Customer Reviews

Michener's Texas [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Its hard to believe nobodys written a review of this movie at amazon! I really enjoy reading the customer reviews and how people,s opinions differ so much, but I never thought that I would ever write one but this movie deserves a good review. Let me start by saying this is a long movie (over 3 hrs.) at amazon it states its on one vhs cassete, but the copy of the movie I recieved was on two, recorded in sp mode with superb sound and video as good as any vhs movie. This movie is about how the USA battled and won Texas from Mexico a truly remarkable piece of American history, in this movie the acting is terrific, its the kind of movie that keeps your eyes glued to the screen, this is a must for viewers who like movies with lots of battle scenes, and I think others will enjoy the movie as well. Well I hope to many people dont laugh at my only review but after viewing this movie and due to the fact that no one else had written a review, I felt the need to let people know this is a great movie in fact it is one of my favorates. My final words BUY IT! you wont regret it. PS: Anybody that has seen this movie please write a review , I would love to read your opinions of this movie.

James A. Michener's Texas is a quality TV miniseries that tells the story of how Texas became a state. The movie condenses almost 30 years of history into about 3 hours which is one of its bad points. Narrated by Charlton Heston, the miniseries shows Stephen Austin's colonization of Texas, cries for war, the Alamo, the Battle at San Jacinto, and the struggle to help the Republic of Texas survive all while following the story of several fictional characters.

The cast for the movie is really very good. It stars Benjamin Bratt, Rick Schroeder, Patrick Duffy, Chelsea Field, Randy Travis, Anthony Michael Hall, Stacey Keach, John Schneider, David Keith and many other notable faces. Bratt is very good as Benito Garza as is Schroeder as Otto MacNab, a young Texas Ranger. Overall, the movie is pretty good, but everything seems a little rushed. For one, the footage from the Alamo attack is from The Last Command made in the 1950's which looks very out of place. Also, San Jacinto is done almost all in slow motion which just doesn't work. Still a good movie though if you're looking for a basic history of Texas.

This movie was really better than I thought it was going to be. The acting was good and for the most part the history was correct and interesting. It is well worth the money and time to view this movie and learn a different side of history regarding Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston. I love history and if you are a history buff then you will enjoy this movie.

I wanted so badly to like this movie from the outset. I am a big fan of Michener's multi-generational epic novels, such as Centennial, Texas, Alaska, Chesapeake. When Centennial was produced,it was done as a 12 part miniseries. Sadly, the producers tried to boil a great story (Michener's book) down into a few hours worth of entertainment that resembles very little the basic storyline of the book except the names of the characters. A love story between Matty and Steven Austin? What were they thinking? THe battle scenes were OK, the acting was fine, but the screenplay falls flat. I urge anyone who disagrees with me to get Jim Michener's book and read it (despite it's length). The character development is fantastic in the book - from the backgrounds of the people who settled Texas to the individual stories that were typical of Texans throughout.
The producers wished to make a briefer movie unlike the 12 part Centennial. I just wish they could've stuck to the storyline better.

You can add a star to my review if you never read the book.

"An epic as big as the land that shaped it"...This is how "James A.Michener's Texas"is described on the dvd box.Wishful thinking at best..Produced by Aaron Spellings old production company in association with Republic pictures(which was owned by Spelling at the time and may still be so owned for all that I know),this is a imitation epic if there ever was one..The dvd cover features the battle of the alamo,a scene that is not repeated in the film..While David Keith(as Jim Bowie)and John Schneider(as Davy Crockett)are on hand the alamo battle scene(all 2 minutes and 13 seconds of it)takes place without them,being lifted whole from"The Last Command",a film that Republic pictures produced more than a half century ago..That "epic" featured Ernest Borgnine(among others) and during the scenes from "The last command" spliced in here you can see Borgnine fighting and stabbling his way on the alamo wall as the mexican soldiers breach it(gee,I wonder if they gave Borgnine any money for his unbilled and probably unintentional scenes in this film?)..
Stacy Keach(as Sam Houston)and Patrick Duffy(as Stephan Austin)are adequate,given the clunky lines that they are called upon to speak,while Benjamin Bratt(of Law & Order fame)is stereotyped as a mexican with mixed loyalties..Chelsea Field as a tough but tender pioneer woman more or less steals the show(but given the show itself that is really not so hard to do)..
All of the one-sided blather about freedom and democracy are rolled out in this film,ignoring the fact that the"fight for texas" was a land-grab by the anglos from first to last,one encouraged first by president Andrew Jackson and made final by President James Knox Polk..It was expansionist imperialism at best,with worse elements of bigotry and brutality mixed right in...
Not a"great" film...Not even a good one...

I agree with everybody that has posted reviews about this movie, but the ones that have only 1 or 2 stars. In the style of Gone With the Wind, the novel shows how families were at first united, then separated during the conflict. I am familiar with the historical facts and that is why I could follow the locations and time, but someone who has not read the book or know little about the true facts would be a little lost. I was lucky to get this movie on DVD. The sound and the colors are great, the photography is very good, the landscapes and the sets believable, picture is sharp except for the stolen parts from an earlier movie. I am giving the movie 4 stars because of the battle scenes (the ones made for this movie), even considering it was a made for TV movie, they could have been choreographed an filmed better. In overall for a low budget TV movie, it was very good. I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to rebroadcast it, specially now that the DVD has became a scarce item. I will keep it in my library of history documentaries and movies.

I read the book before I saw the movie, and even so I wasn't disappointed. The movie told a good section of the story and stayed as true as possible to the book. I just wish that they had been able to do more of the book. I had two minor problems with it, though: Some of the footage (like the fall of the Alamo) looked like it might have been borrowed from an old western. Also, during the battle right before Otto and Yancey captured Santa Anna, I don't understand why they had Sam Houston galloping around the edges of the battle in slow motion, hardly fighting at all, looking like an early-nineteenth-century Captain America. I don't think that served any real purpose. Other than that, I liked it.

Based on Pulitzer Prize author John Michener's Texas. GREAT FOR TEXAS HISTORY buffs and of Epic quality.

Students of Texas History will find is makes the material come to life. However the sound quality is poor on the VHS version. I'd rent it before I bought a copy to know what the sound quality is like before purchasing.

I'm surprised this movie has been re-run so few times on TV. I watched it on TV not long ago and liked it so well I ordered the VHS so I could watch it again. It tells the story of how Texas was colonized by Americans at the invitation of the Mexican government and how Texas subsequently broke away, becoming first an independent republic and then a state. The characters--both actual historical figures and the fictional ones whose stories are told against a real historical background--give a sense of realism to this sweeping historical tale. I especially liked Chelsea Field and Benjamin Bratt and the fictional characters they played. Both gave excellent performances. The narration by Charleton Heston is memorable as well.

This is a great story of how Texas was formed and I really enjoyed it.