Hatfield's and McCoys - History Channel

Did anyone watch the three part miniseries? If you didn't you can watch them here; http://www.history.com/shows/hatfields-and-mccoys

Both families went beserk, but I put most of the blame on Jim Vance if the miniseries is accurate. (It makes no claims to be.) If Vance hadn't killed one of the McCoys the whole thing probably never would have happened. JMO

It's just amazing how far crime fighting and civility have come. Things seem bad now but small town or frontier justice just let this go on.

I think Anse Hatfield and Ranadall McCoy don't come off as psychotic men for the most part at the beginning of the mini series, but it's amazing how miscarriages of justice, a covered up killing, and a lot of other crap just got so out of control. I really think if Jim Vance had died before the civil war ended this whole thing never would have happened. JMO

If the mini series was holding true to history, and I'll be the first to admit, I really didn't know anything about this feud other than believing it was over the McCoy daughter. But I believe it all started with Hatfield deserting during the war, and McCoy being the only survivor of that unit and being a POW in Ohio. The guilt of the Hatfield and the emotions of the McCoy is what I believe started everything snowballing.

IMHO of course

And that darn pig wanderin' off like that. Too bad he got 'et up before he could find his way back home.


I gotta say....if it were me, back in those days, I would have a hard time returning bacon, ham, and pork skins that landed on my doorstep, lol.

I LOVED this mini-series!! I too was curious about the accuracy of the film and did a little reading up on the subject. As it turns out, the film was surprisingly accurate, lol. From what I read however, the bit about Randall McCoy being the sole survivor of his military unit and then taken into Union custody, was pretty much dramatic license. It has been speculated that McCoy also deserted.
From what I could determine, no one really knows what started the famous fued. Most believe that it was a combination of events, including the lawsuit between Devil Anse and Perry Cline, the ridiculous "stolen pig" debacle, and the ill fated romance between Roseanna McCoy and Johnse Hatfield.
I'm certainly no historian and the articles that I've read may be just as fictional as the mini-series. On a side note however, I totally agree with Steely Dan! Jim Vance was my least favorite character, and I just couldn't help thinking that if he hadn't been around in the first place, the fued may never have gotten off the ground at all. JMHO as always....

it seemed to me that both sides had someone on it that would be behind the leaders egging them on and stirring the pot. that lawyer (Perry Kline) and that one uncle (Jim Vance) who was finally killed who liked to kill anything and everything. plus the egos and stubborness of both patriarchs didn't help any either.

I couldnt help but think that Jena Malone (played Nancy McCoy) would make a perfect Casey A. (didn't she look like this at trial????)

Some channel already did a program about this feud so why are we revisiting it when there were far bigger feuds that occurred? The only reason we have heard of it is because it was it was interstate rather than intrastate.

Sterling said:

I couldnt help but think that Jena Malone (played Nancy McCoy) would make a perfect Casey A. (didn't she look like this at trial????)

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I want you to write a letter of apology to that actress and then stand in the corner for two hours until you realize the seriousness of what you've done. :maddening:

STANDREID said:

Some channel already did a program about this feud so why are we revisiting it when there were far bigger feuds that occurred? The only reason we have heard of it is because it was it was interstate rather than intrastate.

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The Hatfield and McCoy fight is probably the most famous of family feuds in U.S. history. It's even part of the vernacular. Fighting like Hatfields and McCoys is almost as recognizable as fighting like cats and dogs. JMO

BTW, the history Channels movie was really good. Fortunately they have them on the internet because for some reason my DVR didn't record the third part.

athy said:

it seemed to me that both sides had someone on it that would be behind the leaders egging them on and stirring the pot. that lawyer (Perry Kline) and that one uncle (Jim Vance) who was finally killed who liked to kill anything and everything. plus the egos and stubborness of both patriarchs didn't help any either.

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I agree with that too.

Here's a web page about the Hatfields and McCoys.

http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/314

No doubt this is the most famous feud but about 3 times more people were killled in the Sutton-Taylor Feud and nearly 4 times as many were slain in the Lee-Peacock Feud.

Here's a timeline that disputes some of the stuff in the HC account of the feud; http://www.matewan.com/History/timeline.htm Devil Anse doesn't sound as good as they made him sound in the mini series. JMO

Here's more; http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/exhibits/active

Hubby and I have seen parts 1 and 2 and will have to wait until it's reran again to watch part 3, so didn't vote. However, this has been the best show on TV in such a long time. I hope we see more of the same in the future on the History channel.
Yes, Steely things were so different then concerning the law and the way things were handled.
In the Juryroom down stairs is a thread of cold case's 20 years or older and I read the whole thread in several weeks and the most fasinating to me are the one's from the 1800's and early 1900's. STANDREID chooses the case's and Belinda does the recaps. Belinda also has spread sheets to the case's (which I haven't checked out yet but want to as I'd like to reread the old ones). It's a fasntistic thread, you may be interested to read it.

The History Channel is re-running all three episodes between 6pm and 12pm EST on Saturday. If you don't want to watch it all at once then tape them. It's really good.

wonders said:

Hubby and I have seen parts 1 and 2 and will have to wait until it's reran again to watch part 3, so didn't vote. However, this has been the best show on TV in such a long time. I hope we see more of the same in the future on the History channel.
Yes, Steely things were so different then concerning the law and the way things were handled.
In the Juryroom down stairs is a thread of cold case's 20 years or older and I read the whole thread in several weeks and the most fasinating to me are the one's from the 1800's and early 1900's.

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Do what I did and watch part 3 online. I've got part 3 set up to record on Saturday. I've kept the other two parts and will watch one and two again, probably tonight and then part 3 again after I record it on Saturday.

I think this is the best made for TV movie I've seen. Mare Winningham is the best actor in the whole thing, IMO, but she doesn't get the billing she deserved. JMO

I absolutely love love love love this mini series and i by no means even a TV watcher anymore but hubby watching it Monday night drew me and i was hooked.. don't know if anyone else noticed but if you didn't watch the original airings nd only watched the encore there were actual scenes missing in the encores due to the added commercials...aarggh! Because it was only part 1 that i got to watch the original airing so feel i must purchase the full DVDs to see what i missed on parts 2&3..

It was wonderful and i fell in love/hate with the characters.. my God could you all believe that Jim Vance was Tom Berenger? He was awesome and i absolutely loved to hate him.. he was psycho crazy and enjoyed every bit of the murder and mayhem.. and ill be damned if Nancy didn't have him upright in his pine box holding her liquor at the end...she definitely was the other character that i loved to hate(and my god she would play an excellent Casey Anthony to a tee) ...i was cussing her at my TV screen when she made the final move on Johnse when she sought him out to "buy some of his shine for her loser brothers birthday"...

I loved Johnse and roseanna and I boo-hooed when she died... Perry Kline made me wanna vomit thru the entire saga! And IMO it was he who really got the ball rolling when manipulating all the brothers to go kill Johnse so that he could have roseanna to himself(even tho she wass his flesh and blood cousin. Blech )...

Mare was fabulous as Sally McCoy and IMO Bill Paxton literally paled in comparison to her as Randall McCoy.. moo but it is Paxton who is the one character who i would change if i could ...other than that it was superb and I've not enjoyed anything on TV in years as much as i thoroughly enjoyed this saga!

Those who missed episodes or don't have cable can watch them online. The link is in one of my above posts.

I'm rewatching part 1 now and it occurs to me that the wisest character in this whole thing is Judge Hatfield.

Now I'm watching part 2 and the McCoy brothers do murder Anse's brother. So legally, by the laws of that time, their deaths were justified. They avoided the whole legal process, but it was a just verdict. As the Sheriff said; they were murderers. JMO

The other really great actor is Noel Fisher who played Cotton top Hatfield. JMO