Klondike (2014)

Very Cool!!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I've read a number of great histories about the fur trade and am particularly interested in the period of western expansion between 1830 and 1910. I found cable series like "Hell on Wheels" about the building of the railroad and more especially, "Deadwood" a refreshing departure from the westerns of my childhood. They were absorbing, well written, had great characters, and contained details that approached the reality of the times. This one, Klondike, had high production values, I can say that much. But I couldn't get through to the end. I just gave up on the stiff and corny dialogue, the wooden characters, the incredibly soupy or awkward "romance," and the simple minded and predictable plot. It reminded me a little of the kind of historical dramatizations they used to make us watch in school. I'm not in school any more, and I expect something better.

The show is slow moving because it is supposed it is supposed to accurate. I believe it is based on a novel by Jack London who visited the Klondike to write about it. Richard Madden is the main character and plays it well except that he hates to wear hats as a personal matter. He was a character in Game of Thrones crossing the frozen landscape and did not wear a hat. Stupid thing to put up with. That show has a powerful ending including a couple minutes of the credits but you have to watch the entire show to get the ending. My suggestion is to record it and binge watch it. remind yourself that the show is supposed to give you a snapshot of many situations that happened in the gold rush.

I was looking at this show with great interest, as my grandfather and his brother first killed a bunch of horses on the White Pass (Dead Horse) trail. Then they hired out as packers on the Golden Staircase of the Chilkoot. Great Uncle Rudy became a popular druggist in Dawson City; Grandpa worked his way through Stanford by taking alternating years as an electrical engineer in the Yukon. One time Uncle Rudy had a shipment of drugs wrecked coming upriver. Grandpa pushed a sled a couple of hundred miles salvaging them because he couldn't get any doge.I liked the first two episodes pretty well, although there were so many howlers ... Bill not freezing to death; people being shot with no consequences, being that the Mounties had the lid on the town; wolves attacking people; I'm not sure that the Mounties were at the top of the Chilkoot enforcing the supply requirements at the very beginning of the Gold Rush. The winter of 97 had the city on starvation rations.Belinda Mulrooney can be googled. She was not lovely. Looks like she could have been a programmer in Silicon Gulch 40 years ago.Father Judge, the "Saint of the Yukon", bought two and a half acres for his St. Mary's Hospital when he came to town from where he had been assigned downriver. After his singlehanded first year, he had nuns for nurses. The show showed his grave marker with an 1898 date. He actually died of pneumonia in 1899. He can also be googled and looks much more refined in his photo than the wild-looking character. The show jumped the shark in the third episode. The Canadians had partnered with the Indians for a hundred years in the fur trade with a lot of intermarriage; The Yukon was not the Wild West with hostiles behind every bush. All of the action was ludicrous. Shooting at an elk with the muzzle right next to a guy's ear. Armed robbery in a tent cabin by an easily identified person. The way they left town ... It would be easier and less dangerous to catch a steamer in the spring.I would have really enjoyed seeing our heroes meeting and coping with the real Soapy Smith in Skagway. He never got to Dawson, and the show version was a buffoon.I watch and enjoy "Reign". Completely unhistorical stories in a historic setting including non-existent hottie royal bastard half- brothers are fun to watch, if the show is actively and openly dealing in piffle. You don't expect it from a Discovery show that touts its verisimilitude.

I accidentally turned on the miniseries at 8 am on a beautiful sunny Colorado Saturday morning and did not leave the house until 1:30 that day. I was hooked from the opening scene and continued so..until I realized there was only 30 mins left in the 6 hour series and I did not want it to end..so I turned it off so I could savor the last 30 minutes at a later time.I would compare it to Lonsesome Dove and the Hatfield's and McCoys in its capacity to draw you into the characters and living conditions of that time. This miniseries was a little less dark than Hatfield's and McCoy's. They had a little fun on the way to the Klondike and some fun when they got there. There were a few parts that were a little unrealistic like how did Abbie Cornish stay looking so good dealing with the harsh elements and how did she get there and why did she stay? It makes me want to read the book..although I don't want the ending for the Count to be any different than it was!! Thank you Discovery Channel for giving us something inspiring and exciting to watch..the reality shows are getting a little demoralizing..the investigative dramas and detective stories a little creepy..how much gratuitous blood do we need. The miniseries helps one see the eternal value of taking the high road..even when justice doesn't prevail at that moment in time..and the importance and joy of having true friends!