When I say the only thing missing are the great lines I mean to say that this is a truly excellent historical recreation of dramatic and fascinating real events and I almost wanted to give it a 9 - but its screenplay is more journalistic than artistic. No memorable lines here. It doesn't quite soar to the heights. Not Shakespeare. Not even The Lion In Winter.But do I have a right to expect that of it? Not really. This was, after all, a hillbilly blood bath, and its intention, I believe, was to recreate it with a stark realism. And it succeeded there, very honorably.This is one of the better made-for-TV multi-part movies in a very long time and one that is largely faithful to the true events - which is no small accomplishment to achieve. And hats off for its honesty and veracity.Here you find fine acting, cinematography, direction, editing...it was one of the must-see broadcasts of the year, certainly (I couldn't wait to see the next part as it unfolded). While having to tone down the violence for TV somewhat, it's not toned down all that much. And that's one of the ways Kevin Costner gets his point across. You get more than the average feel for the horrors of a blood feud, with great intensity. Deaths are upsetting - as they should be in any fine production. Could they have been more moving? Perhaps. That's why I rate this 8 and not 10 stars. But Kevin Costner's Hatfields & McCoys hits on all cylinders and has nothing to apologize for. To achieve greater heights requires genius and we cannot require that of every movie we feel is praiseworthy. This is a taut, quality film and one that contains many fine performances. A cautionary tale, too, of course, and on that level alone it is worth seeing.One last thing - because multi-part TV movies are by definition longer than the average film, they also tend to seem overly long and be a bit more daunting to view - especially when considering whether to watch them a second or third time. This inherent structural challenge is the only thing that has kept me from viewing it for a second time - and perhaps if it had not been a multi-parter but had been cut down to just one long movie (even if three hours long) it might have (with the proper editing) been able to tighten up enough to qualify for a 9 star rank. Yet...it's definitely worth summoning up the patience to view once. In retrospect, I have to marvel at the amount of work Kevin Costner put into this effort and how well he served his subject and purpose.

This series resided on my DVR for a full year before viewing. I'm confused. Maybe I lost sight of the forest for the trees. This film seems to do nothing more than what Hollywood consistently does to musicians, portray them as a bad cliché. While production standards are well executed, those are the only things I give kudos to on this production. Costner and Paxton are the standouts in the film, as they are the only two that the film /script allows for any real character development. As there are so MANY players in the film, the rest of the performances get a bit muddied from time-to-time. Im amazed how many night sequences were in this film. I am from WV and I can tell you traveling at night in the woods of WV is simply not possible, especially during that time. The pacing of the film is inconsistent, with at least an hour possible to truncate from its length. What sticks out the most to me, aside from the rushed dialog, is the persistent casual murderous intent and reactions to death. Its a wonder our population grew at all, as everyone seems to look for some minuscule reason to kill, and only care about it to exact revenge to kill some more. Its hard for me to believe that just 150 years ago we were such a nation of savages and sociopaths, at least drug dealers kill each other for business reasons. Or is it, we ( West by-God Virginians actually weren't as bad as the film portrays but, once again, are stereotyped for entertainment purposes? Lastly, the still-framed epilogue of the film runs by so fast and is so incomplete, that a lot of the real questions never get answered, in other words 5 hours of film, and then a summarization that last only a few seconds and barely addresses the key points of story, characters, and outcome. I don't need to see this one twice.

This movie proves that the combinations of: Inbreeding, Moonshine, Grammar School education, bad dental hygiene and lack of gun control, only leads to senseless death, hardship and genocide.Costner's performance is hardly worthy of a once academy award winning director/actor.This really won:TV mini-series; also producer Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Nominated-Satellite Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television FilmUnbelievable..

Apparently, this set a viewing record for cable TV and was nominated for no less than 15 Emmies. On one hand, it is good to know there is a modern audience for westerns, a genre that has largely drowned in the Lucas-noise of the last 30 years. And I fully support the mini-series format, it may just be the right canvas for cinematic narrative these days—indeed, it seems that quality American narrative tradition has largely moved to TV.On the other hand, we get close to 5 hours of the following:1) repetitive bushwacking to the point of complete numbness, and the same dour, one-note mugging throughout by rival family patriarchs Costner and Paxton. (this Deadwood writer ought to have studied Lonesome Dove: you CAN show broken lives in the afterglow of dreams)2) trite soap opera on an emotional level, with a Romeo and Juliet subplot that entirely drags this down like the James subplot does Twin Peaks.3) the same bleached , dishwater look throughout, supposedly in the name of authenticity.4) The story here is of celebrities and all the American violence that fuels and prints the legend. This is so old and familiar by now, it neither exposes nor deconstructs anything. It feels as tacked-on now, as it was once fresh in Liberty Valance.I'd like to think Costner is to fault, who like other megastars Redford and Cruise always has to appear in a streamlined environment that doesn't challenge. But no, I think what really happened was TV executives who conceived this on the lowest common level possible. It worked.