The West (documentary)
Encyclopedia
The West, sometimes marketed as Ken Burns Presents: The West, is a documentary film
about the American Old West
. It was directed by Stephen Ives and the executive producer was Ken Burns
. The film originally aired on PBS
in September 1996.
, J. S. Holliday, and Richard White
; the novelists Maxine Hong Kingston
and N. Scott Momaday
; and the politicians Ben Nighthorse Campbell
, Ann Richards
, Stewart Udall
, and Ralph Yarborough
.
Many notable actors lent their voices to The West, including Adam Arkin
, Matthew Broderick
, Keith Carradine
, John Lithgow
, Gary Sinise
, and Jimmy Smits
. The film's narrator, Peter Coyote
, would also narrate Burns' documentary film, The National Parks, released in 2009.
. The film was split into episodes, with one episode being aired each night for eight consecutive nights. Episodes were cut to about 90 minutes each in length, for a total length of over 12 hours for the entire film.
When The West was released on VHS, the finale episode, "One Sky Above Us," was divided into two one-hour episodes, titled "Ghost Dance" and "One Sky Above Us."
of 5.0. In 1997, the Organization of American Historians
awarded The West its Erik Barnouw Award
.
Film and television critics also responded positively to The West. Caryn James of The New York Times
praised the film for its "enthralling detail" and authenticity, calling it "fiercely and brilliantly rooted in fact." Richard Zoglin
of TIME
judged the film "a sweeping, thoughtful, often moving look at America's conquest of the West," and Howard Rosenberg
of the Los Angeles Times
wrote that "director Stephen Ives succeeds magnificently, delivering a lush work at once fully documented and fully entertaining... no one could ask for better television."
General Motors
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Carnegie Corporation of New York
PBS
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about the American Old West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
. It was directed by Stephen Ives and the executive producer was Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
. The film originally aired on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
in September 1996.
Production
Stephen Ives and Ken Burns had worked together on several films, including Baseball (1994) and The Civil War (1990). In 1988, Ives created his own production company, Insignia Films, and began working on The West as director, with Burns signed on to the project as executive producer. In order to create The West, the film crew traveled over 100000 miles (160,934 km) via airplane, conducted 72 interviews, visited 74 archives and collections, and filmed more than 250 hours of footage. Notable interviewees included the historians Stephen AmbroseStephen Ambrose
Stephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian and biographer of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a long time professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of many best selling volumes of American popular history...
, J. S. Holliday, and Richard White
Richard White (historian)
Richard White is an American historian, a past President of the Organization of American Historians, and the author of influential books on the American West, Native American history, and environmental history...
; the novelists Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American author and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese immigrants living in the United...
and N. Scott Momaday
N. Scott Momaday
Navarre Scott Momaday is a Kiowa-Cherokee Pulitzer Prize-winning writer from Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona.-Background:...
; and the politicians Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Benjamin Nighthorse Campbell is an American politician. He was a U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1993 until 2005 and was during his tenure the only American Indian serving in the U.S. Congress. Campbell was a three term U.S. Representative from 1987 to 1993, when he was sworn into office as a...
, Ann Richards
Ann Richards
Dorothy Ann Willis Richards was an American politician from Texas. She first came to national attention as the state treasurer of Texas, when she delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards served as the 45th Governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995 and was...
, Stewart Udall
Stewart Udall
Stewart Lee Udall was an American politician. After serving three terms as a congressman from Arizona, he served as Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969, under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B...
, and Ralph Yarborough
Ralph Yarborough
Ralph Webster Yarborough was a Texas Democratic politician who served in the United States Senate and was a leader of the progressive or liberal wing of his party in his many races for statewide office...
.
Many notable actors lent their voices to The West, including Adam Arkin
Adam Arkin
Adam Arkin is an American television, film and stage actor and director. He played the role of Aaron Shutt on Chicago Hope. He has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Tony as well as 3 primetime Emmys, 4 SAG Awards , and a DGA Award...
, Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick
Matthew Broderick is an American film and stage actor who, among other roles, played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Adult Simba in The Lion King film series, and Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers.He has won two Tony Awards, one in 1983 for his...
, Keith Carradine
Keith Carradine
Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.-Early life:Keith...
, John Lithgow
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
, Gary Sinise
Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
, and Jimmy Smits
Jimmy Smits
Jimmy Smits is an American actor. Smits is perhaps best known for his roles as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama L.A. Law, as NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue, and as Congressman Matt Santos on The West Wing...
. The film's narrator, Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Apple's iPad campaign. He has also served as on-camera co-host of the 2000 Oscar...
, would also narrate Burns' documentary film, The National Parks, released in 2009.
TV release
The West premiered on September 15, 1996, on PBSPublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
. The film was split into episodes, with one episode being aired each night for eight consecutive nights. Episodes were cut to about 90 minutes each in length, for a total length of over 12 hours for the entire film.
Episodes
- Episode 1: The People (To 1806)
- Episode 2: Empire Upon the Trails (1806 to 1848)
- Episode 3: Speck of the Future (1848 to 1856)
- Episode 4: Death Runs Riot (1856 to 1868)
- Episode 5: The Grandest Enterprise Under God (1868 to 1874)
- Episode 6: Fight No More Forever (1874 to 1877)
- Episode 7: The Geography of Hope (1877 to 1887)
- Episode 8: One Sky Above Us (1887 to 1914)
When The West was released on VHS, the finale episode, "One Sky Above Us," was divided into two one-hour episodes, titled "Ghost Dance" and "One Sky Above Us."
Reception
The West was well-received by both popular audiences and historians. Over 38 million viewers watched the film during its original airing, and it earned an average national Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 5.0. In 1997, the Organization of American Historians
Organization of American Historians
The Organization of American Historians , formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S...
awarded The West its Erik Barnouw Award
Erik Barnouw Award
The Erik Barnouw Award—also known as the OAH Erik Barnouw Award—is named after the late Erik Barnouw, a Columbia University historian and professor who was a specialist in mass media...
.
Film and television critics also responded positively to The West. Caryn James of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
praised the film for its "enthralling detail" and authenticity, calling it "fiercely and brilliantly rooted in fact." Richard Zoglin
Richard Zoglin
Richard Zoglin is an American journalist and author.He has covered entertainment for Time for over 20 years, and is now a senior editor there....
of TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
judged the film "a sweeping, thoughtful, often moving look at America's conquest of the West," and Howard Rosenberg
Howard Rosenberg
Howard Rosenberg is a retired TV critic for the Los Angeles Times. He worked there for 25 years and won a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. In recent years he has written the book No Time to Think: The Menace of Media Speed and the 24-Hour News Cycle with Charles S. Feldman and compiled an anthology of...
of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
wrote that "director Stephen Ives succeeds magnificently, delivering a lush work at once fully documented and fully entertaining... no one could ask for better television."
PBS Funding
Corporate Funding was Provied byGeneral Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations are a group of charitable foundations established by American industrialist Arthur Vining Davis, onetime Alcoa president and Florida land developer.-History:...
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress, funded by the United States’ federal government to promote public broadcasting...
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
PBS