'Texas Rising': History's Long, 'Bloody, Twisted Road' Miniseries

image

Texas Rising is a big, sprawling TV-movie — 10 hours long, airing over five nights, starting Memorial Day evening. The production has a big, sprawling tale to tell: The aftermath of the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, the subsequent fighting that would bring Texas into the United States, and the rise of the famous Texas Rangers. There’s a big, sprawling cast, including Bill Paxton as Gen. Sam Houston, Kris Kristofferson as President Andrew Jackson, Brendan Fraser as a guy who shoots a bow and arrow real good, and Ray Liotta as a guy with a scraggly beard. And the first two nights of Texas Rising made available to critics suggest that it’s a big, sprawling, well-intentioned, uneven misfire.

The decision was made to tell this TV version of history — which mixes real and fictional characters — from three points of view: The Texas nationalists who want this part of the country united within America; the Mexicans who had claim to the land as well, and want to keep it as their own; and Native Americans who are caught in the middle and fighting hard to maintain their own independence. This attempt at political correctness (or at least even-handedness) results in a lumpy, attenuated production that tries to serve too many functions.

The best moments in the first four hours I’ve seen center almost entirely around Paxton and his portrayal of Houston as a complex but forceful leader. He’s an actor who frequently radiates sincerity and earnestness, which serves him well in delivering the frequently overwrought dialogue. “You may question my military strategy, but not my heart,” is one eye-roller. And whether or not a line such as “If only I had 300 more Rangers like you, I’d win this war in a day” was actually uttered by Houston, it’s the kind of stuff to be avoided in epic movies.
The “300 more Rangers like you” line is directed at Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who’s playing Erastus Smith, a real historical figure whose nickname was “Deaf” and pronounced “Deef” here. Hard of hearing, people are forever tossing pebbles at Deef to get his attention.

A better character is a fictional one, Fraser’s Billy Anderson, a tough, remorseless fighter who the producers say is a composite character, an example of the Native Americans who were taken by whites as children and raised away from their tribes. Houston and Anderson have some of Texas Rising’s best scenes together, sharing an easy, natural like-mindedness.

Related: ‘Texas Rising’: Who’s Who on History’s Miniseries

As directed by Roland Joffe (The Killing Fields), Rising has some entertaining shoot-‘em-ups and showdowns, but Joffe is hobbled by the script, which forces him to cut away from Houston to give equal weight to Olivier Martinez’s Santa Anna, the leader of the Mexican army and president of the country, and the subject of some of Rising’s most tedious storytelling.

At no point is this more obvious than in Santa Anna’s scenes with Emily West, played by Cynthia Addai Robinson, a character based on historical facts but given some heavily fictionalized scenes. I hope one of them was the one in which she acts as a spy for Houston by luring Santa Anna into intimacy with the line, “I want a warm bath, and you in it.” Groan.

How long you stay with Texas Rising depends on how involved you’ll stay in the unfolding of dramatized historical events. Or by the sudden pop-ups of familiar faces. Look, there’s Chad Michael Murray as a military private! Look, there’s Bates Motel’s Max Thieriot as Jack “Coffee” Hays, a dandy who’s good with a gun! And look, there’s Jeremy Davies playing the same kind of cowardly-weasel character he was in Justified!

“Follow me a little longer along this bloody, twisted road,” says Sam Houston at the end of the second night. You could hear that as a plea directed at viewers. I’m not sure it’s gonna work, Sam.

Texas Rising airs May 25, 26, June 1, 8, and 15 at 9 p.m. on History.