The West, sometimes marketed as Ken Burns Presents: The West, is a documentary film about the American Old West. It was directed by Stephen Ives and the executive producer was Ken Burns. The film originally aired on PBS in September 1996.
The peaks and the valleys. Find the essential episodes — and the ones to skip.
By 1877 only a few groups still resist America's westward push. The Lakota Sioux fight to protect their sacred Black Hills, but their victory over Custer at Little Big Horn does not prevent the end of their traditional way of life.
In 1848, a sawmill worker named James Marshall reached down into the stream bed of the American River in California, and came up with the future of the West in the palm of his hand. He had discovered gold.
The West had always symbolized hope and new beginnings, but in the 1850s, as more American pioneers poured west to start over, they brought with them the nation's oldest, most divisive issue -- slavery.
As settlers race to claim tribal lands, Native Americans take up the Ghost Dance, to restore a lost way of life; the new century marks a new era in the West, an age of aqueducts and smelters.
Each point is an episode, plotted in order. Colored bands mark season boundaries. Look for the rise, the plateau, or the decline.
High votes + high rating = beloved classic. High votes + low rating = notorious stinker. Low votes + high rating = hidden gem.
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