Texas Rising, a miniseries showing on the History Channel is, well, a mess.
Even so, it has drawn a huge audience:
The first night of the 10-hour effort was the most watched miniseries premiere — across all of cable — since 'The Bible.'
I don't expect others to know all about Texas history, or all about the seven distinct geographical regions, but I would expect a movie crew to research both before attempting a seven-part miniseries of such magnitude.
I admit, even as a life-long Texan, I do not know all the details. But the major details? Yes, I know enough.
The series begins shortly after the fall of the Alamo. Admittedly, only a true historian could make perfect sense out of the myriad events and battles, but at least movie makers could learn and use the basics--the important ones.
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| SPRINGTIME ON A RANCH NEAR GONZALES |
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| TYPICAL TERRAIN IN SOUTH TEXAS |
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| THE REAL SANTA ANNA |
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| OLIVIER MARTINEZ, A FRENCH ACTOR, WHO PLAYS GENERAL SANTA ANNA. CYNTHIA ADDAI-ROBINSON WHO PLAYS EMILY WEST, THE YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS |
I could go on and on, but one big mistake is depicting the rag-tag Texan Army as all white. Many Texans--sometimes referred to as "Texians"--were Mexican. Some came through the revolution and remained loyal to Texas, their home as much as it was the whites'. Numerous towns and counties are named for the "Mexican Texans."
I won't criticize the actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson who played Emily West, known as The Yellow Rose of Texas. Why? Too many variations about this woman exist, including her exact role in the Battle of San Jacinto, her looks, and her age. Instead, I will say the actress is lovely, although perhaps a bit overdressed for her role.
The characters playing the Anglos are indiscernible from one another. They are dressed alike, equally filthy, unshaven, and appear the same color from head to toe as the bland brown dry dusty landscape.
I know Bill Paxton plays Sam Houston, so he's the only one I can identify.
I shouldn't be so harsh with this portrayal of the Texas Revolution. Movie makers are quite adept at taking a historical event and "messing" it up.
Another case was the 1960 version of The Alamo starring John Wayne.
~*~JW and others wore Western clothing, as though the story of The Alamo was a western.
~*~Soldiers sing Happy Birthday to a little girl 57 years before it was written.
~*~The Alamo in this movie had upstairs windows. The real one never has.
~*~Susannah Dickinson's dresses had zippers..all of them. The zipper was not invented until 1930, and even then, dresses did not have zippers.
I could go on and on.
As an author of Western Historical Romance, I try to have my facts straight. Of course, none of us are experts...well, maybe Kathleen Rice Adams is...but I do try to work with the facts.
Come Monday night, I will continue the Texas Rising series. I want to see what the producers do with The Runaway Scrape.
One bright spot is that Kris Kristofferson will sing a song written especially for this series, titled "Texas Rising." I do not want to miss that. Reviewers have praised it and the actor/singer.
~~*~~*~~
Celia
Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas
Sources:
Handbook of Texas-Online
Wikipedia
Wikimedia
Movie Synopses, Reviews, and Photos
Entertaining as always, Celia. I'm taping the series, but haven't had time to watch it yet. Bill Paxton and Brendan Fraser are both favorites of mine. I didn't realize the mini-series was seven parts.
ReplyDeleteYou and Kathleen should do a followup after each episode and tell us what they got wrong. I'm a transplant to Texas, so this is fascinating for me.
Connie--As I read about the series, it was originally six parts, then they added a 7th. I read a note that indicated it might even be extended to 10 parts. I don't see how... Anyway, we'll see what we can do on follow-ups. As I said, I'm waiting to see how they portray The Runaway Scrape. Thanks!
DeleteVery interesting blog, Celia. I didn't watch the first segment. Is it possible to pick that up before the second one is shown? I'm happy that you are "setting the record straight" for those of us who wouldn't know otherwise. I'll look for your continued critique to help me learn the real facts about Texas while watching the fictional/factual Texas Rising.
ReplyDeleteLinda--You might ask Kaye how to locate the first episodes--there were two on Sunday and Monday nights, I believe. Now, we'll see one episode a week.
DeleteThe most annoying aspect so far is portraying all of South Texas as dry barren desert with rugged mountains. That is so far off the mark, I simply cannot understand it.
We'll see what other glaring mistakes we see. Thanks!
Celia, I'm no expert, either (although I do appreciate your kind comment, dear friend), but I agree with everything you said about the miniseries. As proud Texans, it's a little irritating to watch as the film depicts such egregious and OBVIOUS (at least to us) errors, isn't it? The other day, someone said to me, "I'm learning a lot about Texas history from watching Texas Rising," and I cringed from top to bottom.
ReplyDeleteThe actors are doing a wonderful job, except I wish Bill Paxton wouldn't go out of his way to murder the accent. I must say it's much more pleasant to watch Oliver Martinez portray Santa Anna than it would be to watch someone who more resembles the real man. The actor who plays Deaf Smith (yes, it's spelled D-E-A-F, people, not "deef"!) steals every scene he's in, I think -- in a good way.
Don't get me started on either version of The Alamo. Ugh.
I hope you'll post a recap of each future episode of Texas Rising. Like Connie said, we need to set the record straight!
HUGS!!!!
Yeah. I'm a little ticked they chose Olivier to play Santa Anna. We're supposed to hate old Santa Anna! Not adore him...This actor so cute and cuts quite a striking figure. Ah, well.
DeleteSomehow, I missed Deaf Smith. Probably I was in the kitchen. Deaf Smith himself is a great Texan. I wrote a SOTW blog about him--fascinating life story, and a good all-around man. But on to the next episode!
The other Ranger I'm interested in watching is Big Foot Wallace. He was quite the character in real life -- and more than a bit of a loose cannon. I suppose he was exactly the kind of man the Rangers needed back then, though.
DeleteLike you, I can't wait to see Hollywood's version of The Runaway Scrape. Wonder if it will be as...uh..."interesting" as the portrayal of the Alamo aftermath and the massacre at Goliad.
Interestingly on Paxton's accent, he is a Texan ;) or was born there and considers himself one. maybe with all those geographic areas, accents vary too....
DeleteAs someone who has an on going love affair with history, I watched five minutes and turned it off. I know enough about Texas to know it was incorrect. Can't stand that. I give them credit for trying, but they didn't try hard enough. I knew the location was wrong...oh well. I'll just keep trying to find 'history' as best I can.
ReplyDeleteThank you for an enlightening post. Doris
I hear you, Doris. It's almost like watching a train wreck..you hate to look, but You Can't Look Away! My husband has read all through the first episodes. Not interested, he said. That's fine...I'm not interested in accounting! Haha. Thanks for your opinion!
DeleteI didn't see it! WAAHHHH! But, I have to agree--it's all about ratings, so they're going to pick someone handsome to play Santa Anna--he was NOT hot in real life! LOL
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your comments, Celia, about what they got wrong. I agree with you -- they should have someone to check these things out. But with my daughter working in the acting world, I know many times it's not the case. Someone sees something they like and says, "OH, let's shoot that here!"
I'm looking forward to your reports.
Cheryl
Cheryl--try to watch at least a couple episodes. Oh, yes, the ratings. But making the terrain look like the Sahara Desert isn't helping at all, in my opinion. I suppose any series made has its huge faults, and equally huge audience. Thanks for commenting.
DeleteCelia such a great posts. Perhaps Hollywood should hire you on as a professional advisor. Being from Iowa, I had no idea Texas had 7 different geographical areas. I've been to Dallas, Paris, and El Paso but that's about it. I love learning new things from your posts.
ReplyDeleteBarb--don't let me fool you. I'm not that much of a expert. But when I seen something that's not right, I go to my sources and check it out. One day, I'll talk about the 7 geographical regions. Not as exciting, but useful if you write WH romance. Thanks!
DeleteIf you want to learn history best to read a historical (romance) because an author will be more mindful of the truth than Hollywood. Difficult to imagine Brendan Fraser as an Indian, but he's so darned cute I'll watch him do anything. And despite all the errors, Texas Rising beats watching a woman supposedly on a quest for her one true love flit about a roomful of testosterone.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't place him at first. And the Indians, the Native Americans that are featured. Listen, that is a whole other story. I'll get to that one day. Man alive, did they get that wrong!
DeleteGreat article, Celia. I think going into any "historical" movie out of Hollywood you should enter knowing they kept maybe 5% truth the rest is the magic of movie making. :) I had a professor who absolutely hated the movies Braveheart and Tombstone. He asked me once if I didn't just hate those movies. I said, "No, because I don't go to the movies to learn history."
ReplyDeleteThanks for setting the record straight on this series. And I agree, I don't know much about Texas history, but I knew Santa Anna wasn't a heartthrob. :)
Kirsten--good point! We might not like the real story if told in a movie. I loved Braveheart and Tombstone, too. I've read more than one severe criticism about Tombstone, but still...writers often take liberties, don't they?
DeleteLet'em have it, right between the eyes, Celia. I loved your clarifying comments. Since I grew up in California, I didn't learn much about Texas history except the basics. There was the Alamo, then Texas as a republic, then as a state. I didn't learn much about California, either, expect that the Indians wove beautiful baskets (our class members each made one), the missions and the gold rush, so that's not saying much. I know better than to take a movie portrayal of history at face value, but TEXAS RISING does prompt me to want to learn more. As I said in my FB comment, several Texas leaders of independence were portrayed less than favorably--egotistical, didn't follow orders, hot-headed, etc.--but what we know about history tends to reflect the viewpoint of the victors. Hence, Sam Houston is portrayed as the great hero.
ReplyDeleteRobyn, oh, you said so much that is true. Even our history books have many events and people dead wrong. I have no doubt some of the Texas leaders were just as you described. They wouldn't have made history, probably, if they'd meekly followed every order. And Sam Houston? Oh, I love the controversy about him. I've read more articles and opinions that old Sam was a coward, hiding in the bulrushes of the Coastal Plains that is San Jacinto territory, and ambushing the Mexicans just before dawn while they were groggy, and weren't dressed, etc. I discussed this with my husband one day, and he laughed out loud. He said, "Oh, sure, let's all stand up and yell or blow a horn or something to let Santa Anna's army know we're coming." It's the armchair historian today that has decided Sam Houston was a coward...in my opinion. Glad you brought that up. We'll see how that turns out in the series. Thanks so much for you comment.
DeleteCelia, I couldn't agree more. I'm no expert on Texas history but like you, I know the setting is all wrong. I lived in Houston for a while. It's sub-tropical, like much of southern Texas. Why the producers chose to film this series in Mexico is unfathomable. I suppose money has much to do with it.
ReplyDeleteLyn--I think that's the worst thing they did in filming. It's just plain stupid. Sure, money does have a way of talking. Thanks for you comment.
DeleteCelia, Right on point, as usual. The suggestion for you and Kathleen to recap the series is a good one. A cop I know has a blast recapping all the cop stuff they get wrong in Castle, and it brought him a huge following. Hoping for some Texas sunshine to dry out your lovely state. Maggie
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Maggie. Sunshine? What is sunshine? We were to have sunshine all day today. At this moment it is 3 in the afternoon, and dark as night, rumbling and rolling, and pouring rain. And this was a big start of a massive cleanup on the other side of town where almost everyone got flooded out. This cleanup, they predict, will take months. Unimaginable how much debris there can be. Very sad. They have a long hard road ahead. Thanks for your comment.
DeleteI haven't been watching it so I can't comment. Plus I don't knoW Texas history but I was thoroughly disgusted to see Brendan Frasier cast as an Indian. It's not much better than casting a white guy to play a black man. Bad enough they can't get the most basic facts right but I thought Hollywood had outgrown that particular gambit.
ReplyDeletePat--that was very funny about Brendan Frasier being cast as an Indian. The worst was, though, is how these Indians are portrayed. They ride ponies and dress like the high plains Indians with buffalo horns on their heads. The Indian down south did not ride horses, and they didn't dress like that. Also, they traveled by canoe--remember they south of Texas is tropical? It's very wet, too. That was, in my opinion, the worst faux pas they could have committed. Thanks for your opinion--I appreciate it.
DeleteFraser was not cast as an Indian. His character Billy Anderson was raised by Indians. It's mentioned in the second episode. The character profile is available on History.com
DeleteThanks for that bit of information, Floetcist. And you're right-he played a white man who was raised by Indians.
DeleteI haven't been watching it so I can't comment. Plus I don't knoW Texas history but I was thoroughly disgusted to see Brendan Frasier cast as an Indian. It's not much better than casting a white guy to play a black man. Bad enough they can't get the most basic facts right but I thought Hollywood had outgrown that particular gambit.
ReplyDeleteCelia, I'm so glad you approached this. I started watching this and I will probably continue, but I was very disappointed. You point out what could have made this an excellent mini series, and yet, Hollywood chose not to.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cindy. As I said earlier, it's like watching a train wreck--it's awful, but you cannot look away!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they attempted to portray the real history of Texas, but as so often happens, history gets distorted by personal beliefs and misconceptions. Unfortunately, it gets worse from there. I remember old movies of the Alamo where it looked like it was standing out in the open. When I lived in Texas, my husband and I went to San Antonio to see the famous landmark. We drove around and around looking for what we had seen in old movies--and we kept missing it. Finally, we realized the building was right there in the middle of town with trees and grass around it, and a little stream with koi fish in it (maybe an added on feature). We missed it because we were looking for the movie version. When people trust movies and films for TV, they are destined to get history wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt bothers me that the south is often portrayed as a land of evil people because a few rich people owned slaves and history has been so distorted about what the American Civil War was really about--northern industry vs southern agriculture. It says to me that those who own the media, own the world. Just sayin'...
Celia, this was a remarkable post. I enjoyed reading the truth about Texas and its history. I still have the movie on my DVR, but I haven't seen it yet. I'm glad I know these factoids before I watch it.
I hope you and your husband are still managing okay through all the flooding in your area of Texas. I'm thinking about y'all.