Texas Ranch House
by Barnaby Coughlin, Bobby Birleffi, Christopher Ragazzo, Ilana Trachtman
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bill Cooke, Hannah Cooke, Lacey Cooke, Lisa Cooke, Robby CarbezuelaDirector: Barnaby Coughlin, Bobby Birleffi, Christopher Ragazzo, Ilana Trachtman
Producer: Amanda Karrh
Producer: Anna Park
Producer: Anne Vega
Producer: Annie Heringer
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 480 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Pbs (Direct)
Movie Reviews of Texas Ranch House
Movie Review: If only the cowboys HAD guns...
Summary: 3 Stars
Boy, this was almost painful to watch. But before I start my review let me point out that we see only 8 hours of 2.5 months of Ranch life and that means that we don't get the whole picture. For example, when the family sits down to have their first meal on the ranch it is said they asked the cowboys to leave. But a source on the internet says that the cowboys were invited to eat with the family and declined. So take everything with a pinch of salt. After saying that let me start:
The Good. The best of the Texas Ranch House is the cowboys. Out of them I could not help but like Jared Ficklin, also known as Slim, and Robby Cabezuela, who went from top hand to foreman. Jared, because of his family's history in the west, was truly focused on being the best cowboy he could - serious, but with a touch of humor, willing to work hard and yet with a strong sense of honor that would have made any Westerner proud.
Robby, while sometimes seeming a tad protective of his position as foremen, gained the respect of the men under him because of his knowledge of ranching and because of his protective feelings towards them. He thought of them as his men and even continued to sleep in the crew house after being made foreman.
I also found Rob Wright, a late comer to the ranch, interesting as I wanted to see how he would react to the problems and the divide between the family and the ranch hands.
The cowboys, by the way, were said to be ill mannered forwards the daughters of the family. This comes up again and again. But they only have one clip, about 2 minutes long, to show whenever this comes up. I am sorry, but if after 2.5 months you can only find one scene which shows two cowboys acting like jerks towards the daughters then you need to drop that charge.
The Bad. Stan Johnston, the first foreman, a retired military, seemed to do a OK job but kept missing chances to bring everybody together. He was fired, but I will not say why, and in the end wasn't on the show very long. I think, frankly, his ideas about how to run a ranch were one of the problems. He saw it as a military unit with a chain of command and it only worked up to a certain point.
The Cooke Family were just not ready for living on a ranch house. Bill Cooke being a businessman thought of it as a business. Yes, it is, but instead of the cows being the most valuable items on the ranch it was the cowboys. THAT major point was missed by him who thought of them as his employees. Also, he had no idea how to run a ranch, he messed up his book keeping, failed to get his sums correct, so on, so forth. IT is sad when I find myself seeming to know more about running a ranch.
The daughters did OK at first. They worked hard, tried to make friends with the cowboys and handled being ruled by their mother with few complaints. By the end of the show they were living in a dirty ranch house, with clouds of flies, wearing nothing but undergarments. Was it too hot? Was there nothing clean to wear? Or did they just give up when the cattle drive started? And why is it, whenever things start to get rough or the women don't like something, they start using the word sexism? Sexism, racism, socialism always seem to start popping up in the House series whenever somebody feels they are doing too much work or are being treated badly by 21st Century standards.
The Ugly. Two people are on this list. First, Ignacio Quiles, who was the cook nicknamed Nacho. He was a chef from New York City who failed, in the end, to be a good cook. Sometimes he made a great meal but most of the time he made them beans and flatbread and real cowboy food. So real they got sick on it. Now, in his defense running a restaurant, with helpers and dishwashers and modern equipment, is not the same as being a cook for a bunch of ranch hands. Been even so, as most of the other reviews will point out, he was disgusting.
Lisa Cooke, the wife of Bill Cooke and mistress of the ranch. I don't care how the show got edited, there are some scenes with her that make me hate her. When her husband broke a promise with Jared in the last episode she praised him! She called the cowboys employees, she was paranoid about Robby, and while complaining about Nacho and his cooking she rarely shared the food that the family grew in the garden.
And at last there is Maura Finkestein, who was the Girl of All Work, the maid, and who also got to go on the cattle drive. Half the time she seemed happy or totally upset. I don't think she knew what she was doing or why she was there. I am not saying she was a bad maid or a bad ranch hand. She did both jobs well. I just don't think she really understood why she joined up. At one point she even compared herself to Calamity Jane. Not the only woman in the House series to do so - but I don't think people understand the history and background of Calamity Jane, otherwise they wouldn't compare themselves to her.
There is more I could say - a ton of things really. If you are interested in cattle drives and ranch life I suggest going someplace else. If you are interested in how people can come to hate each other because of egos, paranoia, bad food, harsh living conditions and, in some cases, no ethical backbone this is the DVD set for you!
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