I know a lot of purists complained the first two mini-series were not very true to the original books. But thats fine. They were made for TV, not reading, and they were entertaining. The third mini-series is closer to the book but thats the problem. Its not the book. And its not entertaining. They should have just continued the story they told in the first two movies, even if it wasn't accurate to the book. It was made too many years later and it seems to have suffered. None of the characters is quite as interesting as before, though that could owe to the actors having moved on and done other work for so long they couldn't find their motivation. The story may have been good but was told so poorly it just feels bland. Ashtons plot with the piano dealer wasn't all that interesting and was poorly told anyway. The only good part is where she shoots her way out of the brothel. Charles plot was pretty good in some parts. The Indian fighting wasn't all that great, but his love interest and sons kidnapping had some excitement. The actor playing him did a much worse job than the fellow from the first two movies. Bent was not nearly as interesting as before. Yes, he had a good story but the movie just didn't make it interesting enough. Brett was thrown in sort of haphazardly, probably just to give the actress the feeling that she was missed. They could have dumped her entirely and sped up the story. The romance between George and Madeline was alright but never seemed that epic or important. I never cared that much one way or the other about Cooper. Shame because his character was interesting in the book and Robert Wagner is a good actor. Stanly and Isabels contribution was minimal to the movie even though they were supposed to be very important to the plot.
Overall: Weak. It could have & should have been so much better. They probably should have continued to ignore the details in the books and just made a good movie. Then fans would have two high-quality versions of the story: The book version and the TV version.
Overall: Weak. It could have & should have been so much better. They probably should have continued to ignore the details in the books and just made a good movie. Then fans would have two high-quality versions of the story: The book version and the TV version.