It’s 1827, and the civilized world stops at the Western border of Missouri. Beyond it, the unknown. Explored only by a few mountain men and fur-traders, their stories of an untamed West drifted East, thrilling young dreamers with tales of cascading rivers, and majestic mountains, wooly hump-backed beasts, and savage, wild Indians.
Against this backdrop begins a saga told in 6-parts, when “Steven Spielberg Presents INTO THE WEST” airs on weekends beginning Friday, June 10-Sunday, July 24 at 8/7c on TNT. INTO THE WEST tells a 62 year-long story of the collision between two cultures-the White anglo-saxon settlers and the Native Indians, and the dramatic conflicts, and upheavals that changed the world as they all knew it, forever. It also attempts to provide balance, discrediting the long-standing one-sided telling of the taming of the West, by demonstrating that the long-accepted impression of the Indian as a ruthless, scalp-hunting, Godless savage, is not true.
Ever since newspaper publisher John L. O'Sullivan coined the phrase "Manifest Destiny" in 1840, essentially a mandate for democracy and the white-man's rationale to prevail "from sea to shining sea", the American people have been sadly but willingly misled, both through sensationalistic reporting in the tabloids of the day, as well as through pot-boiling novellas of the 19th Century. This image of the savage Indian has persisted, and even flourished through the 20th century, especially during the Golden Age of the Hollywood Western in the 1940’s and 50’s. In films such as Walter Huston's 1948 "Indian Agent", or "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" starring Henry Fonda, or "Custer" with the dashing Erroll Flynn, and early TV shows such as "The Lone Ranger", in which Tonto was depicted as a loyal but subservient side-kick, the image was perpetuated.
INTO THE WEST ends in 1892, long after the wagon trains have stopped rolling. It chronicles a tumultuous time in our nation's history, during which we witnessed such events as the rise and demise of the Pony Express, the making and breaking of the Treaty of 1851, which is a primary event in Native American history, the Gold Rush in California, and then the Black Hills, the coming of the Telegraph, the election of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War burning of Lawrence, Kansas, the interracial building of the Transcontinental Railroad, and finally, Custer’s Last Stand leading to the final Battle at Wounded Knee, and ultimately the complete domination and humiliation of the Indian people, and the despoiling of their sacred land.
The scion of the white family is the adventurous Virginian, Jacob Wheeler, unwilling heir to a family business of wheelmaking, who defies his father by joining the legendary Jedediah Smith (Josh Brolin) on a dangerous trip to California. Loved by the Buffalo (Simon R. Baker), and his sister Thunder Heart Woman (Tonantzin Carmelo), along with the people of the Lakota Tribe, represent the culture, ethics and beliefs of the Indian people. When events conspire to bring the white Virginian Jacob and the native woman Thunder Heart Woman together, the saga of the opening of the American West begins.
The saga begins when Lakota medicine man Growling Bear (Gordon Tootoosis) tells the Tribal Council of a vision he has had in which the buffalo, whom the Lakota believed to be a gift from Wankan Tanka (the Great Spirit), return to the earth from whence they came, and no longer live with his people. His vision spells out many hardships for Native Americans, who relied on buffalo for food, clothing and many other necessities.
Growling Bear gives young Loved By The Buffalo a special amulet symbolizing the Lakota medicine wheel, the sacred wheel which shows where each person is born within the grand scheme of the world, and a central theme in this saga. This amulet is passed on from person to person throughout the generations as a symbol of love, respect and the passing on of tradition. Growling Bear then passes away, hopeful that his people will survive despite the impending doom he had foreseen.
Thus, Loved by the Buffalo begins his journey toward becoming a medicine man. Says actor Simon R. Baker, “I hope that audiences will be able to see the beauty of the West to include the Native world and how they lived on the land. I consider them part of the West, and its beauty, to me, is all encompassing. I also want people to understand the Native world – how much we value our relationships and love for each other, family and the land.”
Jacob Wheeler is portrayed by Matthew Settle. Settle describes his character’s journey, “Jacob goes through a rite of passage into manhood. In addition to becoming a man, he takes an Indian wife, so he becomes our link between the two cultures, which is another challenge in this role. Jacob ages from 16 to his 40’s, so I had to create relationships and background to his character for his life to be believable.” But in the end, he says, “I would describe INTO THE WEST as a clash between two cultures: the Native Americans’ spirituality and the manifest destiny-empowered Anglo-Saxon European settlers.”
