Harts of the West
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Cast: Beau Bridges, Harley Jane Kozak, Saginaw Grant, Meghann Haldeman, O-Lan Jones, Sterling Macer, Sean Murray, Stephen Root, Talisa Soto, Nathan Watt, Lloyd Bridges, Dennis Fimple, Alan Haufrect, Peter Kozak.
After a mild heart attack, Dave Hart (Beau Bridges) tells wife Alison (Harley Jane Kozak) and their three kids that they're moving to Arizona and the Flying Thunderbird Ranch, on which he has put a down payment. The family members -- blossoming older son Zane Grey Hart (Sean Murray), spoiled daughter L'Amour (Meghann Haldeman, who gives her perf an amusing snootiness) and youngest son, eager John Wayne "Duke" Hart (Nathan Watt) are hardly thrilled.
Not surprising, the deserted ranch is a mess when they reach it. Dave gets shot at by the foreman, Jake Tyrell (Lloyd Bridges, slated for recurring appearances), before Alison and the kids show up. Their reactions to the dilapidated ex-rancho are mediocre comedy; the first chapter doesn't burn up any laugh meter.
But Beau Bridges and Kozak do OK as city slickers confronted with discomforts. Director Robert Lieberman doesn't demo much comedy timing, and the younger male actors play out their roles with little flair.
O-Lan Jones' oversexed waitress Rose seems to have been written with little connection to the central story line; Saginaw Grant's general storeowner-Indian is overdrawn.
Pilot looks OK, the music's jake. The camerawork by James O'Dea succeeds, and Laurence Bennett's design is good.
Series, now based in Canyon Country north of L.A. following the Arizona-filmed pilot, has been undergoing a strike since Sept. 13, when workers walked off the set after the production company refused to recognize the Intl. Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees as the crew's representative.
Assuming the labor problems are settled and the series is given a stronger creative hand, it could hang in there indefinitely. Lloyd Bridges intros a good characterization, and Beau Bridges and particularly Kozak suggest there's gold in them thar hills. Way down deep.
Camera, James O'Dea; editor, Jon Koslowsky; production designer, Laurence Bennett; art director, Charles L. Parker III; sound, Ken Ross; music, John Debney; additional music, Sam Winans.60 MIN.
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