Very well executed

A Brilliant Conflict

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

liberal rewriting history..a hell lot of dishonest information about the South.but what i 'm concerned is the so called Marxist ideology: if someone is black, poor or stupid then he is honest and respectable.the film presents such stupid mentality as some kind of noble and righteous..people are not equal, although everyone can contribute to the society.we should judge a person according to how much positive effect he/she has on the society, not how much money he has or how much an underdog he has suffered from beingalso, this one compared to GWTW is totally immoral.. too many sex scenes, about every 10 or 15 minutes.everyone is a slut..it's sexually rewriting south tradition

Based on votes and reviews here at IMDb, I purchased a DVD compilation of Books 1-3 at Costco. I wish I hadn't. The votes and reviews gave it a high vote percentage and the reviews were all superlative. I thought it would be reliably good and time-tested. I feel deceived. This is not a historical drama. It is a historical soap opera. Many of the actors are soap stars and it shows. Most of the acting lacks any real depth. The story is simplistic and there are only passing references to historical events. You won't find yourself learning anything about The Civil War you don't already know. The story in Book 2 is more complex than Book 1 but not by much. So much of what happens in Book 1-2 is simply implausible, illogical or both. Events would not, and could not, happen as portrayed. Events are plausible and logical for 1980s+ values and that is what they reflect. By the last DVD in Book 2 I was simply fast forwarding and I still had time to read all the captions. Luckily, one of the DVD's is defective so I can return it and get my money back. I decided not to bother with Book 3. The whole thing was a complete waste. I'll stick to quality BBC mini-series in the future, especially ones based on classic literature. This is a monumental waste of time and money. You'd be better served by reading Gone With The Wind and/or watching Ken Burns' documentary, The Civil War.

I really enjoyed North and South very much. I think it is one of the best and most lavish television series I have ever seen. The calibre of the cast is amazing, you have actors from "the golden age of cinema", people like James Stewart, Gene Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons with other actors who were the new faces of the 80's like Patrick Swayze, James Read, Jonathan Frakes, Genie Francis, Philip Casnoff and Lesley-Anne Down.At the heart of the story is the friendship of two completely different men,there is Orry Main (Patrick Swayze) who is from the south and George Hazard (James Read) who is from the North. Throughout the series, their friendship is continually threatened with the differences in their backgrounds, particularly about the treatment of slaves in the South (especially at Orry's plantation) but when each needs the other, they will forget the arguments and go and help their friend. I really liked the chemistry between the two men and was really interested to see if their friendship could survive the war.I liked how the series showed what life was like before the war so the audience could see what were the factors that lead up to the war, what was going on at the time, then the devastation of a nation that was being torn apart and then the nation having to rebuild the country again. The war scenes were very well choreographed and very realistic to me.I think what is great about it, is it has so many elements running through it, romance, history, battles that would interest most of the audience, there is something for everyone. I particularly enjoyed the romance between Brett (Genie Francis) and Billy (Parker Stevenson/John Stockwell) especially when she stood up to her sister Ashton for the first time. The other romances were interesting as there were not all the same, each had something different to the others which kept me watching particularly the Madeline and Orry story strand to see if they would be together in the end.It is one of the best American mini series that I have watched, the story had the right balance of romance and the more serious history side that was happening in the country at the time but it is paced just right. The characters are very watchable and the locations are beautiful and the music particularly at the start and end of the episode is so toe-tapping good and works with the mood of the story.

This is the best movie I have ever seen. It has it all tragedy and happiness love and hate. And a deep friendship that not even war can destroy.The most splendid casting I have ever seen. Patrick Swayze and James Read were top grade in this movie.If you see part 1 you will want to see it all. Some of my friends watched part of the movie at my home then went out and bought the movie.I am a civil war buff but this movie got my grandchildren interested in history. Any movie that can get children to learn history is great. I have Books I, II & III and when the girls come up from Florida each year they want to see North & South.