# Hatfields & McCoys - *Possible Spoilers



## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

So, what did you think of the first part?
I liked it overall. I did think it was a bit of a stretch for a 50+ year old actress to ask her husband to not make her pregnant, but i get that they were trying to get us to believe that this was in the younger days.

Plenty of stupid to go around on both side of the creek, as both families seem to be creating most of their own problems by making really dumb decisions.


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## jkane (Oct 12, 2007)

Part 1 was slow. Almost deleted it in the first half hour as I had a hard time staying awake!

It got a little better. They have told most of the story already. I am afraid they will get even slower in parts 2 and 3.

They sure do spit a lot! :lol:

I am picking up the historical facts in general. They are doing an OK job of not leaving the well known parts out. I wonder how much of the character development is fact and how much is the writers taking liberties.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

This is an article talking to a historian that spend 10 years studying the families. There definitely are liberties taken, but could be much worse.

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012...is-hatfields-and-mccoys/?mod=google_news_blog

And according to the Washington Post, it was filmed in Romania. They also pointed out that the dialects were wrong for the region. Like the WSJ, they compared it to a Western.

http://communities.washingtontimes....lds-and-mccoys-series-needs-be-more-authenti/


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## Jaspear (May 16, 2004)

dpeters11 said:


> And according to the Washington Post, it was filmed in Romania.


I wondered about that. The height of the craggy, snow capped mountains that fill in for the Appalachians on the West Virginia-Kentucky border is completely wrong.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Jaspear said:


> I wondered about that. The height of the craggy, snow capped mountains that fill in for the Appalachians on the West Virginia-Kentucky border is completely wrong.


Romania is probably closer to 19th Century WV than 21st Century WV is.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

They did lose some credibility with me when they showed the leaves turning in January and they went fishing in shirt sleeves.
Not likely weather for WV or KY.


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## SamC (Jan 20, 2003)

dpeters11 said:


> And according to the Washington Post, it was filmed in Romania. They also pointed out that the dialects were wrong for the region. Like the WSJ, they compared it to a Western.


I was born and have spent esentually my entire life within 80 miles of site of the subject matter. The Central Appalachian accent (I will never know what it is to be black or hispanic, but the way some people have treated me just because of the way I speak and what it says on my DL, gives me some idea) is hard to pull off. Most movies go with what I would call "broadly southern" or a "western". However, if you study the settlement of this country, many Appalachians moved on to the Ozarks and on into Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. When I travel, particularly to California or Nevada, most people assume that I am from Texas when they hear me speak.



Marlin Guy said:


> Romania is probably closer to 19th Century WV than 21st Century WV is.


Sorry, you are misinformed. First, your picture is of an active mine site. If you really want to learn about the wonderful process of mountaintop removal and reclamation, I can sugust a visit to many places that have been subject to this process, reclaimed, and returned to their original countours, which is what has been required by the EPA for almost 50 years. Most are once again forested woodlands, generally indistinguishable from the surrounding land. However many have formed the basis, in a region without enough developable land, for many unique uses.

You might want to visit some of the places seen in this video:






Or review the facts outlined here:

http://www.kentuckycoal.org/index.cfm?pageToken=mtmIssues

I personally will treat you to a round of golf at Twisted Gun any day.

Second, only 0.4% of Central Applachia is ameniable to mountain top removal in the first place. The rest of rural Central Applachia looks just like it did at the time of not only the Hatfields, but of Pocahontas' great great great granddaddy. I don't know where you are from, but I dare say more than 0.4% of the land looks different than it did before the so called "white settlement".

Third, Romania is not only a coal, but hard rock mineral, producing area. Before the overthrow, capture, and execution of its communist dictator, it followed esentually NO environmental regulations at all, either in mining or any other field of endeavor.

As to the general accuracy of the movie to the history, and of the topography, the Tug Fork (the border between WV and KY) really is about that deep and wide at that point, probably the least significant body of water used as a border in the USA) and the mountains are pretty accurate, although most of Mingo and Pike counties are FAR more steep than that, mountains are esentually vertical, with passes, both natural and those made by highway constuction.

The movie was pretty accurate. The point they missed is that most of this, was about land. In that culture, land was wealth. If you look at law cases from that time, 90% of them were about land. Land was timber, and timber was the only thing those people had to sell (the land remains totally unsuited for agriculture, and it took railroads and sophisticated engineering to exploit the coal, which would not happen until the early 20th Century.


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## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

The credits kept listing Tom Berenger, but I never could find him. This surprised me, as he is an actor I've always enjoyed and I figured I'd have no problem spotting him. Looked it up and he played Jim Vance but I never picked him out under all the hair and makeup -- in fact I recall wondering who that actor was.








Pic from zap2it page.​


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## pablo (Oct 11, 2007)

So there are now three threads about this miniseries. This one plus:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=205500
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=204310

Perhaps they should be merged?


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## clueless (Dec 6, 2004)

They were accurate with the local names (Blackberry Holler, Mate Creek, Pikeville, etc.) The county I live in was even mentioned. Johnse said he had gone to Boone County to make a delivery (of his 'shine). They showed a copy of the Logan Banner (a paper that still publishes today). Living all my life in the area I found myself complaining about the topography. As SamC said the hills are much steeper and the valleys much narrower (think mountain, creek, road, mountain). Less flat land than in Romania. A shame they couldn't have filmed it in WV like the movie Matewan (the story of the mine wars and Sid Hatfield) that happened in the same area a few decades later).


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

One little point that struck me is the fancy guns most of them sported. Stocks and barrels gleaming, no nicks, scratches, dirt at all. Some were very expensive guns; not at all realistic. Oh, and the use of a shotgun on: a house at 50 yards, and on open enemies at 100. They also wouldn't have wasted so much ammo, shotgun, rifle or pistol. 

One more thing!®

The clothes were too nice, and too frequently laundered for life in pretty primitive conditions. 

Did I mention I didn't really get into this one? :lol: And Tom Berenger wasn't even ironic, much less amusing....:nono2:


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

Watched all 6 hours between Friday evening and Saturday.

I guess I enjoyed it, due to the fact that I watched all 6 hours.

There were some "stupid" moments, like when Bad Frank was with a woman giving orders to his second through the door and his second said "Are you coming?", to which the woman yelled "yes". I don't like when dramas try to throw in those stupid attempts at jokes.

And yes, the guns weren't right (glad I didn't watch this with my Dad as he would have never let up about it) and the clothes were too clean. The acting was spotty in parts, but overall it was enjoyable and interesting.

The best part to me, was the last 2 minutes where they updated all the characters.

Oh, and I spotted Tom Berenger right off, but I'm very good at that. I'm just not good with names of actors OR characters. Bill Paxon is a favorite of mine too, but during the movie, there were several times my wife would ask a question about who said something or who did something, and I'd have to say "The guy from Twister", or "The guy from Major League". If you quized me right now on all the main characters, even having just watched it, I could probably only come up with maybe 4 of their names - I just never pay attention (or remember) that stuff.


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## SamC (Jan 20, 2003)

clueless said:


> They were accurate with the local names (Blackberry Holler, Mate Creek, Pikeville, etc.) The county I live in was even mentioned. Johnse said he had gone to Boone County to make a delivery (of his 'shine). They showed a copy of the Logan Banner (a paper that still publishes today). Living all my life in the area I found myself complaining about the topography. As SamC said the hills are much steeper and the valleys much narrower (think mountain, creek, road, mountain). Less flat land than in Romania. A shame they couldn't have filmed it in WV like the movie Matewan (the story of the mine wars and Sid Hatfield) that happened in the same area a few decades later).


Mountain, creek, road, mountain is a very correct description of the topography.

The only geographic nitpicks that I have are that while there really is a Mate Creek, it did not have that name at that era. It was named that later because it joined the Tug Fork at the town of Matewan, which was founded by a railroad employee from Matawan, NJ (locals corrupted the spelling and pronounciation). It wasnt founded until the railroad came in the 1890s. They also mention Bluefield at one point. Bluefield was not founded until the railroad was built in 1890, and, being over 100 miles away, before the railroad was built, might as well have been on the moon to those people anyway. 100 miles without roads would be like 1000 miles today. They also made it appear that Pikeville (county seat of Pike County, KY) and Logan (county seat of Logan County, VA/WV) are just a few miles apart (modern Mingo County, WV was not formed until after the story) on opposite sides of the river. In actuality, they are about 50 miles apart, and in that era that meant maybe two days travel in that terain.


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## gilviv (Sep 18, 2007)

Watched the mini-series and all in all, enjoyed it. I enjoy history and its retelling, but not very knowledgables about the Hatfields & McCoys. I am glad you all here added to the facts about the region and the history. Made the whole thing better for me! Also, in total agreement with you guys about the weapons, too new, too clean. Same goes for clothing/costuming, many pictures of that era show way more "dirt & grit" as bathing was only on occasion. FYI, not all the young children had shoes either. It is a very beautiful part of our country, they should have filmed it there.


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## jkane (Oct 12, 2007)

Some of the children there still don't have shoes. 

Well, not there exactly, but foothills of Kentucky. It was like 30 years ago now, but I was in the army with a fellow from Kentucky who said he signed up because the offered him his first pair of boots!


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

I watched the whole thing finally.

What was with all the flem?

The whole series was about a species of humans that spit as they breathed. 
There were spittoon scenes in bars, spitting on boots, spitting in faces, spitting in anger, spitting when happy, 
spitting off horses, spitting on horses, spitting on porches, spitting on pigs

And an entire episode of Costner sick' as he walked around spitting out his ailment into a bucket.

I needed a bottle of water by the end.


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