Reviews (8)

Great Idea! - Bad Editing!
finally! a Merle Haggard DVD - yeee-haw!
Including ALL 3 videos previously released in full all on one DVD disc.
what a great idea!

BUT

unfortunately the package is misleading!
All 3 videos are there , but they have been edited.
some songs have been ommitted.
I went searching for particular parts only to find myself wondering how I could have missed it. Well I didn't miss it because it isn't there.

you can even tell where the cuts were made if you watch closely.

overall it is Merle Haggard and there is no other DVD available so this is all you can get excited over

Be forewarned that all 3 videos have been edited.
they are not the same as the original vhs releases.

Merle gets 5 stars
this release gets 3 stars just for getting it on DVD.
otherwise it is only 2 stars

without this release there would be no Merle on DVD.

so I guess we should be thankful we got this!

until a better release comes along

Good Intro for Newbies
I missed the Willie Nelson appearance on one of the version of "Okie..." which the jacket promises. A couple of numbers are repeated, which wastes time (Pick one version and be done with it!) Haggard really gets lost in the (Astros?) Stadium...not a great backdrop...Glad I wasn't there! This was not a slick production. Would have preferred Haggard narrating with some insight on each song and seeing cuts of different songs at different concerts (like George Jones does with great success on one of his videos). I think true fans will be somewaht disappointed by the prospect of would could-have-been.

What's there is GREAT! But the cover is misleading...
First... All three of these shows are wonderful, and should serve as a good lesson to aspiring musicians and singers just what it means to SOUND fantastic in concert, and leave the cheesy, flashy junk to the teenies.

Merle's voice is unreal, and his band is tight and right on the mark.
The camera angles, etc. really pull you in to the 'essence' of each show, and the audio is, in my opinion, CD quality and worthy of praise for a live recording.. very well done
.
A MUST HAVE FOR MERLE/COUNTRY FANS!!! PERIOD!

If you're looking for a Garth Brooks or Shania Twain glitz and glimmer Vegas-style concert.. look elsewhere. This is a songwriter and poet at work here, and the SONGS and the SINGER are the show.

Disappointing, however was the fact that the songlist on the back cover shows 'My Favorite Memory', which is not present... Willie appears for "Sing Me Back Home", but the cover indicates that he also appears on 'Just Stay Here and Drink'.. which does not appear at all until the second episode/show (and, no Willie). I've viewed this on and off for a couple days.. and I either blinked, looked away, etc. but I did not see Mr. Paycheck at all.

There are other inconsistencies with what the back indicates, and what's really there, but it does NOT take away from what IS there. I was really looking forward to seeing what the cover SAYS is there, so a small bit of frustration was initially present.

I believe some editing took place after the packaging had already been finished.

If you're even CONSIDERING this item (which you obviously are, or you wouldn't be reading this).. JUST CLICK "BUY".. You'll love it!

C. Olson
Minneapolis

Great Merle ...but
Great Hag' ... but so poor sound & movie on two of the three concerts .. !! :O((

Legendary Singer/Great DVD!!!!
Don't know what the previous reviewer was looking for, but I LOVE this video. You get a glimpse of Merle in 3 different stages of his career. The first back in the '70's when Merle was the premier country act, evident by the fact Willie Nelson and Johnny Paycheck were opening acts and appear briefly on stage. The second is early/mid 80's and Merle has aged, but still sounds great singing ballad after ballad, and the third is a TNN concert special Merle did in the late 80's, still sounding great wether it be singing, playing his guitar, or playing the fiddle. I enjoyed it so much I'm considering buying a second copy as a backup. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Jeepers !!!!
I can't say anything bad about a movie with Merle Haggard, Joi Lansing, Lon Chaney,Basil Rathborne, JohnCarradine, and Molly Bee. So what if has little or no plot and some bad corny country humor and a man in a goriila suit......I'd sooner watch this than most of latest so-called country music crap

Yahoo
Mix horror-greats Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine with the lovely Lansing and some good country music and you have a fun movie. Thanks to miserably poor acting by Ferlin Huskey's sidekick (Huskey is no actor either), a man in a gorilla suit and continuity errors worse than "Plan Nine from Outer Space" and the unintentional humor makes this much more fun. Watch midnight turn instantly to noon and back again. The slender and loopy haunted house/spy plot is all part of the fun. Buy this one for repeat viewings.

I'd rather eat green road apples in July than see this again
Hey ya'll. Yessa yessa, this film is scraping the bottom of the cider barrel. Although the voluptious 'Boots Malone' and the Oriental chick with the constant pearl necklace give some great eye candy, this film takes a nose dive shortly after the opening credits. I like the car though, it seems to have been made with over 30 handguns and rifles.

Not much to say here some country singers playing honest to goodness country entertainers wind up staying the night in a house that everyone in town believes is haunted. It's not, it's run by spies or something masterminded by the hot Asian chick, who also has Lou Chaney Jr. (aka The Wolf Man) as a henchman. There is also the skinny, corpse like dude who floats around the movie like a ghastly fart.

The directing is imaginative with the dream sequences. This movie also pulls in country acts by showing them on the television. Yeah right, way to break up a non-existant plot. Even if you like old time country Hee Haw music, this movie is a stretch.

Merle Haggard vs. John Carradine!
"Hillbillies in a Haunted House" is a sequel to "Las Vegas Hillbillies" and is one of the most entertaining Country and Western monster musicals ever made. Ferlin Husky, Don Bowman, and Joi Lansing are an act on their way to the Nashville Jamboree who decide to spend the night in a haunted house, where they meet up with, among others, Linda Ho, Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney, a Gorilla, and best of all, the always cheery John Carradine. Along the way there are many country songs (including one truly dreadful number by Joi all about the history of gowns...) some of which are good, and some of which aren't. I loved "The Cat Came Back", and was amused by the extremely youthful Merle Haggard cameos.

There is a conspiracy involving an agency named M.O.T.H.E.R. and a villain named Dr. Fu. There is a guy in a gorilla suit (George Barrows, perhaps?) Best of all is the television broadcast that Jeepers watches to help him go to sleep in which the hilariously scowling faces of the villains haunt poor Jeepers while a bad C&W song is being performed. Needless to say, John Carradine wins the contest for chewing the scenery. His scowls and eyebrow twitches never fail to make me laugh. There are silly subplots about spies and the like, and homage is paid to Ed Wood in the 'timeless' day/night location shots (and continuity gaffes of positively Woodsian proportions.)

Finally arriving in Nashville, the last fifteen or so minutes of the film are good old C&W stage acts like Merle Haggard, Sonny James, Molly Bee, and Marcella Wright.

If you like Country music, particularly the vintage stuff, or you just like goofy, nonsensical movies that make you laugh, though sometimes you aren't sure why, this film is for you.

A JOI TO BEHOLD!!
If you don't have a serious bone in your body, you'll love this 'so-bad-it's-good' movie. It's a follow-up to LAS VEGAS HILLBILLYS with some of the original characters. Ferlin Husky is 'Woody Wetherbee' again...but this time around, the beautiful Joi Lansing takes on Mamie Van Doren's role of 'Boots Malone.' This is an update of one of those Bela Lugosi/East Side Kids/Ghosts-On-The-Loose-type old dark house movies but with country music and film making from the school of Ed Wood Jr. There are the Ed Wood 'confusion between day and night' shots, boom mike shadows, a graveyard at the back of the house resembling the one in "Plan 9" as Richard Webb (TVs Captain Midnight) hides behind a very skinny branch to see Lon Chaney Jr emerge from the crypt. We have a gorilla on the loose and Oriental spies/villains with names like Madam Wong and Dr. Fu. Great dialog, too. Example- Madam Wong (after seeing a kidnapped, bound and gagged Joi Lansing in the cellar)to John Carradine:"YOU IDIOT!" John Carradine:"THE GORILLA DID IT!" The last 15 minutes of the movie consist of great country music acts from the mid 60s. Merle Haggard does the classic "Swingin' Doors" and Molly Bee (looking a bit like a young Connie Stevens in a sequined cowboy hat) does "Heartbreak U.S.A." Sonny James appears earlier for a couple of numbers and the delectable Joi sings her heart out with "Full-Time Lover." (Joi can also be found as an extra feature on Something Weirds 'Horrors Of Spider Island' DVD. It's a Scopitone juke box film short called "Web Of Love" and is worth the price of the disc alone). Buy this DVD now and put it on your shelf next to "ROAD TO NASHVILLE" and "LAS VEGAS HILLBILLIES." Good fun at a good price! Thanks Amazon. ... Read more

Reviews (55)

Magnificent epic equals magnificent story
As a longtime fan of James Michener I have enjoyed many of his works but none of them has been so well represented on film as Centennial. The book was super but was erratically paced and jumped back and forth in history. The miniseries, however, is wonderful. The casting of the characters was right on in both the main and supporting roles. Robert Conrad gave his best performance as the complicated French trapper Pasquinel. Richard Chamberlain was the perfect Alexander McKeag and Gregory Harrison did a terrific job in his ability to cope with his character's aging from a inexperienced farm boy to a likable everyman to an aging hero. Michener's story explores the discovery of the west and shows us heroism and cowardice, greatness and pettiness and is a superb history lesson which everyone will enjoy. The series presents this story in the form of characters you will grow to like, admire, love, hate and remember. People I've watched the series with have shown deep emotion and cried through the depiction of the Indian massacre (actually the Sand Creek Massacre but renamed for the story). They came to admire Dennis Weaver as the cattle drive boss R.J. Poteet and the young cowboys he helped turn into men. You will see characters grow and change. You will identify with many and feel sad as they age and die. Throughout, however, you will be entertained and you will have a greater appreciation of the people who framed the American West.

Memorable, if overlong western epic
The mammoth western epic "Centennial" has always deserved a storied place in television history.

This ambitious effort, based on the James Michener novel of the same name, attempts to cover the history of the state of Colorado, from the days of the Native Americans to the political/environmental dealings of modern times. Clocking in at 24 hours, it's probably safe to say that rarely has so much effort been put into the television medium. Unfortunately, "Centennial" would have been better served to cut it's running time in half.

The first five episodes of "Centennial," dealing with the settling of the American frontier and the eventual clash between pioneers and Native Americans, are some of the finest hours ever produced for television. This 1978 miniseries provides an early sympathetic view of the Native American, from the appealing chief Lame Beaver, played convincingly by Michael Ansara, to his daughter Clay Basket sympathetically played by Barbara Carrera. Throw into this mix the stormy relationship of trappers Pasquinel (Robert Conrad) and McKeag (Richard Chamberlain), and you have great drama on the untamed frontier. Their lives, and the rustic, changing world in which they live, makes for terrific historical fireworks.

Of course, Conrad's performance as Pasquinel, a colorful and memorable character if ever there was one, is one of the finest of his erratic career. As soon as his character leaves the film, there is an emptiness to the drama which is never quite replaced. And this emptiness damages the overall memory of this western epic.

Episode five, which details the disturbing true-life incident of the Sand Creek Massacre, in which hundreds of Native Americans were brutally murdered, is probably the last hurrah of "Centennial." The film soon switches gears to detail ranching life, farming struggles and the Depression. But the sense of wonder and awe seems to disappear, as the film wallows in a series of cliches (Brian Keith as the town sheriff is almost laughably bad) which resembles poor soap opera. The characters are not as multi-dimensional, and certainly not as inspiring.

"Centennial" rebounds somewhat during the twelth and final episode in which the valid question is raised as to what type of industry is best for the state of Colorado -- living off the land as our ancestors did, or mining the countryside for its resources. David Janssen is superb as a ranch owner and descendent of Pasquinel. His brooding intensity practically washes away the bad taste left from the frustrating boredom of the previous four episodes.

"Centennial" boasts one of the most extraordinary casts ever assembled for a motion picture. Almost too many to mention, some nods of respect must be given to Conrad, Chamberlain, Janssen, Chad Everett, Richard Crenna (in a particularly villainous role), Carrera, Lynn Redgrave, Gregory Harrison and Dennis Weaver (absolutely terrific as trail boss R.J. Poteet).

Appropriate kudos must be given to the beautiful cinemaphotography and the exciting musical score of John Addison.

"Centennial," essentially is a television history of the United States, from the early settlers to modern times. No stone is left unturned in this epic journey, and if the ambition was a bit more than these filmmakers could actually achieve given the restraints of the budget and the limitations of its marathon length, one can forgive these starry-eyed dreamers for losing steam during the final episodes.

Based on the first five episodes (11 hours) alone, "Centennial" is one of the finest works in television history. As a whole, the film sputters to a three-star rating. But for patient viewers, there are many diamonds to discover in the rough, unforgiving land known as "Centennial."

PLEASE HURRY WITH THE DVD!!!!!
THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE MOST INTERESTING,WELL MADE, DYNAMIC
WORK ON THE HISTORY OF THE THE WEST EVER MADE. NOT ONLY DOES IT SHOW THE MOVEMENTS OF THE DIFFERENT MEN AND WOMEN WHO HELPED MAKE THE AMERICAN WEST, BUT IS SHOWS IT IN A WAY THAT IT IS HARD FOR ANYONE NOT TO GET WRAPPED UP IN IT. IT IS REMARKABLY CLOSE
TO JAMES MICHENER'S WONDERFUL BOOK. IT WOULD BE A GRAVE MISTAKE
NOT TO PUT THIS MOVIE/MINI-SERIES ON DVD. TO ME THIS RATES WITH
"THE LORD OF THE RINGS" AND "HARRY POTTER" FOR INTERTAINMENT.
THIS A REAL WINNER.........

DVD NOW PLEASE!! C'mon Universal!
In my opinion the finest mini-series in the history of TV. Universal Home Video must give this the attention it so richly deserves!

Centennial
This TV series was screened once in the UK on Sunday afternoons. It was an epic of it day. It was and is a must view program for all the family. Once you start watching you'll be hooked. The first 3/4s of the series are definately the better part. There is lots of lush scenery and a stronge flowing story with plenty of action.

We seem to have been waiting for ever for it to come out on DVD anyone any idea who we can chase? The money is burning a hole in my pocket. Obviously this is based on the video ... Read more