North and South, Book I
North and South, Book I
| 03 November 1985 (USA)
North and South, Book I Trailers

Two friends, one northern and one southern, struggle to maintain their friendship as events build towards the American Civil War.

Reviews
RyothChatty ridiculous rating
Nonureva Really Surprised!
2hotFeature one of my absolute favorites!
Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters
Wendyanneeburke I've seen this mini series quite a few times. It's rich in its writing , it's casting , it's directing and it gives us one the greatest , most frightening villains; ELKANAH BENT . played with finesse by the amazingly talented PHILLIP CASNOFF, HE is an extremely under rated actor , who , as usual does not disappoint here. This is the first of three miniseries, and to me , this is the best of them this miniseries gives the viewers an idea what people in this time might have been thinking at this most tumultuous time. It caused me to ask many questions for example , why the south was so desperate to hold on to such an inhumane view that was slavery . Of course there was never a reason to enslave our fellow human beings, and this miniseries showed us just how ugly we could get in doing so.the love between orry main and his soul mate Madelaine , was of course the stuff of legends as we were captivated the MINITE Patrick swayze and Leslie Anne Down shared the screen .Book 1, and 2 , are great , but avoid HEAVEN AND HELL .its badly written , , and bares like little resemblance to book one and two . I watched all of it and I found it very dark, poorly cast ) exception s were James read, and Leslie Anne down, and of course Phillip casnoff ,
capone666 North and SouthThe most beguiling aspect of Northern Americans fighting Southern Americans is that both sides had to attend the same Bob Hope USO show.Unfortunately, this mini-series doesn't depict any incidences from those prospective powder kegs.While on his way to West Point, Orry (Patrick Swayze), the offspring of a plantation owner, meets George (James Read), the heir to a steel dynasty, and they become fast friends.But when civil war breaks out, the pair must part ways: Orry becomes a Confederate officer, while George is military aide to Lincoln (Hal Holbrook).Meanwhile, both family fortunes are threatened: Orry's plantation from slave revolt, and George's company from his war-profiting sister-in-law.Bursting with made-for-TV pageantry, this star-studded adaptation of the literary trilogy strikes the perfect balance between historical events and soapy melodrama.And in the end, the North got what it wanted from the South: to turn their slaves into free taxpayers.Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.com
didiermustntdie liberal rewriting history..a hell lot of dishonest information about the South.but what i 'm concerned is the so called Marxist ideology: if someone is black, poor or stupid then he is honest and respectable.the film presents such stupid mentality as some kind of noble and righteous..people are not equal, although everyone can contribute to the society.we should judge a person according to how much positive effect he/she has on the society, not how much money he has or how much an underdog he has suffered from beingalso, this one compared to GWTW is totally immoral.. too many sex scenes, about every 10 or 15 minutes.everyone is a slut..it's sexually rewriting south tradition
walsh-22 I really enjoyed North and South very much. I think it is one of the best and most lavish television series I have ever seen. The calibre of the cast is amazing, you have actors from "the golden age of cinema", people like James Stewart, Gene Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons with other actors who were the new faces of the 80's like Patrick Swayze, James Read, Jonathan Frakes, Genie Francis, Philip Casnoff and Lesley-Anne Down.At the heart of the story is the friendship of two completely different men,there is Orry Main (Patrick Swayze) who is from the south and George Hazard (James Read) who is from the North. Throughout the series, their friendship is continually threatened with the differences in their backgrounds, particularly about the treatment of slaves in the South (especially at Orry's plantation) but when each needs the other, they will forget the arguments and go and help their friend. I really liked the chemistry between the two men and was really interested to see if their friendship could survive the war.I liked how the series showed what life was like before the war so the audience could see what were the factors that lead up to the war, what was going on at the time, then the devastation of a nation that was being torn apart and then the nation having to rebuild the country again. The war scenes were very well choreographed and very realistic to me.I think what is great about it, is it has so many elements running through it, romance, history, battles that would interest most of the audience, there is something for everyone. I particularly enjoyed the romance between Brett (Genie Francis) and Billy (Parker Stevenson/John Stockwell) especially when she stood up to her sister Ashton for the first time. The other romances were interesting as there were not all the same, each had something different to the others which kept me watching particularly the Madeline and Orry story strand to see if they would be together in the end.It is one of the best American mini series that I have watched, the story had the right balance of romance and the more serious history side that was happening in the country at the time but it is paced just right. The characters are very watchable and the locations are beautiful and the music particularly at the start and end of the episode is so toe-tapping good and works with the mood of the story.