Thanks for the memories!

Sadly Over-hyped

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This telling of the Hatfield and McCoy feud was horrible, For one thing they only had 2 of the McCoy brothers being killed in revenge of Ellison Hatfield being killed when in fact there was 3, Also this version claimed Asa McCoy was Randall's son when in fact Asa was Randall's brother. Asa was also the father of Nancy McCoy who in fact did marry Johnse Hatfield and later was married to Bad Frank Phillips. This is just an example of how they screwed up the true facts. They took the story of the Hatfield's and McCoys and completely rewrote it. This was just a horrible movie. Please don't waste your money or your time watching this dud,

I THOUGHT I was getting the Hatfields and McCoys with Kevin Costner etc. and didn't realize this was a different version. This was SO lame. Bad, awkward acting, horrible costuming and sets, anachronistic dialogue. Everyone looks perfectly clean, I think I saw a sliding glass door in one exterior of the Hatfield's house and what's with using the phrase "Don't even ..." when one of the Hatfield boys challenges his father. I was surprised they didn't talk about "bustin' a cap" in their McCoy asses at some point. This was just a poorly done production all the way around. Do not waste your time renting this low quality, wannabe, unless you WANT a good laugh. My son and I just wrote our own lines as we watched and laughed a lot!

Having no idea if the intent of this production is to ride the coattails of the History Channel's "Hatfields & McCoys" mini-series one has to think so. Obviously that one raised the current day brand recognition to an all time post WWII height, why not make a few lousy dollars? Sadly, this seems to be the the purpose of this "K-Mart" version of the tale. I suppose if it wasn't up against the superior History Channel treatment it may look like a much crisper (almost too clear 16:9 production reeks of HD videotape, i.e., no film soft grain) 1970's ABC "Movie of the Week", but since many viewers will be watching this after seeing the far superior Kevin Costner version it pretty much is laughable.In addition to the bargain basement production values we get a much different story. I know from research that The History Channel deviated somewhat, but here we have a very topical story with seemingly even more deviation. There just ain't any meat on these bones and the bones themselves are broken. In the back of my mind I get the feeling Jeff Fahey might have been quite good if given more to work with...That's about all I can say as the other performances were less than "phoned-in" to coin a phrase.O.K., it's watchable if somewhat laughable. That's the only reason I give it a 3 (full disclosure: If I had paid to see it the rating would be less). I don't know how much they paid Christian Slater for his meager role here, but seriously are infomercials next?

I give this title more credit than the Costner mini series. It was actually filmed in Kentucky as opposed to Romania! No one has written accounts of the actual events of the feud, so who is to say which version is correct? Of course it's different; it's a different interpretation... I think this film is creative and has wonderful actors. Jeff Fahey is phenomenal! Tim Abell as Jim Vance is appealing, not appalling (as apposed to Costner's miniseries version). His acting is precise and perfect to his character. Christian Slater is... well, Christian Slater. Costner's version is about an hour and a half too long. This film is timed perfectly. This film is great considering its low budget, and Perry King does a tremendous job as Randall McCoy. And it was filmed on site with many Kentucky actors!! That alone gives it wonderful appeal! I've got to give Fred Olen Ray credit where credit is due. He provides much insight and explanation throughout the film so I wasn't lost historically. The discussions between characters are thoughtful and helpful to the viewer, leaving no questions. Characters are easily identifiable. The film is succinct and sticks to a storyline that makes sense, albeit maybe not entirely historically accurate. It's not muddled by EVERY Hatfield and McCoy feud rumor out there! Ray does an excellent job creating historical drama in this film. I thoroughly enjoyed it!