Centennial revisted

[stuart.uk]

Spoiler Alert

For some reason I felt the need to go back to the mini-series Centennial, some 33-years after I first saw it and I wasn't disappointed. In fact as I did then I felt it compared to Roots. Though the story was fictional, I found it so educational about life in the American west as well as a great piece of entertainment.

I started in the late 1700s and went right through to 1979 with an outstanding narration by David Jannsen, who in the final episode played ranch owner Paul Garrett, an ancestor of those who went before him. The story concerned a piece of American widerness in Colarado, which eventually became the town of Centennial.

There were great outstanding performances, Richard Chamberlin as legandary Scottish mountain man Aleaxander McKeag and Barbara Carrera as his Indian wife Clay Basket in what was her 2nd marriage. Then there was Gregory Harrison's Amish born Levi Zendt, who was wrongly accussed of attempted rape and shunned by his own people. So he headed west with orphan girl Stepahie Zimblist's Elly, only for her to die of rattlesnake poison in Colarado. The greaving Levi, after having some sort of nervous breakdown, was saved by McKeag's grown up half breed Indian daughter Lucinda, who became his 2nd wife, played superbly by Christina Rains.

Another outstanding performance came from future Bond Timothy Dalton as rich adventurer Oliver Seacombe, who traveled west with Levi and Elly and later manager of the big ranch that was built in the 1860s. He married the boss' young neice Charlotte, with Lynn Redgrave showing what a great actress she was. As she grew into a mature woman, the now formitable widowed Charlotte became owner of the ranch and married the slightly younger working class ranch forman Jim Llyod as played by William Atherton.

In the later episodes Brian Keith was terrific as the town sherif and he bonded with a Phil, a youngster who held a secret to a murder which would have condemmed his parents. The child actor was brilliantly played by, Doug McKeon who would go on to play Jane Fonda's step-son in On Golden Pond.

I'm sure I've missed out on other great acting performances, but this was a great series.............................................

[movieman1957]

It's an outstanding series. You pretty much hit the highlights. Richard Chamberlain as Alexander MacKeag is one of my favorite characters in the whole thing. Stephen McHattie as "Jake" is also another favorite. He is now doing fine work in the "Jesse Stone" series with Tom Selleck.

Alex Karras, who came to fame as an American football player, is quite a surprise in his role as a potato farmer.

Plenty of good consistent work by all.

[RedRiver]

I heard great things about this show. Never saw it.

[movieman1957]

It's a big time investment. It's about 24 hours, maybe 26.

[JackFavell]

You won me over at T. Dalton!

I only watched part of one ep when it was first on, Robert Conrad was a trapper but I didn't like westerns or frontier stories back then so I didn't watch it. I think Alex Karras was a really fine actor, and ditto for Barbara Carrera. I remember S. MacHattie from a series of failed TV shows or miniseries, he was going to be the next big thing but never really got there. Good to know he's still working.

[RedRiver]

With video, I could do that. Real time? I'm bound to miss an episode! To this day, I almost never watch anything in serial form.

[moira finnie]

I am not sure if this is anywhere near complete, but for those of us who missed seeing this mini-series the first time around, I thought that I'd post a link to a playlist on youtube that features 12 episodes from Centennial (1978-1979):

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7D9F0C658A043206

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Thank for the link, Moira!