# The West (1996)

> A nine-part PBS documentary that reexamines the American Old West through archival images, period accounts, and the voices of those who lived it.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/28324

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 9
- Episode runtime: 80 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: documentary, history
- Network: PBS
- Cast: Peter Coyote, N. Scott Momaday, Murphy Guyer, John Trudell, Eli Wallach, Arthur Miller, Gary Sinise, Jimmy Smits
- TMDB rating: 8.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115418/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: elegiac, reflective, measured, melancholic, sincere

## Synopsis

The West (1996) is a PBS documentary miniseries created by Stephen Ives and executive produced by Ken Burns, produced by Insignia Films. Presented as a nine-episode limited series of roughly eighty-minute installments, it traces the American Old West across the nineteenth century through archival photographs, paintings, maps, and period writings. Narration by Peter Coyote anchors the story, while readings by a roster of performers including Gary Sinise, Matthew Broderick, Jimmy Smits, and Eli Wallach give voice to the settlers, soldiers, cowboys, and Native Americans whose lives shaped the frontier. Writer N. Scott Momaday and author Arthur Miller appear among the commentators, and the engine of the series is the tension between the myth of heroic expansion and the displacement, violence, and ambition that accompanied it. Each episode moves through a different thread of the frontier experience, from land disputes and railroad building to mining towns and the eventual closing of the open range. The tone is measured, elegiac, and reflective, with a deliberate pace that lets images and words accumulate into a complex portrait. Its style follows the essayistic approach of Ken Burns's earlier history films, and fans of The Civil War and Baseball will recognize the same patient, archive-driven craft. Viewers drawn to revisionist westerns such as Unforgiven will find resonance in its unflinching look at the frontier. It suits history lovers who want a serious, humane account of the American West rather than a dramatized Hollywood version.

## Shows like The West

- [The Civil War (1990)](https://ember.film/tv/8991)
- [The Vietnam War (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/42089)
- [The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/57967)
- [Prohibition (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/36677)
- [The War (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/29234)
- [American Experience (1988)](https://ember.film/tv/1112)
- [American Masters (1986)](https://ember.film/tv/14049)
- [Independent Lens (1999)](https://ember.film/tv/13963)
- [Into the West (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/10329)
- [Guns Germs & Steel (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/61611)

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