The Awakening Land (1978)

Of all the miniseries that have ever been this is the only one that I would buy on DVD the day it came out.Just an incredible work. Unlike most historical miniseries, where young hunks and starlets in rip away period costuming are the most important part and actual history is a very very distant third, in this miniseries "You Are There" on the western frontier of the US when that frontier was Ohio. The clothing, the sets (especially the way the family house grows from a one room cabin to a rambling squire's home while its contents change accordingly is wonderful), the scenery, the locations, the INCREDIBLE dialects and vocabulary (very true to the novel and a fantastic job by Marge Campion) all give a sense of time and place that's rarely been equaled on film. Then of course there's the acting: they went for talent rather than pretty and consequently got performances that are still great almost 30 years later. You believe Hal Holbrook, Elizabeth Montgomery (so good you never once think of her as Samantha) and the host of lesser knowns in their roles. There are moments that are hysterically funny ("The more you cry the less you have to pee!"), tragic (the insane mother handling the letter from her daughter's father-to say more would be a spoiler) and just touching, and Portius and "Say'rd" are two characters you care about, a family with real problems and real bonds, neither all saint nor all sinner and certainly not your standard plantation bodice ripper fair stock characters.If you have any interest in frontier history, see this.

I have been searching everywhere to buy this movie for presents to my mother and sisters. I remember watching it when I was in elementary school and learning the states and capitols, mom taught me Montgomery, Alabama by using one of my favorite actress's so I learned it as Elizabeth Montgomery,Alabama.I had to go to bed before the end of the movie each night due to school the next day so I missed the end of each episode of the mini series and have wanted to see it for many years. I loved Bewitched and still watch it whenever it's on.I just loved Miss Montgomery and in whatever I saw her in, She's right up there with Lucille Ball, my other all time favorite actress. I am trying to purchase the trilogy of books that "The Awakening Land" was made from, as a gift to my sister but I would love so much to be able to give them all a copy of the movie as well.

I saw this movie for the 1st time in the early '80s, then again in 1988. Enjoyed every minute of it, and have never forgotten it. A lot of the details still come to mind at unexpected times, when I'm not thinking specifically about the movie. It's too easy to begin to identify with Sayward (Sarah), and to wish for her strength and clarity of focus. The movie has all the joys, pains, fears, struggles, celebration, and disappointment one would imagine the pioneer times had. The ability to be realistic in the face of enormously emotional situations makes a dramatic, inspiring statement about the strength required to simply survive.Would love to see it again!

Based on Conrad Richter's ambitions trilogy, The Awakening Land is one of the finest TV mini-series ever produced for American television. Set in the Ohio frontier ca. 1790-1820, we see an American community form in the wilderness though the life of Sayward Luckett, a poor, uneducated pioneer woman blessed with great gifts of intelligence and courage. Through her often troubled marriage with Portious Wheeler, an eccentric and ambition New Englander, we see the clash and melding of the receding frontier with advancing "modern" civilization. Elizabeth Montgomery's portrayal of Sayward, a woman simultaneously simple but resourceful and intelligent, is surely the highlight of her rather underrated acting career.The production has been treated shabbily by its owners since its premier in 1978. After years of silence, it was finally re-run in the early 1990s (I suspect owing to the fame of "Medicine Woman" Jane Seymour, who has a supporting role as Sayward's younger sister in "The Awakening Land") but I don't believe it was ever available to consumers on VHS. If it appeared on DVD I would snap it up in a minute.Filmed in and around Springfield, Illinois, and the nearby reconstructed frontier village of New Salem, the mini-series is also notable for its setting in a time and place in American history rarely seen in movies or TV: the frontier period in the Midwest. One suspects the production aspired to be another "Roots," but even though it didn't match that show's rating, "The Awakening Land" excelled it in emotional sophistication and often in historical accuracy.