John Cherry

Before I ever heard of this show I had begun reading Stephen Ambrose's "Nothing Like it in the World." about the transcontinental railroad. The book itself I give a B- for sloppy writing and piling up of details, but it makes Hell on Wheels come to life. The film's producers have done a great job illustrating the technical challenges of the railroad (the sets are amazing, especially the bridges), the economic and political issues, and the impossible question of whether it's great men or effective organization that gets things done. On the negative side, I found the latter seasons of the series especially to be sadistic and needlessly brutal and bloody. I just have to turn off my tv when they saw off someone's leg or hang a sympathetic character. Sometimes the acting is stiff because the lines are too obvious or because the actors are being forced to speak in that clunky 19th-century declamatory style (every word spoken by Durant, for example). And often the sound track is extremely annoying, often upstaging what's on the screen. Overall, I liked the show / book combination because I finished both in a very busy summer of my life.