Texas Ranch House
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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!
Movie Review: Texas Ranch House
Summary: 3 Stars
This latest historical "reality" program is meant to recreate life on a post-civil war era ranch in the Lone Star state. I've always found these sorts of programs to be quite entertaining and informative, but unfortunately, these experiments rarely seem to work out, and as a result can sometimes prove difficult to watch. This case is no exception, as most of the participants hardly seemed up to the task and were much too intent on maintaining their 21st century attitudes--in particular the self-professed "hero" Maura--to make the project a success. Pettiness and negative tension runs rampant through this one, and I found myself not all that committed to watching it through its entirety. Despite this, the program does still have a certain amount of educational value from a historical standpoint, and in the end learned a little more about ranching during this era.Movie Review: Whiners, bitchers and moaners
Summary: 3 Stars
Once again, PBS lets another exciting "House" premise get trampled on by the time travellers. It happened before in Frontier House and again here in Texas Ranch House. Some participants refused to accept the premise of living life as it was in 1867 and instead insisted on bringing 2005 sensibilities into play. The worst was Mrs. Cooke, who constantly bitched and moaned about how little women are respected. Wake up and smell the coffee, Mrs. Cooke, it's 1867 not 2005.The cowboys were whiners too, but at least they acted like men of the period. I kept thinking of how much better the British versions of "House" shows were. (1900 House, 1940 House)Movie Review: Worth the watch
Summary: 3 Stars
I've enjoyed the show but I'm so sorry for the poor women on this show. They really made themselves look like idiots. Check out Colonial House.Movie Review: Is This Truly "Living History"?
Summary: 2 Stars
As with the earlier PBS "House" series of shows, "Texas Ranch House" takes a group of 20th century people and gives them the opportunity to live in an earlier era, in this case, on a Texas cattle ranch in 1867. The "cast" consists of a husband, wife, their 3 daughters, and a "girl of all work" as the ranch family; and a foreman, cook, and 7 cowboys as the crew who live in the bunkhouse. It is supposed to be an opportunity for the participants to "live history" for a few months. According to the narration, these folks were chosen out of 10,000 individuals who wanted to be chosen.
Very soon into the experience, however, it is clear that most of the "cast" forgot the purpose of the experience - to take on specific roles and try and live and think as people of 1867, living and working on a cattle ranch in Texas, and trying to turn a profit and make a living. The ranch owner and his wife, the maid, and the cook especially forgot this; by their words and actions, they showed that they rarely stepped out of their 2006 mind-sets. It was difficult to tell if they were taking the experience seriously. The daughters, the foreman, and most of the cowboys excepted, very little attempt is made by the others to fit themselves into the culture of 1867, especially regarding the REAL roles of men and women of that time and how they interacted. The ranch owner and his wife's attitudes, especially, are appalling; the owner in one episode showing that he holds no value for the life of one of his ranch hands. And there may have been a few ranch owners in 1867 who were ruled by their wives, but it was by no means the norm. The lack of respect shown for others and for the historical gender roles they agreed to play, leaves you asking by the end of the 2nd episode, "Why did these folks ever sign up for this?"
It is a very frustrating show to watch if you are expecting the "cast" to at least try and enmesh themselves in the historical experience they were trained on and selected to participate in. Since it is a "live" show, some slow starts and bumps are expected, but in "Texas Ranch House", at least half of the cast never "gets it", and the viewer's focus is quickly moved from the history to the fighting and slander that goes on between everyone (if you like that kind of thing in a show, you'll love this one). By the final episode, while the cowboys (including the maid who was "promoted" to cowboy by the owner) are off on the cattle drive, it is crystal clear that everyone living in the ranch house has lost their enthusiasm for the experience; the wife and her daughters do not dress "in costume", forget to tend the garden, leave dishes go for days, and refuse to clean up the area outside the house - and then complain about the horrible swarms of flies produced as a result. During the last hour, three trained historians (hired by the show to evaluate how the participants did living in 1867) accurately and fairly do so, and almost all of the "cast" fails. Sadly, most of them (Mr. & Mrs. Cooke, especially) chose to close their eyes and blame the producers, editing, etc., for how they "came off", rather than take responsibility for their own words and actions during their time on the ranch.
As a taste of living history, most of it in "Texas Ranch House" is received from the narration and the show's web site, NOT the participants. When compared to "The 1900 House", "The 1940 House", and other British productions in the "House" series, the Brits have it all over American's when it comes to the spirit and intent of these shows. If you want to watch a good example of "living history", watch one of these.
It's quite possible that my belief that the "House" series is intended to be living history is dead-wrong; it could be that the real intent is a kind of historical "Survivor" series, where showing conflict between people to attract viewers is the primary purpose. If so, then the U.S. series succeeds overwhelmingly and should not be viewed or taken as accurate history. But it just might be that the intent is to give people living now a chance to see what it was like to live in an other era. If this is so, then the producers need to do a better job of selecting the participants.