Customer Reviews

Project Twenty: The Real West

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was fortunate enough to see this on TV when it was broadcast in 1960 and after all these years I can still recall phrases from it. It was, apparently, the last thing Cooper did, and he does a wonderful job. I believe his voice actually breaks in sincere sorrow when he is reciting the famous speech by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, toward the end. His empathy and knowledge of the West (he was from Montana) are everywhere apparent.

Beyond that, this is one of the best-written documentaries I've ever seen. Every line, almost, is memorably quotable. Some are extremely funny, others extremely tragic, but they have a brilliant solidity and incisiveness that makes this a really extraordinary piece of work. Lines like "sleeping on prairie feathers with no mattress but your backbone" and "Sam Colt made everybody the same size," have a whipcracking honesty that rings very true.

The photo montages are excellent, many of them quite rare images, like gigantic piles of buffalo bones beside a railroad track. The cross-cutting at the end, depicting the struggle between whites and Indians, is handled magnificently.

Defects are trifling. The sound gets fuzzy from time to time, as if the track were being spliced, but Cooper's narration is quite clear throughout. This is a very bare-bones DVD, just the show and the usual scene-selection feature, no commentary, no extras to speak of.

But it is one of the clearest, most comprehensive and truthful pictures of the West I've ever seen. Cooper really ended his career on a high note.

Gary Cooper, famous western star, does an outstanding joy of narrating this video. He died shortly after making this video and it stands as a testimonial to a man who wanted to do away with the cowboy myth and show the west as it really was.

I think any teacher of American History should have this movie in their library or personal collection.

I use this movie in my 8th grade social studies class and it really helps my students see what the Wild West was like. Despite it being still photos and other images, it shows the true character of the settling of the Great Plains. Gary Cooper was a great choice for the narrator/host for the film. Western buffs and American History teachers would really enjoy this documentary.

enjoyed watching this for the first time in almost 50 years, the quality of the dvd is good. the seller was quick to respond to a problem i had ,iwould recommend them highly.

This is visually an interesting video on the West, but I feel sad that it reflects more of the prejudice of the time period it was made in. The photos are all of white people in the west. It's missing the pictures of the Chinese in California, the black and Hispanic cowboys, and the Hispanics in California in the late 1800's. Gary Cooper does a nice job narrating and there is humor in describing the Old West.