Scenes of the Old West- described by people who lived there-are recreated in this half-hour chronicle.
Producer James Benjamin set out to show life in the late 1800s as it really was, unadorned by romanticism or legend. To do it, he talked with two men and a woman who were there. (They were also among those interviewed by John Myers for his book "The Westerners," the basis for this program.) Their remarks are interspersed with stills and art of the Old West and reenactments (by nonprofessionals) at Pioneer Arizona Village, near Phoenix, Arizona.
The three historians are Charlie Blake, 90, a cowboy who specialized in bronx busting; Pecos Higgins, 86, who left Texas to escape the law; and Agnes Wright Spring, in her late 70s, who arrived after the others and typified settlers who witnessed the end of a great American era.
Narrated by Robert Ryan.