When I was a kid playing ‘Cowboys and Indians,’ most of us
wanted to be ‘Indians.’ But whatever
roles were play that old wild west fascination stays with you, and for good
reason. Naturally, I was attracted to the AMC 8 – part Series called “The
American West,” which wrapped up last night with gusto.
America’s move to the west was bloody and unpredictable. Law
and order were rare commodities beyond the frontier where the valiant Lakota
Sioux fight to maintain their lands and their fierce independence.
Disenfranchised southerners like Jesse James continue their rebellion against
the north by robbing trains and banks.
His notoriety becomes so great that the governor of the state of
Missouri puts out a tempting 5,000 reward for his death or capture. In
Tombstone Arizona, Wyatt Earp has built a reputation as a staunch law and order
man but some people out west see no difference between him and the outlaws he
challenges.
The season finale,
last of eight episodes, did a nice job of putting things together. We begin with the reminder that, with a bounty
on his head, Jesse James has become paranoid and withdrawn. As he re-emerges
from the shadows to plan new robberies, the only people he trusts are the Ford
brothers, Charlie and Rob. Big mistake
to trust either of them, but his brother Frank has given up the outlaw life and
returned to farming. He has to have someone to help him rob banks.
Unfortunately, Rob Ford hears the jingle of cash in his head and goes to the
governor of the state to get clearance for what he plans. If he’s to kill Jesse James, he wants to be
sure he gets the reward money and immunity from prosecution. The governor is
only too willing – and the Ford brothers, working together according to this
presentation, concoct a ruse to disarm Jesse and then Rob Ford murders him by
shooting him in the back of the head.
The great thing about the latter part of the 19th
century is that great strides were made in photography. With the martyred
outlaw (he was a hero to the southern rebels after the Civil War) laid to rest
in his coffin, we can see in still photos all over the internet how Jesse James
looked, just as 2,000 morbid onlookers passed by as he was displayed on the
main street of a town in Missouri. Google it.
Ike Clanton is still bristling over his encounter with Wyatt
Earp whom he feels cheated him out of the three thousand dollar reward money he
was supposed to get for giving up the names of some outlaws Wyatt was chasing.
Said outlaws ran out of luck before Wyatt could get to them. They were shot
down by some other outlaws, and there was no reward money to be paid. By his
interpretation of events, Wyatt Earp still owed him money and when he’s
humiliated publicly in a saloon, Clanton threatens to kill all three of the
Earp brothers. In the Tombstone of that day, it was well to take such threats
seriously, and the Earp brothers, joined by the notorious gambler Doc Holliday,
were headed for the showdown known as the ‘Gunfight at OK Corral.’ While it’s called that, the gun fight didn’t
happen at the corral; it occurred several blocks away on Fremont Street. On the
face of it, Fremont Street doesn’t have the same ring to it as does the OK
Corral.
The gunfight was likely over in less time than it would take
to describe it. In thirty seconds and
thirty shots, three of Clanton’s gang lay dead, both of Wyatt’s brothers and
Doc Holliday were wounded, while Wyatt walked away unscathed. It was something
Ike Clanton wasn’t willing to forget. The road to revenge was long and arduous
with Clanton getting the edge at one point by killing Morgan Earp. Here’s where the life of Wyatt Earp poses
some really difficult philosophical and moral questions.
What is to be done in lands without laws? Who is the outlaw and who is the righteous
man? The law was so arbitrary in Tombstone that Wyatt took it upon himself to
avenge his brother’s death, tracking down and killing several of Clanton’s
gang. The Earps had already spent two
weeks in jail for the OK Corral gunfight before a judge released them for lack
of evidence. Both sides, the Clantons
and the Earps declared that the other side fired first.
Consider that the real Wyatt Earp, who can be seen also in
internet still life photographs, had learned hard lessons during his years as a
lawman and an outlaw. He thought it best to get out of Dodge (actually
Tombstone) and headed to California where he got a job as a consultant to the
burgeoning film industry. In one of the great ironies of the American west,
Wyatt Earp takes under his wing a young actor named Marion Morrison. Morrison
would later change his name to John Wayne and become an icon of western movies,
making good use of the tales Wyatt Earp told him of the ‘bad old days.’
But what about Sitting Bull?
The American West closed out the tale of the rise and fall of the great
Lakota Sioux Chief in its tragic ending in captivity. When Sitting Bull returns
from the east where he’s been traveling with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West
Show, he’s disillusioned in what he has seen. The teeming industrialized cities
are a far cry from the freedom and independence of the plains.
While he’s been away from home, the Ghost Dance movement has
inflamed the passions of the proud Lakota Sioux. The religion of the Indians,
the dances and the songs, are meant to revive the spirit and the old ways of
the Indian nation, but they have worried the U.S. government with fears of a
major uprising. Sitting Bull being the best known leader of the Sioux is a
particular worry and a detachment of troops is sent to arrest him. The chief’s followers resist and Sitting Bull,
aged 59, is shot to death by a soldier in the melee that follows.
Government policy has been to differentiate ‘hostile’ Indians
from others according to whether they live on the reservations provided them or
not. In other words, if you’re caught by the Army off the reservation, you’re a
hostile. But hundreds of Indians were
not willing to give up their freedom and traditional ways of life to adopt the
life styles of the eastern intruders into their traditional homeland.
A few hundred gather their belongings and march off from the
reservation to make camp at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. When the president orders the 7th
Cavalry to round up hostiles, there is a bitter confrontation at the Sioux
settlement. Versions of the massacre may
vary, but the result was more than 200 mostly unarmed Sioux men, women, and
children killed by the Army, with 65 Cavalry casualties.
There were many famous names who provided interest and
insight into the series – people like Kiefer Southerland, Sen. John McCain, and
of course Robert Redford who produced the series. There were also a phalanx of
distinguished wild west historians who commented on various aspects of the
westward movement.
Perhaps the most stirring commentary was provided by Lakota Sioux writer/filmmaker Larry Pourier. We
find out toward the end that Pourier is one of the direct descendants of
Sitting Bull. He is deliberate and calm in demeanor but unbroken in spirit as
he tells the tale of his ancestors. “The death of Sitting Bull marks the death
of our culture,” he says at one point, in his deliberate and measured way of
speaking. This final bookending of the series is especially hard hitting when
it shows real life still pictures of the December 1890 Massacre at Wounded
Knee. In this case, a picture is indeed
worth a thousand words, and perhaps that is why Pourier’s commentary is more about wisdom than words.
The pictures themselves can be found on the internet and are
horrific in their impact: One still picture of the scene shows two men standing
in a mass grave dug for the pile of Indians who lie in a heap outside the pit. A
line of grizzled cavalry veterans stand by with guns and beaten expressions.Another
still is of Chief Big Foot, half sitting
up in the snow, frozen into his rigor mortis shape, his arms and fingers positioned
as if he is holding a rifle or a bow.
Speaks for itself.
