The Dusty Trail

Posted 10/25/22

I have been watching the period drama 1883 for the past week.  The joy of streaming television shows on aps such as Paramount is that the episodes can be watched consecutively rather than having …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

The Dusty Trail

Posted

I have been watching the period drama 1883 for the past week.  The joy of streaming television shows on aps such as Paramount is that the episodes can be watched consecutively rather than having to wait for a new episode every week.  This story is about a family moving from poverty in Texas to Montana, (although they were headed for Oregon, taking the “Oregon Trail”.) In the hope for a better future, they were joined by a group of German immigrants. It was amazing to think about. If it weren’t for such pioneers, the west coast of the United States would not have been populated the way it was. Similar to the modern men and women who have joined the space station, these people were making their way to unchartered territory.

Each family drove a covered wagon, with several members either walking beside it or riding a horse nearby. (I used to like to ride horses, but a half hour was the maximum amount of time my backside could tolerate the saddle. I could not imagine riding a horse all day!)  Many of the German wagons were filled with furniture and personal items, including a piano and an iron cook stove.  This became problematic when the group had to cross the river in the wagons and had to lighten the load by dumping these large items out before attempting to cross the river.  Many people were devastated that they would have to make their way to a new home without the furniture and items they had brought with them, things they had managed to transport safely all the way from Germany.

Each of the men had a “weathered” look, and they all had beards, mostly due to the fact that regular razors, and especially electric razors, had not yet been invented.  The women all wore colorful, long flowing dresses, even the star of the show, who became a cowgirl and road atop her horse in a lovely, eggshell blue dress. With the exception of the boots, she could have been any other pioneer woman. 

Famous actors galore star in this show, including Tim McGaw and Faith Hill who play the lead characters.  Although their story is fiction, there is a point where the historical General George Meade consoles the star of the show after his men have been slaughtered at the Battle of Antietam.  If the viewer is not paying attention, it would be easy to overlook that it is Tom Hanks amidst the heavy makeup to portray this general.  Later, his wife, Rita Wilson, portrays a shopkeeper who befriends Faith Hill and they get sloppily, happily drunk and commiserate about life as pioneers. A marshal is played by Billy Bob Thornton, again drenched in heavy make-up and costume, almost beyond recognition. The leader of this motley crew is Sam Elliot, characteristically chiseled, tanned, and mumbling from the side of his mouth.  (This is the point I have to turn on the closed captioning to understand what he is saying.)

One noticeable detraction from reality was that most of the main characters had flawlessly white teeth, especially the young woman who played Elsa Dutton, who seemed to smile all of the time, dazzling the audience with her pearly whites.  She seemed to greatly enjoy the adventure, despite rattlesnakes, bandits, disease, death and treacherous river crossings.

It has been very interesting to see how people lived in an earlier time, especially during the migration westward. It is easy to reminisce about what it looked like in the 1920s, or the 1950s, but imagining life before there really was any civilization was a new experience.  I can be crabby over the loss of electricity or WiFi, but if I lived in those days, the lack of food and drink and bathing, and the relentless dustiness of the trail would have outdone me. 

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here