The Age of Commercialism

Great Film overall

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

I've always thought of Joanna Pettet as one of the most beautiful and glamorous women of the big screen and small in the latter half of the last century. So it's a pleasant surprise that in Pioneer Woman Pettet ditches the glamor and becomes a hard working Pioneer Woman who salvages her husband's dream of going west.She faces some real problems as she and husband William Shatner sell all they have in Indiana move west on land Shatner bought from the railroad. Shatner does this unilaterally without consulting Pettet, in those days that is how it was done.First Shatner gets uprooted from his land by some brothers who've been working it for seven years now. Then he's killed homesteading new land in Wyoming territory. Pettet makes some critical choices for herself and kids Helen Hunt and Russell Baer. Hard work, a little luck and an understanding an hunky neighbor in rancher David Janssen make her believe that staying might be the best idea.Pioneer Woman is a sober assessment of what pioneer life was like on the American frontier. Even without Indian wars it was still a rugged existence especially for a woman.Pettet shows she has the right stuff. In fact this G rated film is actually quite the feminist manifesto. A great film for family and feminist audiences if you can believe that.

This film was much better than I originally expected. Set in the post-Civil War era, it depicts the plight of a small family in Indiana setting out west to start a farm. "John Sergeant" (played by William Shatner) gambles everything on some land in Nebraska in the hope for a brand new life. His wife, "Maggie Sergeant" (Joanna Pettet) is reluctant to leave but does the best she can to support her husband. Along the way out west, they encounter hardship and disappointment which this film displays in a very realistic manner. And while William Shatner gives a decent performance, it is Joanna Pettet who is the real star of this picture as her acting was first-rate. David Janssen (as "Robert Douglas") is also quite good playing the part of a free-range cowboy in a supporting role. The weaknesses in this movie are few, but if I had to list one it would probably be that the ending could have been drawn out a bit more. All things considered though, there are plenty of westerns which have a great deal more violence and action than this particular film. But if you're looking for a movie that is fresh and genuine then this is a fine candidate, especially for family viewing.

This is not normally the sort of film I would want to see--after all, the subject matter isn't the most exciting I've ever seen. The film is a lot like "Little House on the Prairie" but without all the schmaltz. However, in recent months I have taken great delight in watching the films of William Shatner--which range from decent (such as INCUBUS) to the amazingly bad (IMPULSE)--so bad that they really should be seen as cult classics for bad film addicts like myself. Here, though, there are two major problems. First, Shatner is pretty good in the film and seldom over-acts. Second, as the film is about the pioneer WOMEN, you know that sooner or later Shatner had to start "pushin' up the daisies" (a nice Old West euphemism)--plus the plot summary on IMDb says this, so there isn't a lot of suspense in this regard.The film plays like a pioneer woman's diary that is being dramatized. You hear the long-suffering wife narrate at times and her life is recreated in little vignettes. Most of this might seem a bit dull, but it's also a good history lesson--something most people take for granted. If you can get your kids to actually sit still during the film, they might learn a lot about just how hard it was for homesteaders in the 19th century. They might appreciate what they have just a bit more.As far as the quality of the production goes, it's pretty good and obvious that the folks who made this really cared. I was also impressed that Joanna Pettet was willing to play a less than glamorous role as the mother and the film stands up pretty well 36 years later.By the way, the young daughter is a very young Helen Hunt and it's sure hard to recognize that it's her.

It's pretty clear that "Pioneer Woman" was actually a pilot for a proposed series. Probably it was for the best it wasn't picked up, because there aren't any signs that this would have been especially engaging or surprising. It does get some historical details more exact than a lot of other westerns - for example, it's correct in showing that covered wagons used oxen for the most part and not horses, and that settlers often built houses with sod instead of logs. As well, the first half of the movie gives plenty of entertainment thanks to William Shatner, because he gives one of his hammier performances.