse Hatfield and Randall McCoy

The chronology of the feud is laid out in detail, the crimes, the killings, and the underlying factors driving hostilities. Where there are conflicting accounts of what actually happened, Alther points them out, using her skill as a novelist to keep the pacing of the narrative going. With the end of hostilities, she turns somewhat to discuss other items, putting the story into a greater context. Underlying cultural, physical, and social elements that might have played a role in the way the feud developed are explored. Other feuds in the region- some of which lasted longer and resulted in much higher death tolls- are detailed. And the aftermath and legacy of the feud itself, particularly in how it lingers in our collective memory in a way that other feuds have never achieved, are examined.

I cannot understate the value of Alther's background as a novelist in writing this book. It gives her the ability to breathe life into the story in a way that some historians might be lacking in (believe me, I've read more than enough historian's tomes that serve as a good cure for insomnia... Eric Hobsbawm, I'm looking at you). She has the right touch in keeping the reader's attention, and she brings balance to the story; she places the responsibility for the feud on both sides. She even brings a sense of humor to the table, which I obviously appreciate.

If you've found yourself curious about the real story after watching the miniseries, get hold of Blood Feud. You'll find yourself enlightened.