Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

ashley-92232 As a little girl growing up in Charleston, I can remember all of the fuss during the filming of North and South. It not only lived up to the hype but exceeded it. It is still just as enjoyable to watch 30 plus years later and I can now enjoy it all over again with my children. This is a love story between George and Orry, two best friends who meet at West Point and eventually have to fight for their beliefs opposite each other in the Civil War. It follows their lives and the lives of their families as the world changing war takes place. The acting was excellent, the wardrobe was stunning, and you feel like you are living through this plot. For all of my fellow Patrick Swayze fans, in my opinion this showcases him at his finest. This movie does an excellent job of showing the struggles of both the north and the south without showing favoritism to either. It was a beautiful story showing the horror of slavery but also showing that not all southerners agreed with that of life. You felt deeply for all those involved (well, other than Bent, Justin, and Ashton). Do yourself a favor and watch this right now if you haven't already seen it! You'll be so glad that you did! With that said, I like to pretend that the last book/movie does not exist. I much prefer the ending of the original 1985 series.

bkoganbing If Margaret Mitchell were writing Gone With The Wind today I daresay it would have wound up a mini-series like North And South. The Seventies and Eighties were the decades for the television mini-series. Two of them, this one and The Blue And The Gray are Civil War epics and both concentrate on the struggles of two families each on the other side of the great divide of the 1860s.One of the things I liked about the series it showed very clearly the difference in development of the sections. The North gradually got rid of slavery nearly all states had slaves at one point, but slavery doesn't work in an industrial society where workers develop some skills and hence have to be paid for those skills. Not much skill in being an agricultural laborer. But the south was following the doctrine of Thomas Jefferson who saw evil in an industrial society and they stubbornly refused to develop industry. Whereas the North followed Alexander Hamilton's emphasis on manufacturing. The South produced some great military leaders, but was overwhelmed by the North's industrial machine.The Hazards were an industrial family in Pennsylvania, ironmongers from the Lehigh Valley. The Mains were a family of southern planters from South Carolina. Two sons of these families James Read from the Hazards and Patrick Swayze from the Mains become the best of friends at West Point and serve in the Mexican War together. Their comradeship endures because of that common bond though it gets severely tested because of the issue of slavery which is splitting the whole country not to mention whole families. Read and Swayze represent the best in a tradition from both sections, each acknowledges their weakness and each ready to defend their section when the crisis comes.An impeccably cast group of players brings to life the characters of the period. Some name guest stars like Gene Kelly and Robert Mitchum have small roles. So do Johnny Cash as John Brown and Hal Holbrook as Abraham Lincoln.Ironically both men have sisters that are the most radical and dangerous in their families. They also have the juiciest roles in the mini-series. Terri Garber is Swayze's sister and Scarlett O'Hara was Mary Poppins next to her. But Scarlett despite her flirtations and scheming had a great strength of character. Garber's character is one evil vixen as her family learns to their regret.Kirstie Alley is Read's sister and the Hazard family is not sympathy with slavery. But she takes it to the extreme. She's an abolitionist and a feminist something like 140 years ahead of her time. She weds a runaway slave, Georg Stanford Brown from the Main plantation who is later killed at Harper's Ferry. She was as radical as they came from the period. But Brown's death totally unhinges her and she descends to madness. That will be seen in Book Two.In the end as war is upon them the personal friendship endures, but no one knows how this will end. I suspect in 1861 few knew with absolute certainty how it would all end.North And South is what mini-series is all about. So many good ones came out of that era and this is one of the best.

paulaucla97 I saw this miniseries when it first came out and I was 10 years old. Both the lead actors are so handsome and wonderful in their roles. The girls are very good too. I really recommend this series for teaching about the human aspect of the civil war and that it's not so black and white because even though it seems one side was right, it doesn't mean the other side didn't also have some good in them. It's more of a romance than a historical epic, so be aware of that when watching. For good historical content, watch the Ken Burns series about the Civil War. Anyway, this series is romantic sort of like Gone With the Wind for the 80's generation. I'm so glad it's still available for new audiences to get as much joy out of it as I did.

rebelcannons I recently returned from a vacation in the beautiful city of Charleston, S.C. and having had the opportunity to visit the Boone Platation (Mount Royale in the movie), I decided to rent the DVD of this film that was made more than 25 years ago. I was not disappointed. As a Civil War reenactor, I can attest that the costumes, weapons, customs,and other aspects, including the attitudes about he war and slavery are as near to perfect as you will ever find in any film. The buildings and plantations used in the film are still there and date back hundreds of years. I was amazed at the number of places in the film that my wife and I recognized from our recent visit, Boone Hall especially, even the old slave quarters are still there. For the history buff or someone just wanting to see an excellent film with outstanding acting by an all star cast, this film is a MUST SEE.